Talk About Local Conference in Leeds

I've had a really fun and interesting day out in Leeds today, meeting with other people who run similar sites to My Tunstall, and share ideas at TAL10 Un-conference.

Basically and unconference is a conference of sorts, that rather than being dictated to by the organisers, everyone gets to have a say what they'd like to talk about, and sessions are formed, with people interested going to those particular sessions, and helping to shape them.

I've met some really nice and interesting people today, and would like to thank them for sharing their ideas. I've come away with some new insights into what I should be doing to engage the community more, so hopefully we'll start to see some positive changes going on.

One of the more fun sessions today was ran by Nicky from talk about local, and it involved being blind folded and lead into a busy square in Leeds with two opposing pubs on either side, whilst being given an insight into the environment (and what to watch out for). I'm glad that I had my blind fold on, it did stop some of me from being embarrassed.

However ever mad an idea it seemed, the point was, there is more to your local area than what you normally see, if you take the time and open up all of your senses, you can get a better feel and understanding for your local area, there's more stories waiting to be written than you think.

Lastly I've got to thank all of the Talk About Local team, Clare, Mike, Will and Nicky , for putting on the event, and letting us like minded hyperlocal junkies meet up. 

If you are interested in setting your own hyperlocal website up, please take a look at www.talkaboutlocal.org.uk 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/local/2010/apr/16/talk-about-local-unconference-2010

http://www.guardian.co.uk/leeds/2010/apr/18/leeds-bloggers-boosted-by-talk-about-local-unconference