User:SavageMongoose/Sandbox
Schmooze and Booze
Schmooze and Booze is a monthly informal networking event held in central 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 twenty people, Schmooze and Booze has gradually grown to a consistently oversubscribed event with a turnout of 200-250 people.
Beginnings
Schmooze and Booze's founding came about to encourage the development of cross-newspaper social networks, which was traditionally much simpler before the move of several newspapers from central locations to Canary Wharf. As founder Helen Lewis remarked in an interview with The Guardian[1]:
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 gathering of around twenty friends writing for various newspapers and magazines, many of whom were friends from Oxford University, at the Southwark Tavern near London Bridge in the summer of 2006. Several commented how difficult it was to meet people in other media organizations, and how well-connected older journalists appeared to be in comparison. It was suggested that the group make an effort to connect their respective 'work networks'.
In August, the first Schmooze and Booze was held at the Commercial Tavern in Shoreditch with the attendance of forty or so young hacks, politicos, meeja types and assorted hangers-on[2].
Establishment and Traditions
Thereafter