Chinwag

So we are back at the Chinwag towers after a great Digital Mission to Washington, and I’ve found myself reflecting on the goings on of the past week, who we met, what we saw, where we went and what we came away with. I think it is safe to say the trip was a huge success and we caused just the right amount of havoc.

I am going to try and fit in the weeks activities into one blog post…wish me luck.

Next week some of the UK's leading digital firms will be making their way DC for the Digital Mission to Washington. 

The week takes in a heap of activities designed to bring companies up-to-speed on the US market, make heaps of introductions and build their international profile.

For those taking part in the Digital Mission, and anyone travelling to the US from the UK, the forms for immigration have changed and it's now obligatory to complete the snappily titled Electronic System for Travel Authorization for (or thankfully, ESTA form).

We’re delighted to announce more additions to the Digital Mission to Washington DC line-up including: a breakfast session at Affinity Lab, with great new speakers from iStrategy Labs, Big Window Labs, as well as final night event sponsors Beekeeper Group and Rock Creek now on board.

Affinity Lab is a startup incubator space for the booming community of Washington based businesses, non-profits and start-ups. Affinity Lab describes it as a rather cool “shared office space that meets incubator that meets entrepreneurial club-house.”

Combined with events at the US State Department, the State of Maryland, Microsoft and Deloitte the mission programme will expose UK firms to the full breadth of the digital scene in Washington, from the US government’s top digital players through to start-ups and agencies, potential partners and collaborators, building links between Washington and the UK.

Not long now until a group of digital government and social innovation geeks pack their bags and head over to the US with FutureGov and the Digital Mission gang to learn how things are done on the other side of the pond – and hopefully show them a thing or two as well with the best of UK digital innovation. 

But before all of that, I thought I’d fill you in on a good few reasons why we thought a Digital Mission to DC would be such a good idea…

A big thank you to everyone who attended Chinwag's Global Grill during the mission to South by South West last month and contributed to the Japan Tsunami appeal.

The event, designed to bring together all of the international delegates flying in to Austin for the event, saw the generous patrons of the event donating over $500 towards the American Red Cross' appeal to support victims of the earthquake and tsunami.

A big thank you to UK Trade & Investment for supporting the event, and the lovely Christopher Dunn from UKTI's Houston office for making sure the cash got to its proper destination, top chap!

I’m writing this a few days after returning back to the UK after attending “South by South-West” (SXSW) Interactive, Austin, Texas. It’s an enormous conference or festival of all things digital and web related. In Silicon Valley it’s known as “spring break for geeks”, an apt description which describes the attendees and the atmosphere just a little too well.

It’s spread over 5 days, with talks, discussions, panels and keynotes running all through the day with parties running all through the night. There is simply no other conference like it. You won’t see people in suits, instead, flip flops, shorts and a T-shirt branded with your company logo is fairly typical.

'From VCs to Super-Angels: The New Rules of Startup' is nearly upon us and we want to make sure you get the most out of the event as possible. 

This free event, hosted by UK Trade & Investment will question a panel of investment experts as they explore how to deal with superangels, together with savvy angels and VCs.

The event itself is full but you can register to watch a live online webcast from your living room, it will be just like sitting in the front row...but you can do it in your pj’s (don’t worry we wont tell anyone).

Chinwag's Digital Missions, hosted with the help of UK Trade & Investment, have been running for over 3 years, and have included 7 trips to the USA, as well as helped promote and recruit for trade missions to Japan and China.

The missions have been a huge success with dozens of companies finding new business, setting up offices in the US and finding long-term business partners and friends amongst the mission companies.

We're continually looking to improve the missions and look at new destinations, and this is where you come in.

There's been lots of interest in the UKTI Trade Mission to SXSW (10th -15th March) so we've extended the deadline until Monday 7th February. If you are looking to expand into the US this is the perfect opportunity, so go and apply now and you could get yourself a place on the UKTI Trade Mission to SXSWi.  

Save the date: 7th-11th Feb 2011. In less than four weeks London joins New York, San Francisco, Rome, Paris, Toronto, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong and Istanbul for Social Media Week 2011.

Over 500 tickets have been have booked already, but there's still time to grab yours. Keep an eye on the schedule as events are being added every day, we're expecting over 70, double last year's total.

Over the last week, we've been collecting and curating significant digital 'Things' of 2010 through our website, and all your favourite social media channels (LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter). These 'things' were events, moments, launches, or technical developments within the Digital sector.

We received a fair few responses, and in no particular order, these our top 5 responses:

A post to Chinwag's uk-usability email discussion forum asked for help in putting together a salary survey for UX (User Experience for the uninitiatied) Freelancers.

Leisa Reichelt, herself a UX Freelancer asked for the subscribers help to fill out a salary survey for freelancers working in this booming area of the digital world. Dissatisfied with other surveys that concentrated on agency staff rather than freelancers, Lisa put together her own survey: