So, after a little beavering away in the background the Leeds digital lunches are coming back.

As a reminder, the digital lunches are a lunchtime forum where a (digitally focused) topic is talked about by gals and guys with experience on the subject, and other people can mosey along and listen. It’s informal, it’s relaxed, and in the name of sharing.

The first lunch back is on Friday 11 July at the ODI node in Leeds, dovetailing with the node’s Friday lectures programme.

The event will unashamedly be a taster on data, open data, and big data, giving you some grounding in the ideas around this - and a glimpse into why Leeds is such a fascinating place to be if you’re a datahead. And if you’re further interested we’ll also try to point you in the direction of other data things going on in the city.

We’ll be keeping the event tight so you can get to Munro House, get the lift to the top floor for 12.45pm, take in half an hour of talk and a little Q&A, and then you can head off at 1.20pm to… whatever you’re doing that Friday afternoon.

We’ll be providing soft drinks and cake - but do feel free to bring your own food, whether it’s a home-made packed lunch or something from the likes of Cafe 164 or Greggs.

You can say you want to come at attending.io, which we’ve chosen because it’s simple and easy. The event is free, as we’ve tried to keep most of the digital lunch events.

That cool? ‘hope so. If you’ve any questions drop me a line.

Future lunches
We’re going to make sure there’s a digital lunch every second week of the month.

Unless anything pops up there will be a break in August due to summer holidays, before returning in September for the second part of the Leeds digital sport story. And there’s ideas for the months after that.

And we want you to be involved, so the ‘we’ becomes ‘you’! We’re adopting an open approach to programming the lunches.

We want you to get in touch:

  • If you have an idea for a theme/topic you’d like to be considered
  • If you’d like to be considered for a talk
  • If you know a venue that’ll take us - or there’s a venue you’d like us try

Whatever it is, feel free to shout up!

In the spirit of openness you can view how the lunches are shaping up at an open viewable Trello board, which will be updated regularly.

I am taking a few steps back from the lunches so I won’t be so much “at the front”, just there to coerce people together to talk, and I hope that’ll the lunches will roll of their own accord at some point in the future.

There’s a way to go before that happens, but in the meantime come to the events - and do drop a line this way so we can create events together!