Miss Nicole Jensen

Ahoy! The fifth Brisbane Girl Geek Dinner is upon us!

Hosted at the fabulous Microsoft Office there will be a games and consoles to ravage while you simultaneously catch up with the coolest females in IT around! I mean, you don’t expect us to lounge around with martinis all the time, now do you?

Tracy Whitelaw, Chief Knowledge Engineer at artificial intelligence company MyCyberTwin will speak about women in games and the gaming industry. Her profile is on the event page I linked to above if you’d like a snapshot. I’m definitely keen to hear about the world of online worlds, character development and pop culture.

So if “you are a geek and a girl or know of one who is willing to escort you then you are welcome and encouraged to come along.” Don’t be too afraid to join in if you’re a gentleman, just tell me or the organisers that you’d like to come along. I’m expecting a comment or two on this post joking we’ll require someone to set up the Xbox 360 anyway!

Last thing, as I type, the event website states that food is BYO, however the latest news is that food will be provided. Make sure you inform the organisers if you have any particular dietry requirements for smiles all ’round.

Microsoft Office Brisbane
1 Waterfront Place
Level 9
Brisbane, Queensland 4000
Australia

UPLOAD is for young people considering their options – life, love, work, the whole catastrophe.

I wrote back in January about my experiences at the UPLOAD Young Entrepreneurs Camp at the Glasshouse Mountains Eco-Lodge. It was a fantastic week in many, many ways and I would like to extend my knowledge of this priceless event to you. And I’m quoting most of this blog entry because I could never explain UPLOAD even half as well as Edgeware have:

With UPLOAD, Edgeware offers stimulating, accessible, enjoyable explorations of enterprise development and entrepreneurial skills, delivered through a series of interactive, hands-on workshops with expert trainers and young, real-world entrepreneurs. UPLOAD is all about helping young people equip themselves to navigate turbulent times and to create meaningful, sustainable and responsible employment and life pathways.

Now, Edgeware have just released their 2009 young entrepreneurs program, which I am very excited about. I’m very happy they have also added in the teachers and youth workers workshop too!

The UPLOAD Young Entrepreneurs Camp (for Over-18’s)

An intensive residential week at the beautiful Glasshouse Mountains Eco-Lodge. Delivered in partnership with the Sunshine Coast Institute of TAFE, with a focus on building and growing fledgeling enterprises.

The UPLOAD Young Entrepreneurs Camp (for Under-18’s)

An intensive non-residential week in central Brisbane, taking place during school holidays, with a strong focus on personal development, teamwork and leadership.

UPLOAD Professional Development Workshops (For Teachers and Youth Workers)

Offered in half-day, full-day and three-day versions, focused on developing and practicing leadership and facilitation skills in the Edgeware model of youth enterprise development.

Futher information on these upcoming events and some charming photography from the January UPLOAD are available here.

BONUS Twitter list blog! As shared by the Edgeware team on Twitter: Top 100 Social Entrepreneurs, Businesses, and Ideas on Twitter

Local radio station b105 has organised for a party at the newly-rebuilt Victory Hotel for Brisbane Twitter users who register with them. This would be all fine and dandy if they had done a bit of research first.

I have been an active Brisbane Twitter Underground Brigade (BTUB) member since around August of last year. We have held at least monthly or fortnightly meet-ups in Brisbane under the intention of being purely a social group. There are hundreds of BTUB members and we regularly hold events for up to around 50 to 70 people at various venues around Brisbane, most notably The Ship Inn.

Not only has b105 refused to do any homework on the existing  lively and loyal Twitter locals, they also have tomorrow’s Vic tweet-up on the exact same night as BTUB’s Kevin Rudd’s Stimulating Package party, as arranged by myself and a friend, Michael Meloni, pretty much weeks ago after the previous BTUB was another success.

I write about Twitter quite often because I am not afraid to admit the wonders it has done for creating and connecting communities. Friends, business associates, families and more have connected 140 characters at a time since Twitter launched, and the 2009 explosion of interest in the online network has meant vast corporate activity, much to the mixed response of Twitter users.

Now whether or not b105 did not know how to search Twitter, Google “Brisbane Twitter” or even read some of their followers who are active BTUBbers, they have committed a rather obvious event management mistake; jumping into the bucket with competitors. Not holding your event on the same date as immediate competition is something they do not even bother to teach you in basic event management school because it is so damn obvious!

Secondly, not approaching anyone from BTUB for a bit of research was also silly. Trying to appear to their fan base as the thought leaders of a Brisbane tweet-up is extremely foolish. Surely there is no bureaucracy in BTUB, only more active members, and no clear forefront member to question, however this is no excuse for basic research on your target market. Numerous BTUBbers have contacted b105 in order to educate the radio station on the current local Twitter community, but I would like to know if anyone has heard any replies of yet.

