Click the photo to see it at full size.
The first “Coders, Creatives, and Craft Beer” meetup took place last night, and with about three dozen attendees at peak (and on a Tuesday night) it was a smashing success! My thanks to everyone who came; it’s you who made this event special.
The early crowd. Click the photo to see it at full size.
Coders, Creatives, and Craft Beer is a regular gathering of Tampa Bay’s techies, creatives, entrepreneurs, and geeks of all stripes. It’s an event where we can get to know other local techies, creatives, entrepreneurs, and geeks and talk shop, share ideas, and maybe even collaborate on projects as we enjoy each other’s company, fun surroundings, and craft beer. It was great seeing some old friends and acquaintances, and to make new ones as well!
More people arrive. Click the photo to see it at full size.
Even more people arrive! Click the photo to see it at full size.
And finally, we take over the place. Click the photo to see it at full size.
Anitra and I started this meetup to help build Tampa Bay’s scenius — a term coined by Brian Eno that describes as “the intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. It is the communal form of the concept of the genius.”
Here’s an expanded definition, straight from Eno himself:
“Scenius stands for the intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. It is the communal form of the concept of the genius.”
…I thought that originally those few individuals who’d survived in history – in the sort-of “Great Man” theory of history – they were called “geniuses”. But what I thought was interesting was the fact that they all came out of a scene that was very fertile and very intelligent.
So I came up with this word “scenius” – and scenius is the intelligence of a whole… operation or group of people. And I think that’s a more useful way to think about culture, actually. I think that – let’s forget the idea of “genius” for a little while, let’s think about the whole ecology of ideas that give rise to good new thoughts and good new work.”
“Genius/EGOsystem vs. Scienus/ECOsystem” graphic by Austin Kleon.
To build a scenius, you need one of the “4 C’s” that a strong tech and creative community needs — convene. There need to be places and events to bring people together. Otherwise, that very necessary ecosystem never forms, and everyone simply chugs away in isolation, and the scene that we want never coalesces. That’s the goal of Coders, Creatives, and Craft Beer: to give the community opportunities to convene, and with each gathering, making it more likely that the conversations, friendships, and the exchange of contact information, ideas, and maybe even opportunities, will help grow our scene.
To find out more about scenius, check out this article: Tampa Bay’s tech “scenius” depends on us.
There will be another Coders, Creatives, and Craft Beer meetup in August! We’re working on the details right how — if you want to stay in the loop and know when it’s happening, join the Meetup group.
Some credit where credit is due: Thanks to 7venth Sun Brewery in Seminole Heights for being an amazing venue…
…Xtreme Tacos for being a fantastic food vendor…
…Tential (and especially Alex Kelly) for helping to promote the event…
…but most of all, thanks to everyone who was there! Without you, there’s no meetup:
Photo by Alex Kelly. Click the photo to see the source.
Keep in mind that this is a holiday week, with the 4th of July happening on Thursday. Event announcement services like Meetup have a tendency to automatically schedule recurring events without regard for holidays. If the event you want to attend happens on or near the 4th, you might want to double-check with the organizers and confirm that the event is actually happening.
