Call for Interesting Mobile Apps, Services & Hardware in the North of England and beyond

Those of you who know me are aware that I take a keen interest in new apps, services and technologies. As part of that, I've been running demo sessions for 10 years or so - first at Mobile Monday London, and for the last 5 years, under my Heroes of Mobile banner in London and Barcelona. And they're always popular events.

These are not pitch events - they're much more relaxed. Think show 'n tell style with a bit of Q and A thrown in for good measure.

And I have one of these sessions coming up next week in Leeds - Innovation on the Fringe Goes North! - and I'd love to see you participate, especially if you're based North of Watford. Living in London, the local start-up scene is awash with new apps and services. But where are their Northern equivalents? I have a few up my sleeve, but I'd love to see many more. And I'm sure they're out there. I'm a Northerner by birth, I have friends up and down the British Isles and I know there's talent across the UK and not just centred in East London. 

Are you doing something interesting in mobile apps, services, hardware or internet of things? It can be at concept, prototype or fully-fledged stage. Are you available in Leeds on Tuesday afternoon (3 Nov) for a couple of hours to share with us what you're doing and hang out with other entrepreneurs and fellow mobilists? If so, get in touch as soon as you can so that I can slot you into the schedule. Drop me an email or fill in this quick form to tell me a little bit about what you're doing and we'll take it from there. 

And if you just fancy leaning back and seeing what's hot and what's not mobile-wise in Leeds, then please RSVP now.

And if you're not a Northerner, but you'd still like to take part with a demo, you're very welcome to!

Powered by Eventbrite

The call for apps etc for the Heroes of the Mobile Fringe Festival in Barcelona in February 2016 will open later on in November.

Heroes of Mobile Goes to Leeds 3 & 4 November

I can't believe it's November already and it's just nine weeks to Christmas. Where does the year go? But as the evenings start to draw in, it's time to gather round campfires and tell ourselves stories about the battles we've won and lost, the monsters that lurk in the dark and the bright future that is waiting for us on the other side of winter. 

Ok, so maybe we don't have an actual campfire this time but we do have a beautiful converted Methodist Chapel in Leeds to hang out in. So this means that November is chock full of brain food from the team who brought you the Hacklands festival in August (you missed a cracker if you weren't there) – I'll be working again with Lloyd Davis of Tuttle Club fame, the fab aql team in Leeds and and James Tagg of Truphone.  

On Tuesday and Wednesday next week, we're all up in Leeds for the Heroes of the Mobile Fringe Goes North series – two days of talks and conversations about the future of work and mobile tech with contributions from Lesley Cowley, Bernard Ginns and Patrick Smith and includes the legendary Swedish Beers for the first time in the North of England. I'm also co-hosting a fabulous ladies lunch at Harvey Nicks. Fellow ladies in mobile and tech, you don't want to miss this! 

Come to as many of the sessions as you like, they're all free to attend and our friends at aql will make you very welcome indeed. There's plenty of space to hang out and co-work between sessions too.

Tuesday's sessions

10.00 for a 10.30 start to 12.30 Future of Work: Open Space with Lloyd Davis

14.00 to 15.00 Nothing Great is Easy with Patrick Smith

15.30 to 18.00 Innovation on the Fringe Goes to Leeds 

18.30 onwards Swedish Beers

Wednesday's sessions

10.00 for a 10.30 start to 12.30 Future of Mobile: Talk and Open Space with James Tagg and Lloyd Davis

12.30 to 14.30 Ladies Lunch with Lesley Cowley

14.30 to 15.15 The Yorkshire Post: The Journey from Print to Digital with Bernard Ginns

15.30 to 17.30 The Future of Mobile Advertising: Open Space with yours truly and Lloyd Davis

To RSVP, please click on the links above or go to http://heroesofmobileleeds.strikingly.com where all the registration forms are handily listed in one place.

And if you fancy making the trip from down South to Leeds, then may I recommend using http://hotwire.com for your hotel. I got a great deal there when I booked last week. Expedia also had a comprehensive list that included B&Bs and not just the big hotels.

Hacklands Festival of Technology happening on 14 to 16 August 2015 in a field in Kent

It has been action stations at my end, what with Swedish Beers Midsummer Edition in London last month and the upcoming Hacklands Festival of Technology happening next month. In case you haven’t heard about it already, let me tell you a bit more about my new event lovechild – Hacklands.

 
WHAT: Hacklands is a new hackathon and festival happening on a farm on the border of Kent and Surrey brought to you by Helen Keegan (Heroes of the Mobile Fringe Festival, Swedish Beers and more) and James Tagg, (author, farmer, entrepreneur, physicist and CTO & co-founder of Truphone).

WHEN: From 5pm on Friday 14 August to 5pm on Sunday 16 August 2015.

AUDIENCE: We welcome adults and children who have an interest in technology either because they like building it or because they like to use it and are interested in future uses of technology. Under 18s will need to be accompanied by an adult. You do not have to be a developer to come. We will have sessions and space for both developers and non-developers and can cater for children too.


TELL ME MORE: It is a community oriented festival where we will combine elements of a hackathon (you can code and build stuff), an unconference or barcamp (you can talk about stuff) and a festival (you can chill at our campfire by our stone circle, camp under the stars, talk until the wee hours and enjoy the music and performances).

