CGM Night Episode 4

I'm sure nobody else is going to blog about this....[/sarcasm]

Went to the fourth instance of Danny Choo and Andrew Shuttleworth's hipster networking event tonight. It was fun, I guess, but the more I get to know everybody there, the more I realize that I'd rather hang out with ten or twenty of them at a bar than 150 at a big event like this. Fun times, though, and I won some kind of Star Wars figure by arm-wrestling Jonny Li.

I feel like CGM night has always had a little bit of an identity crisis- it doesn't know whether it wants to be a secondary Tokyo 2.0, a benkyoukai (勉強会), or a big party. The Tokyo tech community is getting kind of incestuous, and I feel like it would be good to find a purpose for all of us greater than just "networking." Bar Camp seems like a step in the right direction, but I'd also love to see events along the lines of Japanese benkyoukai- an hour or two of serious, participatory, sit-down presentations and discussions, followed by a trip to an izakaya where everybody can seriously cut loose. I like hanging out with techie people and taking pictures of each other in a masturbatory DSLR orgy, but we need to focus our energy on something meaningful if we want this community to become a sustainable, productive thing. We've got awesome people with awesome skills and experience- let's use them!

Comments

[Jamaipanese]

great pictures. can't believe it's the forth meeting already

[Mike]

I know!

I can appreciate how as a lucky Tokyo-ite you feel these things are becoming the norm and you yearn for something fresh, but spare a thought for the rest of us in other parts of the world that would kill to attend one of these ^^;

Nice photos by the way, and congrats on the arm wrestling!

[Andy]

Good constructive criticism about the event, though I feel that if CGM has a serious discussion component to the event, attendance will plummet. Which might not actually be a bad thing, as you seem to agree.

[David]

I just feel like we need to focus the party before it stagnates on its own.

[David]

Point taken- meant to come off more constructive than whiney, but I
wrote the post without having slept for an embarrassingly long amount
of time, so there may be some insomniac crankiness in there :-)

[Mimi]

Hey I totally agree, although (lol) I probably shouldn't show my opinions on an event that I don't even attend. xD

Having business and networking is great, but I wonder if you guys ever get tired of just that ...

[Jake]

Wow! An intelligent person writing about the Tokyo scene in a way that is not gushing and utterly fuck-tarded.

I think, for many people, CGM 4 was the last silly event that they will attend in Tokyo. "an hour or two of serious, participatory, sit-down presentations and discussions" is, as you say, exactly what we need.

My fear is that if/when we "focus our energy on something meaningful if we want this community to become a sustainable, productive thing" it will become clear that our energy was largely just hot air. Very few of the people really have "awesome skills and experience". A couple of them can download a Wordpress theme, that's about it.

[David]

Aw, you're making me blush! I wouldn't call the other write-ups I've seen "fuck-tarded," but I do think the tech community here has some work to do in defining itself and what it wants to accomplish. Networking's cool, and I've landed a job or two and a good number of friends from these events, but it doesn't scale- there's a finite
number of connections that can be made, and you reach practical saturation pretty quickly (not counting the similar makeup of the monthly Tokyo 2.0, which speeds it even more). I think saturation peaked in episode three, if not before, and there are a few directions to go from here:

-Same format, just less often. If this was once every six months or once every year, there should be enough refresh in the crowds to keep it kind of new. Also, you can make it a much bigger, more intense event, because you're concentrating all your resources on one event
instead of 3+

-More of a party. Host it in an izakaya or at the pink cow, and make it clear it's a chance for hipsters to drink together. If pretentions and expectations are low, satisfaction and fun tend to be high.

-The format I talked about above, which would be a serious study/discussion session, followed by an optional nomikai or dinner.

Personally, I think combining the three would be ideal. Imagine if once every six months, we had two or three really engaging speakers tell us all something we didn't know, answer questions about it, and then go reserve a whole izakaya and get blasted? We could toss a
little meishi-exchange networking period at the beginning, like they have at most conferences, and people would leave being able to articulate what exactly they got out of that night.

There's definitely some hot air in the community, but I think you get that in any group of people organized around an activity or interest. Social media/Web 2.0/"CGM" is particularly susceptible, because of the
low barrier to entry and the way it facilitates narcissism. People get a blog and a twitter account, automatically post from one to the other, and decide that they're in the 'social media industry.' Meanwhile, Google, Six Apart, Federated Media, Amazon, and the other big web companies sit on the sidelines, raking in the dough.

On the other hand, if you don't make a big fuss about it or get full of yourself, blogging or working with social media can be a great hobby and a cool way to connect with people. I'd like to think of our group as any other activity circle, where experts and newbies gather
to do activities everyone can participate in. The experts share, the newbies learn and question, and everybody grows. Just because someone's not a hardcore coder, media mogul, or professional blogger doesn't mean they have nothing to contribute to a well-run discussion
or activity. Heck, I'm none of the above, and I feel like I've gotten a lot and given some non-zero amount to this community. Many in the community are seriously talented, driven, successful people, and I think we all have things to learn from each other.

Here's to hoping that learning happens.

[freedomwv]

Well I live in Tokyo, I blog, and have never got in invite. Looks find of interesting. Maybe a greaser blogger like myself could add some spice to the mix.

