New Members

Our members are at the centre of everything we do, it is our reason for being. We are excited about every new member and we want to share the love! Every week we will be updating you on the newest members to our community, where they are based and what they do.

2010 has been a great month for new members, we are really pleased to say that January has seen 48 agencies and freelancers (37 and 11 respectively) join up so far. The majority of these, 31 to be precise, are from the Brighton and Hove area. We've also seen members sign up from Pevensey, Bognor Regis, Worthing, Haywards Heath, Petworth, Crowborough, Crawley, Lancing and Chichester. The skillsets are as varied as the location, covering everything from web design to illustration, digital TV to audio production - if you are looking for help with a digital project our membership directory is fantastic resource.

You can view our most recent members here. If you want to find out more about the benefits of Wired Sussex membership, please get in touch.

Women In Media Networking Breakfast at The Sanctuary Cafe 21st January 2010

Thanks to everyone who attended the first Women in Media breakfast of the year, yesterday morning at a rather packed Sanctuary cafe.

Jenni Lloyd from Nixon McInnes gave a great interactive presentation on ‘Building your network’ which made for a lively question and answer and networking session.

Jenni highlighted useful online tools that make networking easier and demonstrated the different audiences that use them and for what reasons. It was an entertaining session and interesting to see how many people were aware of each social network and why they use them.

The main theme of the Q&A session was the problem of how to find time for social networking. Some quicker, smaller solutions were highlighted – such as utilising the list function on twitter and subscribing to and commenting on high profile blogs to create a presence. These were really useful tips for those who don’t have much time to devote to social networking. Jenni's presentation is now available on SlideShare.

Post Q&A there was a chance for everyone to chat and get to know each other over some yummy pastries. There was a nice mix of people so it was good to see everyone interacting and engaging with each other. Keep your eyes on the Wired Sussex Flickr stream as we will be posting the photo's up shortly!
The event was a great success with over 30 attendees. The next breakfast is planned for April, May time and we already have some potential speakers!

We’d love to hear your ideas on any topics and speakers you would like to see at future Women in Media events, if you have any in mind please drop me a line at katie@wiredsussex.com or let me know via twitter @MediaWomen.

(Photo by Claire Stokoe - greenrmedia)

Big Screen Bonanza!

Tuesday night was the latest Flash Brighton and BANG collaborative event, their festive Big Screen Bonanza! I’d been to one before and was really looking forward to having a few beers with the animation crowd and watching some great animations, I wasn’t disappointed.

After a couple of free mince pies and wearing reindeer style antlers we all settled down to the first part of the evening. Richard Mitchelson (aka Rich Mitch) kicked things off with a screening of his favourite animations of the year. It was an eclectic mix of funny, beautiful and just plain odd films. There wasn’t a theme at all but they were all excellent examples of animation and storytelling.

Next up was a talk from Garth and Ginny talking about the work they’d produced which included an E4 Music Sting and the brilliant Flash on the Beach titles.

The evening finished off with local animator Cyriak showcasing his latest work. This included Meow - a zombie kitten apocalypse and also a film of Bruce Forsyth going absolutely mental. If you’ve not seen Cyriak’s work before then you should head over to his site and check out animations like Beastenders and The death of Jim Davidson.

All in all it was a great night and I’d like to pass my thanks on to everyone involved in putting it together, that’s Sarah Bird, Seb Lee-Delisle, Rich Mitch, Cyriak, Garth and Ginny and anyone else I’ve forgotten. Looking forward to the next one...

Luke

Brighton SEO Meet-up

Yesterday evening was the Christmas SEO Brighton meet-up organised by Fresh Egg after a suggestion by Kelvin Newman on Twitter, the event took place in the upstairs room of The Quadrant pub.

it was great to catch up with everyone, especially finally putting faces to names from people you read about on blogs and follow on Twitter. Thanks to Fresh Egg who were kind enough to buy the 1st round of the evening.

There were people from Fresh Egg, iCrossing, Site Visibility, No Pork Pies and Click with Technology, plus several people who came up from Southampton and Bournemouth who had heard about it on Twitter and wanted to see what it was all about.

So thanks again to Fresh Egg for organising, and don’t forget the Wired Sussex members meet-up next Wednesday (16th December 2010) at the Black Lion pub from 6.30pm. Hope to see you there

The Sussex Internship Programme Strikes Back

We have spent the last month out and about throughout Sussex, meeting with companies within the media, creative and content sectors with regards to the Sussex Internship Programme. It has been a great way to find out what is happening out in the industry and also to put faces to names with our members.

The Sussex Internship Programme, in partnership with the University of Sussex, will provide 100 internships across the full spectrum of the media industry in Sussex over the next 18 months, with an initial 40 internships being advertised on the SIP website on the 1st December 2009.

The next round of the internships went live yesterday for applications. We will be offering 60 internships this time around, with 40 already live and receiving applications and the last 20 staggered over the next 10 days.

As with the previous round, the response has been exceptional and this round involves a real mix of great companies across Sussex within the Music, Design, Editorial, Digital Media, PR and Development sectors including BozBoz, Charanga, Content & Motion and many more.

If you are interested in finding out about the companies involved or the internships on offer visit the Sussex Internship Programme website

Women in Media Breakfast Meet Up

We have set a date for the next Women in Media meet up. With previous events such as PR and work life balance workshops, annual conferences and networking breakfasts across Brighton, Women in Media is a strong support network for anyone who is working or looking to get into the media industry.

Wired Sussex in partnership with iCrossing are holding a Breakfast meet up on the 21st January 2010 at The Sanctuary Cafe in Hove 8.30am – 10.30am.

The event will include a presentation from social media expert Jenni Lloyd, Nixon McInnes a sizeable networking session and a slap up breakfast.

More event details will be added shortly to the Women in Media website, so keep your eyes on www.womeninmedia.co.uk. You can also find Women in Media on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MediaWomen

Women in Media aim to hold these meet ups quarterly and we want your input, so please let us know what you would like to see at future events.

If you are interested in attending on January 21st, would like to speak at a future event or have any questions, you can email me at katie@wiredsussex.com or give me a call on 01273 692 888.

For more details on the venue www.sanctuarycafe.co.uk.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Looking Good!

Those of you that know me in real life may be aware that I love photography, so I was super pleased to be able to get Garage Studios to cover our recent skills fair and design night.

In addition to Adam providing the great shots we have used on our blog, the team also bought along their pop up studio. Check out their blog and see if you can spot yourself.

Big thanks from all at Wired Sussex to Adam, Tash, Mary, Leon and Rupert