u/Monkeyboogaloo

We’re looking for a small number of men aged 25–45, particularly those living in South London, to take part in a 60-minute discussion to help shape a new research project we’re developing with colleagues at London South Bank University.

The research will evaluate Steeev, a platform we’re developing to help men build and maintain meaningful friendships and social connections.

Before we start the research, we want to hear directly from the people it is intended to be relevant to. This is known as Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE), but essentially it means we’d like your views and experiences to help us make the research better.

We’re interested in talking about friendship, social connection and loneliness among men aged 25–45, particularly how friendships can change when life changes.

That might include moving to a new area, changing jobs, becoming a parent, working from home more, going through a relationship breakdown, or simply finding that friendships become harder to maintain as life gets busier.

You don’t need to have experienced loneliness or consider yourself lonely. We’re interested in a range of experiences and perspectives.

We’re currently looking at holding the session on either:

Wednesday 7 October at 2:00 pm
or
Friday 9 October at 2:00 pm

The session will last approximately 60 minutes and will be held [online via Microsoft Teams / in person – confirm as appropriate].

Participants will receive a £20 voucher as a thank-you for their time and contribution.

If you’re 25–45 and interested in taking part, please [DM me / comment below / contact details].

We’re not trying to sell you anything, and you don’t need any particular knowledge or experience. We simply want to hear what men in this age group actually think before we design the research around them.

I came across this event, which I've decided I'm going to register for, only £50, and it looks like interesting. But anybody know anything about the company hosting it? Before I spend my money, is it going to be worth it?

How do people get away with parking their e-bike hire in an area which doesn't allow parking?

For example, you can't end a ride on a Voi bike in Lewisham but you see them parked up across the borough.

I asked because last night I picked up a Voi bike within Lewisham, and while I saw it had a little blue light on to be only parked in approved areas, what I didn't realise is that the ones at my local station aren't approved for Voi. In fact, nothing is within Lewisham. I then had to cycle out to Southwark to park it and then pick up Lime bike and cycle back.

If I just left the bike, I'm assuming that it would just keep running up the minutes because the journey hasn't ended. How are people doing this. I'm not asking to do it myself. I'm just genuinely curious how it's happening. We'll stop. Could understand it on the odd lime bikes for people. It's like them clicking up the street and not actually being hired, but I don't think that's possible now.

I'm in town and it seems a missed chance to just go home.

If you don't know the Marquis its London's rocknroll pub, it small, vinyl behind the bar, Green Day played there. Chandos Place

I'm an old sod but don't let put you off!

I'll talk about music, startups, politics, and my outrage that Chelsea want to charge £47 for a preseason friendly.

And I will buy you a beer (other drinks are available)

I'm around till 6, later if people join me.

So my wife and daughter have just left for 15 days travelling around Europe by train.

That leaves me, for the first time in 15 years home alone.

Any great ideas of what I can do to pass the time?

So far got:

tidy and clean the house from top to bottom. We have more stuff than space but I’m sure without people bringing stuff in I can make a very big dent in getting it back to normality.

Work, I have a couple of business includjng a startup so 12 hours a day will be taken up with work.

Write and record a new song. Its been 5 years since I did that,

I’m in London, dont want to spend a lot of money.

Any great ideas?

I’m not much of a sit and relax kida guy, I tend to keep busy.

I was tempted to buy a massive canvas and paint a picture of me as Nepolian on a horse. I cant paint.

Madfest is the UK’s largest and most disruptive marketing and advertising technology festival, bringing together over 15,000 brand and agency professionals. Combining industry keynotes, experiential activations, street food, and entertainment, it is designed to merge business networking with a traditional festival atmosphere.

And I have a free spare ticket.

It runs today till Thursday.

If you are launching or growing then this may be for you.

It's a really relaxed event, the free booze helps!

But I made some important contacts there last year.

I am going today.

It's over in Brick Lane

A few local men are joining me for an evening of football, conversation and good company. Nothing complicated, just getting out of the house, meeting new people and enjoying the match together.

And thanks to support from Steeev Combating Male Loneliness CIC and the Big Issue Power Up London programme, we've got a limited number of free places available.

The wider event at the venue is open to everyone, but these free places are specifically for men who would like to meet some new people, have a chat, and build a few more social connections while enjoying the football.

I have a couple of places available.

If you're a man aged 30+ and would like to join us, send me a message. I'll be at the venue from 8pm, with kick off at 9pm.

No sales pitch. No networking. No awkward icebreakers.

Just football and a chance to meet some decent blokes.

#MensHealth #MaleLoneliness #Community #London #SELondon #Football #Steeev

So I visited SXSW this morning. I came last year as well.

I can't help but feel that they just don't have it right yet.

There feels like the is little of no buzz. And that's because it is so bloody expensive.

And they seem to have very little engagement with external communities.

I scanned for 20 names from the startup community who I thought might be here. And none are.

SXSW London should be a can't miss event. But it's being ignored by many.

I have been to other events using the same core venues. I will compare it the Madfest. That has real energy. The energy the SXSW lacks.

There needs to be more to see/do other than talks during the day.

Invite 250 startups to take over pub benches like Madfest. Charge them £1000 each. And then in down time between talks you would have a wealth of things to see and people to talk to. And every one of those companies would become champions of the event.

So I visited SXSW this morning. I came last year as well.

I can't help but feel that they just don't have it right yet.

There feels like the is little of no buzz. And that's because it is so bloody expensive.

And they seem to have very little engagement with external communities.

I scanned for 20 names from the startup community who I thought might be here. And none are.

SXSW London should be a can't miss event. But it's being ignored by many.

I have been to other events using the same core venues. I will compare it the Madfest. That has real energy. The energy the SXSW lacks.

There needs to be more to see/do other than talks during the day.

Invite 250 startups to take over pub benches like Madfest. Charge them £1000 each. And then in down time between talks you would have a wealth of things to see and people to talk to. And every one of those companies would become champions of the event.

I commissioned a compliance and risk report for my startup, not including tech (that's being done separately)

4 immediate go straight to jail - well not quite but large holes in our terms and policies which would leave the company and in one instance the directors liable for things way out of our control. Thank you solicitor who drafted the terms…shame ai have already paid their bill.

24 existential risks - most of these I was aware of but I now have a clear idea of what to do and what to prioritise.

11 policies to create or update.

And 6 escalation processes to define.

I commissioned the report because I had some grant budget assigned to consultancy and I needed to spend it before the end of May.

I am very glad I did.

And while I suspect AI was involved (based on price v detail produced) I have been working through the points and they are all valid.

I recommend doing this, even if just AI. If AI spend a lot of time building the prompt so you give it everything it might need.