User:SavageMongoose/Sandbox

Schmooze and Booze

Schmooze and Booze is a monthly informal networking event in London, run by and predominantly for people working in journalism and media. Created by Daily Mail sub-editor Helen Lewis in 2006, it is run on a not-for-profit basis and is held at various venues across the city. Growing from an initial base of around 25 people, Schmooze and Booze has gradually grown to a consistent turnout of 200-250 people per event.

Beginnings

Schmooze and Booze's founding came about to encourage the development of cross-paper social networks. This was traditionally much simpler before the move of several newspapers to Canary Wharf. As founder Helen Lewis remarked in an interview with ''The Guardian'':

I really love that whole Fleet Street culture, that everybody used to meet up in pubs, but with everyone spread over London now it's not really possible.

The seed of more organized development of Schmooze and Booze as a networking event was sowed at an informal