I’m here at Blogs & Social Media in London today. Right now JP Rangaswami from DrKW is onstage engaging with the participants. In a minute we’ll have Ray Jordan from Johnson & Johnson and then after coffee I’ll be “running” an open space. It certainly feels to me a little more open than most blog conferences and a good mix of people with experience and those with none or very little.

tag: bsmf0506

Next Wednesday sees the Blogs & Social Media Forum, organised by VNU, at the London Hilton Metropole in Edgware Road. (eeek! scarily it’s the same date and location as this) I’ve been on the advisory panel for the forum and am running one of the sessions. I’m also really pleased that VNU have commissioned us to podcast the conference and to do some pre-conference interviews – more of this below….

While accepting that people come for clear information and practical examples of how this technology is actually working, we are also pushing the networking element of the day and trying to get away from the chalk and talk, death by powerpoint approach. The trouble is, that although many have tried, no-one seems to have found a format that works for everyone, so again, I don’t think we’ve cracked it yet, but we’re trying out some new ideas to see how they work. For example, in the middle of the day Johnnie Moore and I will be running an Open Space session to give people the chance to mix up and talk to the speakers on a more egalitarian level.

Naturally, there’s a conference blog and wiki. We’ve tried to soften up the format a little – so comfy armchairs for the panel, rather than a tressle table for them to hide behind, pictures and video from the day (and more informal stuff about speakers) projected in the breaks and hopefully some funky sounds – perhaps some podsafe music and other podcast samples. Participants will be sitting cafe-style but hopefully we’ll manage to make it a bit more Starbucks than Politburo Canteen (I suggested beanbags at the last on-site meeting we had, but I’m not sure whether that one will be taken up!).

The first pre-conference podcast is over on the conference blog. I went and had a chat with Lee Bryant of Headshift. What I love about their work is the way that they’re bringing the tools together in packages that make sense to users – which Lee touches on in our short conversation.

tags: bsmf06 & events & london & VNU & podcasts & rich records & social conferences

Today, I was walking through here and later, after a couple of phone calls went to have a look around Crocker’s Folly, a Grade II* listed building which is up for sale. It has a special place in my heart as it was one of the first places in London I performed after leaving drama school in 1984 (long story) and where I met my (future ex-)wife (even longer story).
Even that aside, it is a stunningly beautiful interior with enormous potential.

The folklore behind the building is that one Frank Crocker built the place in the late part of the 19th Century based on a mistaken belief that Marylebone station would be built nearby and that there would be a need for a large hotel and hostelry. The film Georgy Girl was shot in the surrounding area of Little Venice and I have a feeling the pub is featured in a scene.

It is a crying shame that it has stood empty and boarded up for the last three or four years. My vision would be to create an alternative music venue there: Victorian Music Hall, 1930s Variety, Burlesque, Cockney & Western, etc…

I would naturally love to blog about what goes on there once opened, but it would also make a really cool blog in the meantime talking about raising the money to buy it and the restoration and other work that needs to be done to make it habitable and sea-worthy.

I shot some footage in the most interesting bit, the pub downstairs, but there are three floors of residential opportunities above the pub as well which could provide some serious rental income if refurbished right.

The owner is asking for bids by this Friday (21st April 2006) in the region of £3million but even my untrained eye could see that one would need several hundred thousand more to restore it to a going concern. My reading between the estate agent’s lines was also that there was no big unavoidable rush, but that the deadline had been set to focus the minds of potential purchasers.

Sadly, this is too short a period for me to get a few million nicker all by myself, and anyway Debbie & I are going to Birmingham for the day. But it occurred to me that to two or three degrees of separation, I do know or am known by an awful lot of people around the world and I would really like to see how possible this is. So I throw it open to you inkernet webizens. How could we put a deal together quickly to secure this lovely space (subject naturally to acceptance of such a bid by the current owners) and make reasonable returns for investors if they want them – preferably somewhere manageable and suitably long-tail ranging from 1 investor who stumps up £3m+ and 3m investors who each stump up £1.

This does not form a prospectus or any such blah blah blah.

TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS. NO, REALLY. TELL *ALL* YOUR FRIENDS

FAQ

You’re joking, right. This is one of Lloyd’s mad ideas Half right – it is one of my mad ideas, but I’m not joking. Can I put you down for say £1.50?

Are you drunk? No, nor am I on drugs. I may be otherwise mentally twisted, but not seriously so. Can I put you down for £100 then?

Don’t you realise what a stupid idea this is? No, so can I put you down for £1,000?

Do you know anything about what you’re doing… at all? No, but that’s never stopped me in the past. Can I put you down for £10,000?

Isn’t this illegal? I don’t know. I promise not to do anything illegal in the event that any of this comes off. I am not a lawyer and I don’t even play one on TV, but I’m not doing anything at the moment except talk about it. Of course one way you could contribute is if you happen to be a lawyer. So can I put you down for £100,000?

tags: crazy idea & london & NW8 & crockers & restoration & investment opportunity & blogging