It’s once again competition time and we have a fantastic prize for January’s London Bloggers Meetup provided by the good folks at Dell. What’s Dell got to do with making a great first impression I hear you ask?
Well, let me tell you.
Dell believes that for smallish businesses, freelancers and entrepreneurs, making the right first impression is critical. Not only that, but the laptop you carry says as much about you as the clothes you wear.
Sure, laptops may only be a small part of what makes a good impression, but I have to agree with Dell here, the details count. I can tell you with confidence that I never carry my work laptop to meetings, because for some reason the IT department has seen fit to furnish me with what resembles a concrete slab, rather than a laptop. Oh how I long for something actually portable.
With that in mind and to promote the launch of their upcoming Facebook business community page, Dell is looking to bloggers and businesses to share as many “trade secrets” as possible about how to make that crucial first impression. The incentive, they are giving away one of their new ultraportable and surprisingly powerful laptops. Check out a review here.
If you want to be in with a chance to walk away from the next LBM with one of these laptops (valued somewhere in the £850 range), help Dell get talking about how to make a great first impression. Simply submit your “Top trade secret” in the comments below and turn up next Tuesday to see if you won!
We’ll be picking the winner ourselves and judging your submissions based on funniness and usefulness (in equal measure).
Terms and conditions
- All entries must be submitted in the blog comments on this post
- The prize winner will be announced at the London Bloggers Meetup held on the 11th January
- The competition prize is one Dell Vostro 130 laptop
- Dell reserves the right to use any competition entries in future marketing communications
- The promoter’s decision is final and binding in all matters
- Prize is non transferable and there is no cash alternative
- One entry per person
- Closing date is Tuesday 11th January at 5pm
We’re rapidly approaching the end of the year and what a great year it has been in the world of blogging and the London Bloggers Meetup. We’ve had some truly brilliant meetups, with interesting guest speakers and generous sponsors – topped off very well by the massively generous Naked Wines in November.
Sadly however we’ve ran out of time to put on a Christmas party for all you bloggers this year!
But fear not, our friends at Onlinefire have just the ticket. They are working with Panasonic to put on an exclusive party at JuJu bar, Kings Road, Chelsea and they’d like to invite you along, so you won’t be missing out after all!
Dynamo, the UK street magician, has teamed up with Panasonic and the TA1 HD camcorder, to create DynamoTV, the eight week series which follows Dynamo as he hangs-out with a variety of his celebrity friends and amazes them with mind-blowing magic and illusion. Celebrities include, Tinie Tempah, Example, Keith Lemon, Rufus Hound, Sugababes, Sean Paul, to name only a few.
Panasonic and Dynamo are hosting this exclusive party to celebrate the success of the DynamoTV series and we have 50 tickets to giveaway to members of London Bloggers Meetup.
The evening of street magic will take place at JuJu London on Wednesday 15th December from 7pm onwards. Complimentary drinks and canapés will be served throughout the evening. There will be goody bags for every guest, plus we will be giving away 10 TA1 camcorders every hour as ‘spot’ prizes throughout the evening.
Not only that but you’ll have the opportunity to meet with Dynamo in person and mingle with his celebrity friends. To apply for your (free) tickets, click here.
Now that’s surely a fine remedy for all of you who can’t wait until January for your next LBM fix. Happy Christmas everyone!
Cheers, Andy
PS news of our exciting blogger awards coming to a blog near you soon!
Image courtesy of Garry Knight’s photostream.
Monday morning brings another blogger interview and this week we’ve been talking to one of London’s most prolific bloggers, Matt Brown of Londonist. Matt is someone I’ve known for a couple of years now and have worked with on some clients projects too. He’s a genuinely nice guy and can often be found supping a glass of red wine at the London Bloggers Meetups. I would hazard a guess that he and the Londonist crowd are more often than not the last to leave at the end of an evening too.
If you haven’t read Londonist before, shame on you. It’s one of the best multi-author blogs on London and in fact, one of the best multi-author blogs full stop in my humble opinion. If you want to get the best out of London then check out what they’re up to. The fact that Matt has been working on Londonist for over five years tells you he knows a bit about both blogging and London. Who better then to try and glean a few blogging tips and tricks from.
