Tuttle Club LA

Our sunny little side room in the Library Coffee House

The last Tuttle was possibly the best one yet, with guests from overseas and some friendly new faces. James Whatley and Vikki Chowney were in from London — I actually know them from the Tuttle Club in London — and they set up shop with James fixing mobile phones and Vikki filming interviews about our mobile phone choices for The Really Mobile Project. Vikki was also the first one of us to actually test out one of the massage chairs — I sat in one for a bit, too, but didn’t put in money to turn it on.

Tuttle regulars Jen Hanen, Jeb Brilliant and Geoff Hickman were there, as were new friends Steve Cooper, the founder of Hitchedmag.com and tech editor at AllBusiness.com; Karen Blondell, who does strategic marketing communications and PR, Vaughan Risher, a graphic designer, and mobile enthusiast Al Pavangkanan.

Geoff and James lounging in the massage chairs

We’ll be meeting again this Friday, May 22, 2009, at our regular haunt, the Library Coffee House in Long Beach. We’ll be in the strange room to the right of the counter with brightly painted walls and massage chairs, so let us know if you’ll be coming in the comments.

The details:

When: Friday, April 10, 2009, 10:30 a.m. until everyone wants to leave

Where: The Library Coffee House in the sunny room on the right
3412 E Broadway
Long Beach, CA 90803
(562) 433-2393
[Map]

For more up-to-the-minute Tuttle LA info, follow @KizzieFK, @geoffsays or #TuttleLA on Twitter. We’re also now on the LAGeeks.org calendar, or you can subscribe to our own Google Calendar so you always know when the next Tuttle is.

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I know, I know, we just launched this blog two days ago, and we’re already posting an annual report? No, we’re not getting ahead of ourselves, the annual report is from Lloyd Davis, founder of the original Tuttle Club in London. London Tuttlers started meeting a bit more than a year ago (I believe I went to my first Tuttle in February ’08), and in the report Lloyd does a wonderful job documenting how the group has grown and how the connections people have made have led to some amazing things.

As this Tuttle LA group is just getting going and still working out when and where to meet as well as what will be best for us going forward, I feel the most relevant part of Lloyd’s report for us is the basics. What is Tuttle? What are you supposed to do there? And who’s invited, anyway?

But before we get to any of that, take heed of Lloyd’s #1 piece of advice: “If there are any rules to Tuttle, it’s sure that one near the top is ‘don’t take yourself too seriously.’”

The basics, from the report:

**** What is it? ****
The Tuttle Club is a loose association of people finding a way of working better together both online and off.

**** Who goes? ****
Most people have an interest in social media or online social networking — beyond that it’s hard to categorise them.

**** What happens? ****
People come along, meet new people, drink coffee, talk, scheme, build new businesses, find clients, suppliers and collaborators.  In short, they work hard at getting things done while having fun.

**** Why? ****
Is a very interesting question. There are (at least) as many reasons as there are Tuttlers. Mostly it boils down to a recognition that building rich relationships with real live people is a tremendously valuable activity.

**** How can I help? ****
Come along. See what we’re doing. Share your knowledge and your dreams. Come again and bring some friends.

**** Can I come? ****
Yes.

For more Tuttle info, check out Lloyd’s Tuttle Club blog, or download the Tuttle Annual Report (PDF).

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