Arriving somewhat over the recommended arrival time, we were greeted by a bar rimmed with individuals of similar fortune. Charl and I stood at the bar waiting on a waiter or barman. A round of beers came soon and the loose commentary and room atmosphere resonated with geeky and complex internets experiences.

As we started to spot familiars we headed on over. I dropped a hello with my domain sniper, Tania, and then joined a conversation with Adii and Charl. A light meet and topic discussion commenced and then I bumped into The Jason Bagley. More conversations of comical nature commenced.

Dave came by soon after and the crowd was directed to hall of processions. More meet and greet commenced after seating and the The Wild Fig manager delivered an intro to the venue. Dave then gave a short filler on the evenings lineup.

Adii went up after the food was ordered, speaking about what Premium News Themes means to him and truly trying to reach out to similar South Africans with collaborative ideals. Something we all can benefit from. Be sure to read Adii’s Blog Here. I had quick catchup with him about theme production and “future of…” wordpress themes. I joined the dinner a few moments later hoping not to have missed much.

Once settled I greeted Brandon, who takes the photos, and Catherine Luckhoff who I met before at the Bloggerati 08. The pleasant acquaintance for the evening was Mike Stopforth. He seemed the busy type and dedicated to his work. A good type.

A very nice evening and a good setup by Dave. Please attend to the Wiki if you want to become part the dinners in anyway (business or marketing). We sure are gonna try keep it’s momentum going.

I just got back from the Bloggerati event at Long Street Cafe, Cape Town. I went with my formidable wing man Charl Norman and we decided not to go the “fashionably late” route and ended up there just after nine. Long Street Cafe was packed and it seems like not only the blogging community of Cape Town was out for a casual drink.

Upon arrival the ever friendly Chis Mills stuck his hand in the air from a table of ten or twelve unknown faces, greeting us, steering us in the right direction. As per usual Charl and me headed towards the bar closest to the bloggerati table ordering the first round. Minutes later things started warming up and Rafiq was the first with a hand shake. Not soon after some familiar faces started walking through the door. Uno de Waal was one, complaining about being there way before anyone else.

I soon became amped for conversation and honed in on a empty seat around the bloggerati table. I fell midway into a conversation about Mills and his Adsense / Trafficsenergy funded car. No mods this time around for the last time I saw him he was at a Zoopedup event in Greenpoint. Further more the incredible Dave Duarte shoulder tapped Charl and me and introduced us to some ideas he had been pondering about. More on that later…

Soon after Dave departed, the industrious Max Kaizen came round to say hello and and immediately offered to introduce me to Vincent Maher (who arrived just moments ago and late, creating speculation of a blog meet hoax). I went along and although awkward at first, I knew I’ll be share some more words with him later on in the evening when the time felt right. Returning to the table I continued conversation with Jason Bagley. Claim to fame? Dot Net. Desktop of all things. Not to cut a man deep… I ended having the most interesting conversations with him and it continued for quite some time.

As the evening progressed the very humble and generous Vinny Lingham wavered his hand gesturing to anyone with an empty drink that he is buying. (Thanks for the Amstel Vin!) There was plenty more talk and a few more drinks.

The crowd started thinning out and Long Street Cafe itself was emptying out. At that point the tables combined and the company was soon some of SA’s web heavy weights. Much was said, most of it irrelevant. Some of it was Vincent proclaiming his love his love for PHP and Matthew Buckland gesturing that life in Cape Town ain’t so bad after all with a whiskey close at hand.

The evening was drawing to a close as we were seeing off Vince and Matthew, wishing them luck with their flight back the next morning. With the place almost empty it was time to meet the people who stuck it out till the end. The engaging Tristan Owen from MyVideo.co.za shared some ideas on Charl’s Crazy Delicious Webisode and with that we were out in the street on our way back home.

All and all it was a good meet. I was happy to introduce myself as Foxinni and found my brand has made it into minds of the fellow spherics. After all Malan Joubert sounds so dull… don’t you think?

P.S. I’ll make sure I find the photos taken for this event. Taken by Brandon Golding.