Sunday 7 February 2010

Geekiness Beirut Outbreak

GeekFest Beirut was truly a wonder to behold. There are photos on the FaceBook page from those what got Twitpicked on the night, and this Photobucket from Fady Nammour gives a pretty good feel for the ‘vibe’ – at a guess something like 120 people streamed into Beirut’s uber-funky Art Lounge to find displays of digital photography as well as the art that literally festoons every space at ArtLounge.

There were loads more GeekTalks, starting with an odd rant from yours truly, going through to an overview of Creative Commons licensing from graphic artist Naeema Zarif (Naeema designed the cool new GeekFest logo, posters and stuff) and cartoonist/blogger Maya Zankoul and then a look at some of the projects being undertaken in Lebanon by the UNDP’s CEDRO, thanks to Elie Abou Jaoudeh.

Ayman Itani spoke on the human/technology aspects of communications, while Elie Haddad’s talk on the potential of mobile applications continued the telecom theme. George El KHabbaz threw a few F’UX into proceedings with his GeekTalk on user experience (that’s what an UX is, folks) and how it needs to be designed in from the beginning of processes (Ha! Tell HSBC that).

Isaac Belot topped the geek charts easily with his in-depth and totally geeked-out presentation of the technologies that lie behind filming in 3D. That one even had the true geeks bug-eyed.

The evening finished with a short, boisterous and totally fun presentation from artiste extraordinaire (and designer of the GeekFest Twitter Icon and, I hope, T-shirts) Joumana Medlej (@CedarSeed). Joumana’s work is stunning, her cartoon strips are brilliant and the auction of a book of her early drawings and development sketches pulled in a fast and furious bidding war to top out at $300 – even the barman got into the act. Yes, there was a bar too and it did a brisk trade at that.

So what was the ‘vibe’ like? Different to GeekFest Dubai, for sure – and I can’t quite put my finger on how it was different. The Beirut guys did a lot more collaboration on many aspects of the event and so there was a wider sense of ownership. There’s no doubt that they’ve had an impact on GeekFest Dubai, particularly with the contribution of the graphic art elements, the ID design from Naeema and Joumana’s iconography.

It looks increasingly likely that there will be other GeekFest events springing up around the region now. And I think that’s possibly going to be very interesting in a number of ways that we haven’t really thought through yet!

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11 comments:

Hisham Wyne said...

Sounds brilliant. Well done GeekFest Beirut. What, prithee tell, was your Geekrant about, Alexander?

Here's hoping that Geekfest Dxb more than keeps up. Wishful?

Alexander said...

Geekrant was around the old 'Quality becomes irrelevant where technology improves access' thing I was blogging about a few days ago.

And yes, Beirut certainly set the bar high!

Joseph Johnson said...

Saw the photos of GeekFest in facebook and my, no doubt it was a blast! Kudos to the organizers of the party. Hoping to join one of your event soon.

Bridget said...

When will be the next GeekFest? You guys sure had a great time that it's making me envious.

Rich B. said...

The geeks just proved they can party! All hands down to the organizers of the event. GeekFest should get a lot bigger each year.

Angelica S. said...

This type of a party make geeks look really good. Way to go guys!

Anna said...

I'am also a geek and I definitely know how to party! Let's go fellow geeks!

Derek said...

Hoist your banners up high geeks! Show the cyber world how you party!

Dianne said...

The photos are very convincing that geeks can really host a great party. Well done guys and thumbs up to all the organizers!

Jobert Austria said...

The credibility and image of geeks are getting on a higher level with great events as such. The word "boring" seems absent in your dictionary.

Valerie V. said...

The party that the geeks just hosted sure have made them look attractive and cool. Who could have expect such great event from them? Amazing indeed!

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