So over to you Matt, tell us more about the world of Matt Brown, Londonist and how to be a better blogger…
1. What’s your blog called and what’s the URL?
Londonist and the URL is http://londonist.com
2. What’s your blog all about ( in 20 words or less)?
London, and everything that happens in it.
3. When and why did you start blogging?
I personally started blogging in June 2005, although Londonist itself dates back to October 2004. I joined the team of bloggers on Londonist as I wanted somewhere to share my love of London. I’m not sure I’d even heard of blogs back then – I just discovered this fantastic site where people like me were writing daily about London life and wanted to be part of that.
4. Which blog platform do you use?
Movable Type 4.
5. Can you give an example of how blogging has enriched your life?
Over the years, writing or Londonist has given me an excuse to visit all kinds of weird and wonderful London locations. I’ve spent the night in a haunted plague pit beneath London Bridge. I’ve waded through the sewers near the Olympic park. I’ve strolled along the Tube Lines at Leicester Square at 2 in the morning and had tea with the Lord Mayor. And I caught a lung disease after clambering to the top of a disused church steeple. If that’s not life-enriching, I don’t know what is.
6. Are there any blogs you recommend reading and why?
Diamond Geezer is among the best chroniclers of the city in any media, and his amusing rants about PR companies are also a blogging treasure.
Ian Visits is another essential read for anyone interested in London’s history and heritage. I feel a little guilty only nominating these two, as there are so many other superb bloggers out there, especially those covering very local issues.
7. What three tips would you give to someone just starting out in blogging?
- Be on Twitter/Facebook too – these are invaluable tools for helping to grow your blog.
- If you’re going to be edgy, be aware that you’re just as prone to the libel laws as any journalist (what people say in the comments section is also your legal responsibility)
- Don’t think too hard about it…just get going and prepare to experiment with styles and stories as you go along. Five years on, I still learn new things about blogging every day.
8. If you could change one thing about your blog what would it be?
Well, we can change more or less anything we want now that we’re no longer so tied to our ‘parent blog’ Gothamist, and we’re in the process of making some exciting changes right now. Beyond that, I don’t want to say more right now.
9. What is the key to getting readers to your blog?
I’m really proud of the way we involve our readers in creating the content. For example, we have a Flickr pool where readers can leave photos of the city (almost 100,000 now), which we then use (with full credit and link-back) in the stories. The photographer gets a wider exposure and our blog looks that bit more beautiful – everyone’s a winner.
We also ask for reader suggestions (via Twitter and Facebook) when compiling posts about what to do at the weekend, what to do cheaply in London, etc. We’ve also used crowdsourcing to compile interesting maps of London (for example, we attracted a large audience of elderly readers – not our usual demographic – when we plotted a map of World War II rocket attacks, mostly based on reader information).
These and countless other examples are at the heart of our relationship with our readers, and I think this is why our audience has grown so much in recent years.
10. And finally, why do you come to the London Bloggers Meetups?
I like the mix of people. At any given meetup you’ll meet a mixture of social media professionals, marketing and PR types and people who blog for the sheer fun of it, with no commercial angle whatsoever. Everyone has something valuable to contribute and I’ve learnt a lot from some of the people there.
We are being joined at this month’s London Bloggers Meetup by Naked Wines. For those who haven’t come across Naked Wines before they are a completely new and different online wine retailer. What makes them different is they invest in independent winemakers in exchange for preferential prices – which they pass on to their customers.
The wines taste great because the winemakers can pour their passion into making great wines and perhaps the best bit, they cost anything up to 65% less. Beautiful.
As part of their involvement in the London Bloggers Meetup, Naked Wines will be creating a special mixed case of wine just for our community. One lucky blogger will even win a case to take home and enjoy at their leisure.
How can I win?
Yes I thought you’d ask. Well, there’s only one free case and to claim this you simply need to nominate a charity in the comments of this blog post. We will then draw a winner out of the hat at the meetup on the 17th November.
The profit Naked Wines makes from the sale of the London Bloggers Meetup case will then all be donated to the charity nomimated by our lucky winner.
So hang on, are you telling me I could support my favourite charity and win a case of wine, simply by nominating my favourite charity below.
Yep….
It’s as easy as that. Oh and of course you must come along to the Naked November meetup on the 17th November. More details here.
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