
Despite our passionate and undying love of all things Internet, lately a few of us here at ReadWrite have been thinking we should pay a little more attention to the time we spend offline, in what used to be known as the real world. That’s why we’ve created our ReadWrite Pause Series, exploring ways to balance our online and offline lives.
It’s also why we are launching a new series of events, called ReadWrite Mix, which will take place in the real world, with real people talking to other real people, drinking real drinks and making (we hope) real connections.
These will take place at ReadWrite’s real world headquarters in the hipster-filled SoMa neighborhood in San Francisco. It’s a chance to meet some of the crew from Say Media and ReadWrite, including managing editor Fredric Paul and ace reporter Jon Mitchell.
Starting Next Thursday!
The first ReadWrite Mix will be next week, on Thursday, Nov. 15, from 6-8 p.m. You need to RSVP (go here to sign up) and please note that space is very limited, so please sign up as soon as possible.
To kick off the series, we’re doing a “media predicts” panel with Kara Swisher of AllThingsD, Owen Thomas of Business Insider, and Aaron Ricadela of Bloomberg Businessweek.
We’ll be talking about what 2013 might look like for Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Square, Microsoft and others. The main thing is that we’re all pretty opinionated and though we don’t always agree on things we’re actually pretty good friends – so it’s a chance to have some fun. I’ll be moderating and putting people back into neutral corners or giving them time-outs when they misbehave.
A Monthly Event
We’re hoping to make this a monthly event where we will host interesting guests – CEOs, investors, authors – and gather a crowd of hacks, flacks, nerds, geeks, techies, pundits and schmoozers for an evening of thought-provoking fun. Sometimes we’ll do a panel, but other times we’ll do a one-on-one fireside chat. (We have an amazing guest lined up for December, but I’m sworn to secrecy on it for now.)
We love chronicling the incredible ways in which technology is transforming the world, but it occurs to us that in the madness of chasing down the news every day it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. We think there’s value to be gained in stepping back, slowing down and taking a few minutes to pause and reflect. It’s great to make friends on Facebook or gain followers on Twitter, but nothing beats making connections in real life.
In the new ReadWrite we’re all about trying to engage with our readers and build a community. Ultimately what we want to create is not so much a publication as a conversation, one where everyone has a voice. ReadWrite Mix is just another part of that effort.
SoMa (for South of Market street), the neighborhood where we’re working, is home to dozens of companies that are transforming the Internet and changing our lives. It’s an incredibly concentrated cluster of innovative brains. We want to create a place where all those creative people can gather once a month to talk and argue and brainstorm. In our wildest dreams, if we’re really lucky, ReadWrite Mix could become a place where new ideas are born.
So please: come join us. Become part of this. We’ll provide the space, and the drinks, and we’ll get the conversation started. The rest is up to you.
In case you missed it up above, you can sign up here.