Hot Source November Talkie

This was my second Hot Source talkie and my first time at their regular venue, the NUCA Duke Street Lecture Theatre. What a fantastic building! First up was John Marshall from UK Trade and Investment, who told us about the money he has to give away to companies to help them increase exports. We’re hoping John will be doing a two minute slot at SyncNorwich next week and something longer next year. He was charismatic, funny (in a good way) and very engaging.

Then came the fantastically inspiring Gi Fernando telling us about Freeformers which is on a mission to help underprivileged and undervalued young people break through and find work and opportunity for themselves. Again this was another engaging and fascinating presentation. It was incredible to hear about young people learning to code in very short spaces of time and turning out prototype apps. Hopefully Hot Source and SyncNorwich can work together to bring Gi back and work some of his magic in Norfolk.

Tim Ferguson of Aviva told part of their story of their journey towards mobile. This was an amusing story of many of the obvious pitfalls that they failed to avoid. Part of Tim’s team will be taking a more technical look at what Aviva have done in the mobile space at next week’s SyncNorwich.

Next up was me and Juliana, talking about SyncNorwich and SyncConf.

The final slot was the most x-rated presentation I have ever seen, but then what would you expect from something about Jake and Dino Chapman. It was exceptionally entertaining and I was pleased to hear that My Giant Colouring Book is coming to Norwich.

Unusually for me at events I made it to the pub after and met many more very interesting people and of course spread the word about SyncNorwich. The Hot Source guys have something very special and I’m really looking forward to working with them over the coming year.

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Paul Grenyer

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