My thanks go to Christian Ahlert for having the foresight (not to mention drive) to organise the whole Minibar thing. The last event on April 20 was my first visit, and what a mix of people I found there, I’ll def be at the next one on May 25.
For those that don’t know, Minibar is an event where you can meet up with and network with a whole variety of web2.0/startup people, from media, to VCs, to technicians, to designers, to business people – all in one eclectic mix. I found it closely mirrored the events like SF New Tech Meetup and SF Beta that go one regularly in the San Francisco Bay Area, and that is a GREAT thing for London and the UK.
I was fortunate the have the opportunity to present izimi at the last event, I don’t mind telling you it was an interesting experience, stood up on that stage, all eyes turned towards you, beers and wines in hands ().
I learnt something that I’d like to pass on to future Minibar presenters, now this is going to sound obvious, but, here it is anyway… do a demo. Don’t just talk, don’t just use slides. Yes, that’s it, if at all possible do a demo, a demo speaks a thousand slides. For my sins I chose to do slides with a few lines of notes, thinking 5 mins was too short to demo but it somehow felt awkward. In comparison, Gavin O’Carroll from Rememble.com did a one man demo show. Now, it was a valiant effort by one man trying to operate keyboard, mouse, and hold the microphone simultaneously while battling with terrible feedback. But still it worked out well – better than my slides to be sure.
So, yes, if you are presenting at Minibar I recommend a demo: with just five minutes you can either try to cram in all the facts with words and slides, or you demo just two of three key things and then leave the audience to follow it up – after all, they are a smart bunch.
