The Solo09 conference is now over. Needless to say, it was an utter blast, with plenty of useful sessions, frenetic networking and an almost flawless simulcast into Second Life. Not bad for a conference that was almost entirely (and fittingly) conceived and planned over email and chat room. You can read minute-by-minute reportage of the sessions on FriendFeed and Twitter (where Cameron Neylon wonders how many of us are writing Sunday afternoon blog posts about the conference). Here, I’ll briefly summarise the social events that took place around the conference by way of a few photos.
Eager beavers got a first taste of the conference on Thursday night, when a band of about 10 delegates met for a scientific pub crawl.
Some of the crawlers pose in the same spot as last year’s group shot
It was the same route as last year Jeremy Bentham → Museum Tavern → Ben Crouch Tavern → John Snow. Or at least it should have been. The Ben Crouch seems to have closed down, so we had to settle for the sport-themed Champion pub, practically next door.
Inside the Champion pub. No scientific connection…until now
A four-pub bender is not the ideal preparation for an all day walking event. But the next morning some of the pub-goers joined with other solo09-ers in the reception of Nature’s offices to begin a tour of London’s scientific heritage. After a brief look around the Nature building, we headed off to the Hunterian Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields to examine a collection of pickled foetuses and other surgical curiosities.
Heading to the Hunterian
From there, a damp walk through Bloomsbury (with short-cut through the British Museum) led us to the Wellcome Collection, where the impressive Exquisite Bodies exhibition added yet further to our anatomical knowledge.
Walkers outside the British Museum. I’d only managed to lose five of them at this point.
Exhausted by now, we retired to the pub for a beer and bite at the Betjeman before heading to the Fringe Frivolous event, organised by Jenny Rohn and the guys at Mendeley (succinctly summarised by Richard Grant). Reports on this, and the conference itself will no doubt follow from other bloggers.
Jenny Rohn opens the Finge Frivolous event about science blogging
While David Colquhoun looks for his bullwhip
Finally, on the post-conference Saturday night around 100 delegates went for a few beers at the King’s Head pub in Mayfair. The bar staff couldn’t believe their luck when I made the booking – this part of town is usually very quiet on a weekend.
Folks gather in the King’s Head.
A turtley great time.
Further images from the conference can be seen over in the Flickr photo pool.