I look forward to seeing how tomorrow night pans out.

Brisbane’s biggest and hottest new nightclub, Cloudland, is being investigated for breach of liquor licencing laws after apparently opening more than a week before being granted full capabilities to sell alcohol.

March 18, the Brisbane Lions AFL season launch was held at the $10 million-plus venue, yet the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing did not give Cloudland a full liquor licence until just last Tuesday, only a day before the official opening of the club. Cloudland did reportedly have permission in some parts of the venue, having permission under the owners’ (the Bickle family) existing licence, but did now yet have full service allowances.

Cloudland is owned by the Bickle family, also owners of the Empire Hotel and numerous other Brisbane glamour-spots, and the opening of the venue was reportedly twenty months behind schedule.

The only comment from Cloudland on the matter is that “the Lions event was a private function, invite only and not open to the public” and the Brisbane Lions has refused to comment to media. 

Breaches of liquour licencing means a fine of $2500 for each offence.

…and on a charming segway from my previous post…

Double Decadance is on this Saturday night at Fortitude Valley’s Step Inn. Funds from the event go towards Open Doors which supports young people aged between 12 -18 years who are exploring, questioning or identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender (LGBT).

Each Monday, Wednesday and Friday disadvantaged LGBT teens can drop-in on Open Doors for support and networking. I’ve always loved the idea of drop-in centres and this one is definitely a fantastic use of the resources run by a former Family Planning Queensland counsellor and educator. Fantastic stuff!

On another related note, the Open Doors website links to Think Before You Speak, an initiative to halt derrogatory sayings such as “that’s so gay.” It’s aimed at schools, which I think is pretty accurate. Loving the Say Something Original pledge where you can contribute your version of the saying mentioned. “That’s so redunkulous!” is so far my favourite but “girl putting a fork in a toaster thats on [sic]” is pretty strange also! If only there was an apostrophe it would be complete, but you can’t ask for much when it’s going towards raising awareness on such a topic.

Anyway, you should come along on Saturday. It will be fun!

In Brisbane, next Monday is going to be different. Next Monday you can help protect the human rights of all Australians, present and future, by standing up for a Human Rights Act for Australia.

Kids in detention, workers stripped of their rights, Indigenous Australians without housing and healthcare – together we’ve fought time and time again for human rights. Now the Government is embarking on a national human rights consultation - the chance of a lifetime to protect our rights with law.

Next week, they’re rolling into Brisbane. Just 2 hours of your time will help create real change in people’s lives – for all those in aged care, those with disabilities, and those who experience discrimination or bureaucratic bungling. Can you attend the Government’s human rights consultation?

What: Community Human Rights Consultation
When: Monday 23 March, 12pm-2pm or 6pm-8pm
Where: Brisbane Conference and Exhibition Centre, Cnr of Merivale & Glenelg St., South Bank

Click here to register.

We know you’re busy, but plenty of people in government would rather avoid scrutiny over human rights issues – and they’re hoping nobody shows up to the community consultations. Can the citizens of the Brisbane area prove them wrong by turning out in great numbers to have their say? Make sure you bring all your friends – even those who’ve never thought about human rights protection before.

You don’t need any special knowledge before you go along. These meetings are designed so that ordinary Australians can learn a bit about the issues and have their say. Together with dozens of fellow GetUp members attending, you can make a huge difference.

Click here to be a part of the once in a lifetime chance for Brisbane to have its say.

Thanks for being part of the solution.

- The GetUp team

Last Friday afternoon I had the ambitious idea of hosting the first annual Twitter Australia gala ball in Brisbane. Now, on that afternoon @auball was created and word rapidly spread that it should happen in the latter part of 2009.

So tonight we are having a meeting to brainstorm and expand on this idea, clarify the job to be done and determine who we need for this event to go ahead.

If you would like to learn more about how you can assist in even the smallest of ways in 2009 for this national event, come along to Pancake Manor on Charlotte Street at 6:30 pm tonight. That’s in two hours…

This afternoon, the lovely people on my Twitter list decided to help me in my search for employment!

Huge thanks to Clare Lancaster for starting this chain of tweets and to all who did RT. You’re all fantastic. Including those who have brainstormed with me and linked to never-ending Twitter job searching sites. There will be some creative methods to “find this woman a job” coming about soon!

In other news, Twestival is on all over the world on Thursday. Have you bought your ticket yet? Come and join us at the Brisbane Twestival for fun, games, great entertainment and good times; all raising much-needed funds for those thirsty in the world.  I’m so excited!