In Retrospect — Refresh Colombo Revival Meetup

by Aloka Gunasekara

Right, we revived Refresh Colombo and concluded the revival meetup last Thursday (19th November 2015). We had about 300 confirmations on Facebook event page and on meetup.com and we got ready for 150 peeps. Things worked out better than we thought despite some hiccups. Here’s my retrospect on the event.

First up, I thank the speakers and the panelists for taking the time to come and share their thoughts.

Lahiru and Fathhi did a wonderful job and I reckon the success of the event was to an extent due to the reputation of these two guys and what they represent.

Chandika, Arunoda and Indi took time off their schedules to come and sit at the panel and we at Refresh Colombo are thankful to them for doing that.

It’s not always that you get such startup rockstars to sit together at the same event. What’s more, all these guys accepted our invitation with zero objections. It was a great feeling and I consider that as a signal that what we’re doing at Refresh Colombo is appreciated.

Learn TV came through for us. I’m yet to hear Ven. Mettavihari and the Learn TV team say ‘No’ to anything that we have requested of them. But unfortunately, the recording won’t be available. They didn’t have a proper audio feed for the most part.

The audience rocked. Got to meet a lot of folks that we haven’t met for a very long time and also some a lot of new folks. It’s great to see that a lot of the guys see value in what we’re doing. A lot of you shared your ideas on what to do and how to improve Refresh. Thanks for your insights. We’ve learnt from them and want to implement some of those ideas in the coming meetups. (Btw, somebody left their shades at Refresh. Please claim them.)

As for the event, well that mic sucked. I know. That thing was so temperamental I dunno what to call it. I know many folks at the back couldn’t hear the panel discussion as well. We looked for some bar stools but we didn’t get them on time.

Think we’ll be able to sort out the audio issue at the next Refresh. Ven. Mettavihari offered to bring some FM mics and some clip-on mics along with some sound gear. saying that we’re grateful is a gross understatement.

I hope the food was alright. Didn’t get to savour one of those puppies. All were gone when I came out. So, do let us know if you had any bowel issues the next day due to the food at the meetup.

We want to create a community around Refresh. So we’re planning to do a few new things at next Refresh. I promise, it’s not going to alienate anyone. Engaging is the keyword there.

We’re looking for some speakers. Some female representation is encouraged. If you know any gal with mad tech/startup skills who wouldn’t look lost in front of a crowd, do let us know.

As for the next Refresh, please keep your dates tentatively free on the third Thursday of january 2016, that is the 21st of January. We will confirm the speakers in due course.

Here’s the budget for the event as promised.

Do leave a comment if you want anything changed, updated or reorganised.

So till then, ciao. Reach out to us on @refreshcolombo or Facebook.com/refresh.colombo.