So long and thanks for all the slides

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It is with a heavy heart that I have to tell you that I am leaving Bettakultcha.

After seven amazing years, hundreds of outstanding speakers and brilliant audiences in Leeds, York, Bradford, Huddersfield, Manchester and two festivals I’m hanging up my clicker and leaving Bettakultcha in Ivor’s capable hands.

I’ve had an absolute blast bringing Bettakultcha to life with Ivor. From the very first event at Temple Works with the rickety board table and one loo, right through to 400 people in Leeds Town Hall and the filming of the Bettakultcha pilot for Made in Leeds – I’ve made so many friends and expanded my mind.

I’ve been constantly surprised by our volunteer speakers who have put up with my constant emails and nagging to get their slides in on time and of course the brave Random Challengers, you guys have balls! Each and every one of them has enhanced my life no end.

So why am I moving on?

As some of you know in January 2016 I began a new era in my life, when I started my own marketing business. And thanks in a big way to some of the people I met whilst running Bettakultcha, it’s going really well. So well in fact that I don’t have the time or energy to put into Bettakultcha which it, you and Ivor deserve.

I know Ivor has great plans for its future direction and I fully wish him the best of luck.

Thank you

There are so many people I want to thank for their help and support over the last seven years, please forgive me if I’ve missed you out.

Susan Williamson for agreeing to let us try out our mad idea at Temple Works in the first place. Mike Chitty for constant encouragement and of course the loan of his travelling projector! Emma Bearman and Phil Kirby for being our cheerleaders and helping out no end. Nathan Clark of the Brudenell, the best venue in Leeds, for his constant patience with us. Lee Jackson for great feedback, support and the loan of yet another projector! John Popham for helping us video so many of our great moments.

And not forgetting Darren Scotland, Matt Pallatt, Becky Senior, Paul Smith, Mark Moorhouse, Tim Difford, Emma Sutton, Mike Wallis, Noel Curry, John Dolan, Imran Ali, Si Cliff, Wendy Denman, John Atkinson, Nick Copland, Kate Fox and Royd Brayshay for their help and support. So sorry for the people I’ve missed off the list would just be too long!

I may not be wielding my Bettakultcha clicker anymore but I’m sure I’ll see you all around, and who knows I may just do a Random Challenge at a future gig, seeing as I won’t have seen them before.

Cheers

Richard

When Bettakultcha came out of the Wardrobe

Our first visit to The Wardrobe in Leeds was great. It’s a fantastic room, akin to the Brudenell, so it’s got a great feel for Bettakultcha. The night had a great line of speakers with many first time presenters as well as some old hands. Here’s how the night went. Enjoy.

Paul Smith

Lewis Smith

David Taylor

James and Seaburn


Dave Calverley

Carol Hardy

David Price

Your brave random challengers!




Bettakultcha at Rise

When the team at Rise in Manchester first approached us, they wanted a very tech-focused Bettakultcha. Rise is, after all, a tech hub in the middle of Manchester’s Deansgate area.

We managed to persuade them that the magic of Bettakultcha is a mix of ideas. So we managed a melange of tech speakers and a the usual Bettakultcha quirkiness.

Unfortunately, the video camera filled up so we didn’t manage to capture all the talks. Apologies to our amazing speakers who’s talks are now lost to the mists of time. We like to look at it on another level though, you had to be there to capture the beauty of the stories they told and in a way that’s how it should do.

One lost talks by Mike Wallis, talked about the demise of the ephemeral nature of data now that everything is digital. The fact that it could only be experienced by those in attendance that night proves his thesis somewhat.

Anyway, enjoy the ones we captured. We hope to be back in Manchester very soon.

Tim Difford on the beauty of Blockchain

Eva Doyle sings for her supper

Sam Easterby-Smith totally wired

Volker Hirsch Populating Smart Cities

Apologies to those speakers who’s talks didn’t manage to be captured. Your efforts are stored in our collective database, in various formats.

  • Ian Brown
  • Carlotta Allum
  • Richard Potter
  • Rajesh Joshi (aka Josh)
  • Mike Wallis
  • And our random challengers

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