Last Wednesday was what felt like the beginning of a new season of Creative Coffee Club. While the Leicester branch closed over the summer, our regular London meet-up has kept ticking over, but with a skeleton crew. I didn’t make them all myself and on a couple of occasions we were down to just two or three attendees, but that hardly mattered as the quality of conversation was always top notch. Everything from artificial intelligence to insider’s views on the film and music industry, more often than not with a social media application or solution.

Two weeks ago we tried something a little different by offering up a theme in advance. Normally a couple of topics naturally surface and we chew them over, but having a little more direction helped to get us under steam a little earlier. I really enjoyed that discussion (despite arriving late) as The Future of Television is something I’m particularly interested in right now. The nice thing about the people who are drawn to both the CCC and SMC are that they are not merely commentators – more than once a laptop is pulled out and we get to see how people are doing their bit to shape the future of something.

This week the numbers swelled back to their pre summer heights (no pun intended) and the proposed topic went out the window as the large group splintered off. I maybe got to speak to half the people present which is a good sign. At the Tuttle on Fridays I speak to a lot less than that – the busier the better in my book. Both the Social Media Cafe and the Creative Coffee Club are the healthiest regular events that I attend. By  healthy I don’t mean that they’re just well attended, notably they also attract new blood so are never in danger of getting stale. Fresh views and opinions also help prevent an echo chamber from forming, while constantly explaining to new faces why it is we gather and what we do there helps to keep these events in focus.

New to the group last week was Mario Cacciottolo from Someone Once Told Me. Make with the clicky on that link today and you’ll see my ugly mug. Don’t panic though, there’s a new photo every day so I’ll soon get shuffled backwards. Mario also snapped off a few more Creative Coffee types including Lloyd and Steve and as Mario is very keen to see the project thrive independently of him, I’m hoping to rope in a few more Tuttlers to take part too. All you need is a camera and a sentence…

Tomorrow sees CCC Leicester waking up so I’m getting an early train to take part in that too. With new Social Media Cafes popping up in the UK and the US it looks like the next few months are going to be a lot of fun. It’d be nice to keep an eye on all these seperate events because despite the division geographically I’m pretty confident that some of the topics, and perhaps members, will overlap.

I’m thinking a lot right now about how we can move the conversations to another level. I love the coffee and the chat, but it’d be nice to see if we can make a few things happen. Be a shame to waste the ideas that flow across the venues as the people that gather in them are way smarter than me. I think we are making small steps in that direction already and I have just one more meeting with Lloyd to confirm that the Tuttle will enter stage 2 on October 10th. Not a massive transition, but something akin to having the stabilisers removed from the social media bicycle.

This is a great time to dip your toes into this particular pool if you haven’t already. Come along to a Creative Coffee or Tuttle meeting – if we’re too far afield from you or the weekday early mornings or a stretch then start your own. On Thursday evening I’ll be at the Twestival (great idea, horrible name) so feel free to bend my ear on some of this or if the music is too loud we can just make frantic hand gestures at each other across the room…

Had no idea what to call this post and then iTunes coughed up Turn The Page by Bob Seger. Great song – Metallica covered it on Garage, Inc but with a lot less saxamaphone.