A small group of web developers who meet by the river

What we are

There is no membership, no fee and no sponsor. A handful of volunteers book a room, keep a list of people who want to speak, bring the biscuits and stack the chairs afterwards. That is the whole organisation. The room is borrowed, not far from the river, and it changes from time to time depending on who can lend us one; the exact spot goes out by email a couple of weeks before each session.

The people who turn up are a mix. Some write front-end code all day, some spend their time on back-end services or databases, a few look after servers, and several do a bit of everything for small businesses, charities or themselves. Students come along, and so do people who have been shipping websites since the days of table layouts. Nobody is asked what they do for a living before they sit down, and nobody has to speak if they would rather listen. Anyone who is curious about building for the web is welcome, whatever their level.

How an evening goes

Every session follows the same simple shape. Doors open a little before seven. There are two talks of about twenty minutes each, with a short break between them for tea. The talks are given by people from the group: a tool they have been using, a mistake they made and what they learned from it, a walk through a small project, a question they could not answer on their own. Slides are optional. Live demos are welcome but nobody expects them to work.

After the second talk the chairs get pushed back and the rest of the evening is conversation, usually until the room has to close around nine. We ask speakers to keep to their twenty minutes so that there is always time for that part. For most of us, the conversation is the point of the evening.

Giving a talk

If you would like to speak, tell us. We try to have at least one first-time speaker every couple of months, and we are happy to help you shape twenty minutes out of a rough idea. Talks about things that went wrong are as welcome as talks about things that went right, possibly more so. You do not need to be an expert; you need to have noticed something worth passing on.

How we behave

1. Be kind, and assume the person you are talking to knows something you do not.
2. No selling, no recruiting and no pitching from the front of the room.
3. Questions are welcome; interruptions are not.
4. Respect people's names, pronouns and personal space.
5. If something goes wrong, tell an organiser and we will sort it out quietly.

What has been talked about

We keep a short written record of each evening, with a few lines about every talk. It is a decent way to get a feel for the group before coming along. Read the past sessions.

Getting in touch

There is no form on this site and no account to create. Ask any organiser after a session. There is no email address either: the organisers are easy to find in the room. Someone will reply, though not always quickly; we all have day jobs.