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To celebrate the 180th anniversary of its famous Market Building, Covent Garden is marking the milestone with a diverse programme of free events that combine culture, art, history, fine food and good old-fashioned entertainment.

The festivities kick off this Friday with the unveiling of a massive birthday card and cake that will feed 2,000 people (no guessing where the GA staff will be at 12.30pm!)

Alongside foodie treats, there’ll be goodies for grown ups, art installations, ice sculptures, party games, workshops, entertainment and live music for all. For a full schedule of this weekend’s line up visit: www.coventgardenlondonuk.com

This year they will re-run their production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ which is back following rave reviews last year. (GA cameos with Juliet longingly enquiring ‘O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?’ from our window!)

The company will also be performing ‘Wind in the Willows’, which débuts this year. We have spied on a few of the rehearsals and it looks like a great production with a set that Ratty and Mole would be proud of.

This is one of London’s ‘hidden’ gems, and the perfect way to spend an afternoon or evening soaking up some culture and reminding yourself why our city is so fantastic!

Take a look at the Iris Theatre site if you fancy finding out more about the productions or want to book some tickets, we’ll see you there!

Yes, you heard right. