Sitting Comfortably?

The Leeds #CozyTweetup just made the big time.

CozyTweetup in Leeds – 10th of December

Hi. I’m Simon, how are ya?

We have a CozyTweetup happening in Leeds, on the 10th of December at 6pm at Boutique

Like you the cozytweetup idea caught my attention. One because the name is very human and inclusive, everything a socially savvy twitter meetup should be… and two because the concept is nifty. Why meet people in a high pressure convention center, when there are far better, more informal places to meet?

Like you I’m on a journey to expand my twitter network, meet people and generally enjoy the process. So the idea struck; why not organise a CozyTweetup in Leeds?

Leeds is Little London, and has a vibrant community of exciting talent, wanting to network, the cozy way. You don’t have to be from Leeds to attend, but given the times involved it’s a head start.

We have The Snug at Boutique, all to ourselves to use and abuse. It is just off Call Lane in Leeds, between Normans and Mook. If you’re struggling for directions, drop me a note @sytaylor and I’ll hook you up with the info you need

A big Thanks to Mazi for the assist. So who's coming?

Date for your Diary: 10th December

Keep December 10th Clear...

Since this post, The Leeds #cozytweetup has generated an awful lot of buzz and interest among the brightest and best in the Leeds Social Media circles.

The idea comes from www.cozytweetup.com & the brain behind @mazitv The goal of the #cozytweetup is to come meet like minded twitter users, in a relaxed environment. Why? Because you guys rock!



So here's the deal. We have a special location lined up on December 10th, 6pm to 9pm at Boutique We have the "snug" to ourselves, so it defintely fits the bill as cozy. Come meet the most influential twitter users in the Leeds area... Find out what makes them tick, tock.

If you would like to get involved, drop me a note at sy@sytaylor.net or on twitter @sytaylor

We have Leeds Guide coming to give us a visit, as well as some of the better known PR agencies in the area. This is the perfect opportunity to meet the right people, in the right setting with the right amount of time to stick December 10th in your diary...

Remember December 10th. Leeds is about to get twitteriffic.

Battle Scars

Music tends to find you at your worst points, and help you understand that feeling that splits your heart in two. It's when you've been fighting for months on end against yourself, you can feel something that never felt happening before. Hope is here.

When my heart stops beating, and my lungs stop beating, I hope somebody cares. When you're under a cloud, you become very good at making excuses, and pretending everything is OK. It's called justifying. Taking the truth and bending it to suit your weaknesses. The battle with yourself is the hardest because you believe your own bullshit.

I believed mine. For the longest time.

What's more the stronger you are, the stronger your resistance to those who are trying to help. Sometimes we do the worst thing, when we're trying to do the right thing.

My excuses were carefully crafted, and the walls so well built nobody could get past them, they ended up liking me in spite of them. I don't care if I don't sleep at night, I just wanna get this right. Disappointment has a name; laziness.

You know the fear of success, it's the thing that makes you check facebook instead of calling a friend. You know the fear of success, it's the thing that scares you from telling someone how you feel. You know the fear of success? It sucks. Its everywhere. Its gotta go.

Half of my heart is a shotgun wedding to a bride with a paper ring, half of my heart is the part of me who never truly loved anything. Half won't do.

Who says I can't be free, from all of the things I used to be? It's been a long 9 months working for TSYS, yet I owe my boss an incredible amount. I needed a kick up the ass to start solving the problems that were building up and causing me to be unhappy. The only person in my way was me. Now I feel free.

It's been a long time coming, but maybe, just maybe... I'm becoming the man always wanted to be.

The Leeds #CozyTweetup

What is #Cozytweetup and why the heck should I care?



You love Twitter, you love this social media thing, and you especially love the type of people it attracts. Yet the whole thing is about attending conferences which cost hundreds of pounds to attend. What if bright young things could ride a wave of Social Networking talent, and meetup with the leaders in the field from their area...

I present, the Leeds CozyTweetup.

From the website

CozyTweetup was created thanks to a conversation between @Mazi @Ilicco and @Darenbbc on Twitter about gathering for a quiet meal one evening. The meal turned out to be a, not so quiet, 20 strong crowed at Pizza Express where a lot of fun was to unfold.

Due to the success of the first CozyTweetup more followed and the event has attracted sponsors from companies such as Magners, Tweetdeck, Next Web, Media 140 and Mixcloud to name a few. In true Twitter style the word just keeps spreading and the demand for them continue to grow.

CozyTweetup’s are relaxed and fun, providing a fantastic opportunity for Twitter users to connect in real life. There’s no agenda other than to come along, chat and have fun! You don’t have to be a whizz on a computer or a social media expert to attend. The event is for everyone and the more diverse, the better.

What's next?

Watch this space for Venue and Time / Date details. If you're interested, or think you can help in any way, contact me. sy@sytaylor.net

Culture and Creativity Collide

Inspiration is a wonderful idea. Depending on how cynical you feel today, it's either that aspirational poster on your bosses office, or it's that spark of mania where you believe you are actually Jesus and about to solve world poverty with a stick.

As the world gets smaller, we temporarily lost our local influences and culture has spread across borders. We in the West can now dine around the world, within 5 minutes of any major city center. We are also truly multicultural, not without problems... but we do live among each other. You mesh all that together and mix it up, and the mashups of creativity are yeilding aweomeness like; Bollywood Dubstep, Chinese cinematic epics and Russians singing Katie Perry.



If that's not entertainment nothing is!

For some this happened in the horrible, corporate way. The British Pub in Disney Epcot is a shining example of what is not culture. Initially Culture was dominated by the Music and Movie industries. The internet has had an interesting decentralising role. By giving power back to the little guy. The best little guy's in the world, are getting famous!

The value in real influence is however greater than ever. If you sort through the populist chaff, and there is some very wholesome influence available.

What influences you? Here's my (short & not in order) list:

Battlestar Galactica
Epic Video Game Music
Incubus
Ceasar Milan
Reading books
Clouds
Travelling
Conversation

Diversify what you see, hear, feel, taste, touch and smell and you will automatically become more creative. Inspiration. Where do you get yours?

Network Building - Location Based

There is nothing more distasteful than a cliché to start a blog post with, so instead this one starts with some good old common sense. The bigger your network, the easier your life.



I always loved those old Mafioso types who could hook you up with anything you need. Picture the scene. It's the 1930s and you just walked into a bar after your car broke down. You're having a terrible day, and the barkeep and his whiskey collection is your only friend. On telling the good barkeep about your troubles, he mentions "I know a guy, Jimmy Hands can fix you right up".

So it struck me recently, that whilst my bunch of friends is wonderful and I do pretty well meeting people, it's never something I really attacked with purpose. For some reason this morning, I figured why not try some location based searching on twitter? See if anything interests me.

Today I'm reminded of why I love twitter. The Advanced Search feature lets you search for tweets by location. Most people from Leeds infrequently mention Leeds in their tweets. When you think about it, it makes sense. Why would you mention where you are from in everything you say?

Give it a shot, simply enter your location, and a radius you want to connect, and then see if anything looks interesting. Interest lead search is GENIUS. I could lose myself in it for days. Humanity comes off looking a lot smarter when you filter for things you are interested in :p

Lets see how well this whole network building thing works. Bookmarks updated, daily search of Leeds based tweets ftw