Wealth of networks with Erik Lehmann

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Yesterday the stage was set for the second Emerging Tech Manchester event (#etechmcr). After much bouncing emails back and forth with some skype calls inbetween. Erik Lehmann came to Manchester all the way from the states.

I can’t express how amazing this actually happened, especially since I was only introduced to Erik in a last few months.

His talk and the questions and answers went on for a while but everybody was super engaged and fascinated by such a passionate and heartfelt talk. Erik is such a warm and joyful person and I loved the little nuggets of thoughts he threw out as he talked. Luckily Ethar caught some of them.

Mentioned while Erik was talking about sponsorship and support from big business. Which led to the idea of a hypocrisy index… Radical transparancy?

I especially loved the idea of what would the occupy movement do with something like Graphene.

We did stream the whole thing over periscope thanks to Adam.

But the like most things, the best parts were the discussion which happened afterwards in the bar over food and drink which Erik very generously paid for. We had talked before about sponsorship options but we were both agreed that we wanted people there because they wanted to be there, even if it reduced the audience. This came up in the bar afterwards too, as someone else made the point about people expecting/wanting free drinks.

London Geekdinners was mainly a paid for event, meaning people paid to go! The same person afterwards said a similar thing about her event.

I don’t have a problem with sponsorship (as long as it makes sense and they don’t try and take over) but lets get real a lot of events are community/non-profit run events. If the reason you are going is because of the free pizza or drink… Its not fair on the people who work hard to make it happen and the speakers who are most likely not getting paid and giving up their time for the joy of it too.

Erik Lehmann at eTechmcr

Erik for example was not paid and came a long long way because he believes in the wealth of networks and wants to connect with people who may want to help…

The conversations were wide ranging and as Erik had said in his talk, the strength and ultimately the wealth of the network was why he was there and why the game-changer movement will be a success. In years to come, it will be great to look back and say we were able to connect him with more people who help.

Yes its a shame we got a smaller turn out but Rise Manchester was a great venue to host the event and we thank Rise for the loan of a great space. Its also a shame I couldn’t connect Erik with the Graphene institute, MadlabUK, Open Data Manchester and many others great people in the Manchester area.

Erik Lehmann at eTechmcr

Thank you again to everybody who came and Erik for travelling so far for the event.  I will be sure to send people Eriks way forever more.

Emerging Tech Manchester #2: Games for good with Erik Lehmann

Erik Lehmann

After the great success of the First Emerging Tech Manchester a joint event with VR Manchester. Photos are up here on meetup.com.

We have the second #Etechmcr. This time we have the pleasure of hosting Erik Lehmann who is pioneering the game changer movement. I become aware of Erik and what he’s doing via Alex DS who introduced us.

We are looking at the wider future narrative of games for good through the work Erik has completed and doing at the game changer movement.

Its a free event thanks to the great hosts which are Rise Manchester, this time around. As we make use of the great spaces we have around Manchester.
Get it booked into your calendar for Monday March 21st between 7pm and 9pm and subscribe to the meetup group for more information around Eriks work and further events in the future.