And we have glamping too courtesy of our friends at Sleeping Bells. We actively encourage you to get involved to build something, talk about something, perform something or learn something.

Interested in doing something - leading a session, giving access to APIs, arts and crafts, something else? Please tell us when you buy your ticket or you can fill in the form here.

WHAT'S ON: We have several areas available to use for unconference sessions, workshops or hacking (that's what we call the software and hardware building bit). There are undercover spaces, tented areas and outdoor spaces. There's wifi across the site (even the fields) and part of the farm is solar powered. We have some flat concrete floors which will be particular good for playing around with robots or landing drones. We have room for camping and plenty space for parking. We can look after 100 people comfortably, and we can make more space available if more people want to come.

Weekend tickets available now with or without camping. Food included in both tickets and a pay cafe bar available outside of meal times.

Find out more at our website, Facebook page, Twitter or our Eventbrite page. You can also buy tickets by clicking below.

If you'd like the glamping option, please find out more here and contact Gavin directly to book. Prices start at £80. Festival tickets must be bought separately.  

See you in August in a field in Kent!

Powered by Eventbrite

Swedish Beers, London - Midsummer Edition - Wednesday 17 June 2015

Yes, it’s just a few days to go until our next party in London. It's coming up for midsummer so it's about time we had another Swedish Beers party. For those of you who were in Barcelona, it's time to relive some of the memories and for those of you who weren't, then it's time to create some memories of your own in London town.

Drinks are courtesy of Buzzcity (mobile advertising specialists and our lead sponsor for the evening), Inspiring Interns (recruitment agency focussed on graduate roles), Fantastic Services (London’s largest cleaning company who are about to launch their cleaning app) and US Tax and Financial Services (there’s nothing these guys don’t know about tax issues for US citizens in the UK or for UK citizens and businesses headed Stateside).

There'll be plenty drinks to go around of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic varieties. There is food available to buy on the night if you haven't had time to grab a bite to eat before you come.

We're back at our favourite London joint, The Nordic Bar, where Swedish Beers began back in 2001 in the mists of mobile time. Doors will be open from 6.15pm and the bar has a late licence until midnight for those of you who want to stay up late on a school night.

If you haven't been before, expect a friendly crowd, lots of chat about mobile, life, the universe and why Swedish Beers is called Swedish Beers. There will also be beer pong (yes, there's a ping pong table) and, of course, refreshments (soft drinks are available and in plentiful supply) courtesy of our lovely sponsors. There will be people from all walks of mobile life there on the night - be that app developers, advertising, media, mobile marketing, handset manufacturers, payment providers, big data, brands, agencies, analysts, journalists, start-ups, veterans, noobs and much more. There have already been a lot of RSVPs on eventbrite already. Why not join them? Come alone or come with a friend but do come.

Date: Wednesday 17 June 2015

Time: 6.15pm until closing

Place: The Nordic Bar, Newman Street, London W1 (nearest tube Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Circus or Goodge Street)

You can RSVP below or over on Facebook. Either way, it’s free to attend.

Powered by Eventbrite

Spread the word and look forward to seeing you all soon.

Skål!

Helen

http://swedishbeers.org
@swedishbeers
http://facebook.com/swedishbeers
This is a Heroes of Mobile event.

The Effective Mobile Marketing Awards are now open for entries

The 2015 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards are open for business. Brought to you by the Mobile Marketing Magazine team, The Awards, now in their sixth year, recognise excellence in mobile marketing across 35 categories, and have attracted more than 200 entries in each of the last three years. I’ve previously been a judge for these awards.

Mothercare, Tesco, Renault, North Face, IKEA, Subway and Lloyds Banking Group were among the brands picking up awards last time round, while Manning Gottlieb OMD, Mindshare, Mobile 5, Future Platforms and OMD were among the victorious agencies.

In addition to the 35 primary categories, there will also once again be four People’s Choice Awards, with the shortlist drawn up by a panel of industry experts and the winners chosen by a public vote. The cost to enter starts at £175 for a single entry with discounts for multiple entries by the same company.

To enter the Awards, download the Entry form here, fill it in and return via email to awards@mobilemarketingmagazine.com before the entry deadline – 5pm UK time, Friday 7 August 2015.

More information about the awards over on their website.

Learn about Accessibility in London on Thursday

Yes, it’s short notice, but one of the speakers of my accessibility sessions from a few year’s back is having an open learning day on Thursday 21st May at his company’s offices in East London.

Professor Jonathan Hassell and Christine Hemphill are the founders of Open Inclusion which is a digital accessibility, US and innovation consultancy. They help clients make beautifully inclusive products – better by design, for better user experiences for all and better business.

Jonathan impressed me with his knowledge and engaging way of sharing that knowledge in the session he did for me all that time ago. That’s why I’m sure his Global Accessibility Awareness Day sessions will be well worth attending. And not only that, they’re free to attend. You can pick and choose which sessions you want to attend. The action starts at 11am and goes on throughout the day covering a variety of topics related to accessibility and design.

More information and RSVP here.

More about Open Inclusion and the work they do here.