Kaizo once again headed to the London Twestival, held this season at Cable Bar on Bermondsey St. Now a regular event on the London tech scene, the venue was packed to the brim with people drinking Magners cider (at pre-budget prices), tucking into delicious burritos and singing very loudly and out of tune into a karaoke mic. With suggested donations for each ‘activity’, the event raised a total of £12,000, not bad considering it was organised entirely through volunteers and promoted almost exclusively on Twitter!

We think the highlight of the evening was most definitely @sarahmayer and @emsiebelle’s rendition of Blondie’s ‘One Way Or Another’. Warning: Content may cause offence to those individuals with a weak disposition. Please ensure you have earplugs at the ready before clicking through.

Twestival is a great example of how social media can be utilised to create online word-of-mouth that has a direct impact offline; in this case on the number of attendees. Promoted almost exclusively via Twitter, people are kept up-to-date via the @LDNTwestival Twitter stream. This leads to retweets from the event’s 3,700+ followers and helps to spread awareness of the event online. There’s also a Facebook group and the event has received widespread coverage on blogs and in forums.

There’s a great deal of value to be had from attending the event. Not only do you get to support a charity in a more interesting way than simply giving a donation, Twestival is a great opportunity to meet with a community of technology and social media early adopters and other influential people.

Kaizo was right in the heart of the action, enjoying the variety of entertainment and tweeting into the early hours!