What is it?

https://skipton.digital / https://www.linkedin.com/groups/17858011/ 

A local meetup of like minded people who work in or around digital and technology. It's open to everyone - even if you don't work in technology, if you have an interest in what we're discussing, come along!

Why did I create it?

A number of reasons:

• Community
  
  • In this age of remote working, we've lost a lot of the in-person time. We need to be deliberate in bringing this back.
• Knowledge sharing
  • Nothing better than sharing ideas and thinking about things you're passionate about
• Networking
  • Who knows where the next opportunity is coming from... in this age of AI, human connection is going to be all the more important.
• Personal reasons
  • Having recently moved to Skipton, I wanted to find out who worked in the digital ecosystem near where I now call home.

What's been the response so far?

I'm pleased to say that we've had at least five people volunteer to help organise the meetup and a number of local businesses express their interest in getting involved. I'm grateful to all of them. Having run a Mobile App Development meetup previously, I know how difficult this would be to sustain on my own. Thanks to various people for the words of encouragement along the way, and offers of support and guidance.

What's next?

An inaugural meetup to discuss the way forward, and what others want to achieve. This will likely be 'down the pub' to begin with.

Think bigger?

I look around the northern tech landscape, and see events such as Leeds Digital festival and sheffield.digital. They are representing their larger cities' tech companies and innovators with quality events, natioanlly recognised. I'd like to do the same in Skipton and the surrounding area. I want to give back to the industry that I've worked in since I left university. Who knows where this may lead?