[Deas]

What is UP with these comments' formatting!?

[takaaki]

I asked an organizer of TokyoBarcamp why people aren't tired of meeting up the same people in different events in JapanTechTalk episode 8. If you have a chance, please listen to his comment.

[billywest]

Haha. I could imagine myself trying to network at one of these events.

Random guest: Let me introduce you to XXXX; he's very well-known in the field of XXXX and could be a valuable contact for you.

Me: Let me tell you about the best places to meet girls after last train without going to a club with a huge cover charge.

Random guest: Excuse me for a moment, I have to use the loo.

[Alex]

As long as I've been in the game (since 2005), and despite being what I consider to be a fairly web-social person, I've never been invited to one of the events.

Do I fail at branding myself? Maybe it's because I took down all of the PPC advertising on my site?

Maybe I'll just start my own lonely Tohoku Invitational Turnout party - TIT party, if you will.

[Robert Sanzalone]

I think you've got some great points David. I certainly have spent time with Andrew and others here in the "Japan-Tech Networking circles" and our discussions have always been "if we could just find a way of bringing everyone together". Your post shows that may have been achieved and many people, like yourself, are now looking to take it to the next level. The question now generally seems to be: "OK, we're all here. Now what?" It's all good.

[Jawaad Mahmood]

I get a feeling that you and I would get along just well.

[David]

Yeah, I'm gonna tap TypePad support on this.

[David]

It's less engineered exclusivity than limited broadcast. I've never heard of anyone ask anyone else for the invite mail and get denied for not being hardcore enough. Heck, I'd just email d-choo or mr. shuttleworth and ask to get on the list.

[David]

Me too. Can we have a "Adventures with Billywest" night sometime?

[David]

As I told freedomwv before, I've never heard of people being denied an invite, just people who never found out. Follow relevant peeps on twitter, ask danny to be on the list, and I'm sure you'll make it to the next one. The non-publication of the info is more to slightly control the numbers than anything else, as far as I can tell.

[kuroshirohaiiro]

I love this tech stuff....probably one of the biggest things that interests me about japan...networking..haha....I WANT MOREEEE

[David]

Good point; we don't want to overlook the fact that there was a time when there weren't enough opportunities for like-minded internationals to get together and talk about tech stuff, and I'm grateful to the pioneers that got this community rolling way back in the day.

[David]

Want not for networking; it is but a means to an end. Want for stimulation, want for conversation, want for friendship, or just want for a job, but know *why* you want to "network."

[yonasu]

Yeah, just send Danny an email and you'll probably get on the list. I don't think Danny has the time to stroll around on the internet looking for people to invite.

[1Rick]

I think some constructive criticism is a great idea. And David cheers to you for actually putting out some solid ideas rather than just shitting on stuff as many have done.

Speaking as someone who's new to Tokyo, I really appreciate any kind of event I can get out to because it gives me a chance to meet people besides my wife and dog. CGM is good fun, and I'm sure if will continue to evolve.

While there are certainly things that I'd do differently than Danny and Andrew, I give them both full points for having the energy to get behind an event of this scale.

[Andrew Shuttleworth]

David and all commenters - thanks for the thoughtful post and comments and sorry it took so long for me to follow up with thoughts of my own.

There's a lot to follow up on but you probably don't want to read an essay so I'll just cover some of the main points that come to mind.

Firstly, in terms of the identity crisis, CGM Night certainly doesn't aim to be a Tokyo 2.0 or benkyoukai. It's basically what Danny says at www.cgmnight.com:

"My vision is for CGMers and Industry folks to seek ways to either work with each other or gain new friendships while having a groovesome time."

As Robert says above it's about bringing people together. It should also not be considered a tech community event. Now I see that your point is really about doing something more constructive than networking and I'll address this later, but first of all I'd really like to challenge you on whether you couldn't get more out of CGM Night. Personally in spite of the fact I've been networking in Tokyo for 10 years and am one of the organizers I still have met some great people for the first time at CGM Night and continue to benefit every time. We also get a lot of great feedback from people who have had the chance to meet others through the event. So as I sit here tonight and think about when to do the next event, my instinct says it would still be better to do one sooner (due to the chance to bring people together faster) rather than later. Of course, the challenge how to create a regular event that is still 150% exciting and full of energy and I don't think we've quite hit that nail on the head yet.

I know that complaining wasn't the point of your post so that was just for the general readership rather than to start up a debate. Going on to address the need for something more substantial. There is already TLUG, ICA, Ringo, Ninjava, MobileMonday, DigitalEve, TSAC and TPC. I really wonder whether there is the critical mass for foreigner driven events in many other areas. I estimate you need a virtual membership of at least 100 people to ensure a regular offline seminar type events. Of course there's also a huge range of events in the Japanese community* and what we are trying to do with both CGM Night and Tokyo 2.0, is bring people from the international community together so that hopefully there will be more interaction. There will also be a presentation at the next Tokyo 2.0 by someone setting up a smaller study group for IT entrepreneurs

Having said that I encourage you or anyone else to get other events going where you see a need. It would be great to see that happen and you can be sure that both CGM Night and Tokyo 2.0 will be there to help you promote and recruit new members.

Just my 10 cents :-)

* Japanese benkyokai calendar http://cli.gs/pVbLGQ