Yesterday I was at the Google Geo Developer day in Amsterdam. I think it’s the second time Google organizes such an event. The first time was last year preceding the Oreilly’s Where 2.0 conference in the US (btw. why isn’t there such an event in Europe?).
The program looked interesting and I was looking forward meeting other Google Maps developers.
The day started with some keynotes.
This morning, after I brought one of my kids to school (the other one had to go to the dentist), I drove my bike to the KoffieSalon. This is a place in Amsterdam where you can get a great cup of coffee, but that wasn’t the main reason I was going there. The ‘KoffieSalon’ was the location where the first Amsterdam OpenCoffee Meetup was held.
OpenCoffee is the name of a weekly event where entrepreneurs, investors, bloggers, developers and other web savvies can meet at the same place and at the same time.
It was a good and interesting meeting. 30 people signed up and I think they were all there. The time frame (one hour) is short, so you can’t talk to everybody. But it’s long enough to meet a few new people and have an interesting conversation. And because it’s weekly next time you can talk to the others 
One thing I learned, while talking to others, is that I have to work om my introduction speech about the project(s) I’m working on.
So if you want a good Thursday morning start, meet like minded people, talk about your startup, find people to work with, or just have a nice cup of coffee, sign up for the next meetup!
Yesterday I got a phone call from Google. The lady on the phone said Google is organizing a Geo developer day in Amsterdam somewhere in march. She asked me to whom she could address the invitation.
After the call I realized I didn’t ask for the precise date, so I guess I have to wait for the invitation. I can’t find any information about this developers day on the web.
The lady said she got my phone number from this website. Probably the Stemlocaties Amsterdam page (Google Maps mashup with all vote locations for the Dutch General Elections) got their attention somehow
update 1: Today (March 1) I got the invitation, so now I know the date . The program looks very interesting, so Google count me in!
update 2: Read my report about the GeoDay
