Welcome to BiC Street Fireside Chats

I don’t know about you but I’ve become a little awkward in social situations. Two pandemic years down and I’m way more comfortable on my couch watching series than going out and connecting with other people. And I think this is an awful shame.?

A few weeks ago I met up with some excellent individuals at one of my favourite haunts BiC Street in De Waterkant to have a simple chat about how to think about and solve the problems related to working collaboratively across multiple teams. There we were, a programmer, a coach, an AI specialist, an artist and a marketing expert (no this is not the start of a joke). We met and chatted for almost three hours. We first spoke about our own pain points on the subject and then the floor was opened to potentially provide solutions to the problems we’d mentioned. When we decided to meet, to be honest, I think we were all starved of meaningful conversation that didn’t start with “Can you hear me now?”?

I personally left the session with some great practical tips to consider when engaging in a collaborative project, but more importantly I felt something I hadn’t felt for a very long time. I felt truly connected. It was time well spent and it was great to be in the same room with some exceptional minds in what I consider to be one of the best places to host these kinds of Fireside chats (sans the fire). BiC Street is so beautifully furnished and the artwork on the wall is inspiring. It just lends itself to this kind of event.?

So this is when we started to do some brainstorming. What if we held these events more regularly? What if we broadened the topic of conversation from work related topics to life related topics and everything in between? It just felt so right that we decided “hey let’s give it a bash!”

Starting June 2nd, we’ll be hosting our first in a series of chats around Web 3 and what that means for everyone on a personal, professional and global level. If you don’t really know what Web 3 is yet - that’s not a worry, but I would say it’s something that is set to take over our lives in one way or another, so it seems pertinent to get a better understanding of what it means for each of us.?

But where to start??

I come from the little micro-generation called Xennials (those born late 70s and early 80s) that lived through analogue times and transitioned into the age of digital as a teenager. So I thought the best place to start with understanding how to leverage Web3. is to look to the past and see what lessons we need to take from the preceding eras of technology to ensure we aren’t making the same mistakes a second time around.?

What mistakes you may ask??

There are the big ones like polluting the environment to other big ones that have determined we are amongst the most stressed human beings in history. And our history on this planet includes warding off animal predators and World Wars. There are smaller mistakes with big consequences, working too hard, not spending enough time with our kids (mine are furry but all the same). There is so much to learn from our history that I think it would be a shame not to reflect on this and see how we can avoid this as the human race undergoes the 4th Industrial Revolution. That’s right we’re on number 4!

So with this in mind I’d like to invite anyone and everyone who is curious about Web 3 or anyone or everyone who is looking for a good debate over some drinks and snacks to BiC Street this coming Thursday June 2nd for our inaugural fireside chat. Come for the chats, come for the networking, come for the wine…but do come. I know you’ll find it rewarding.

Hope to see you there!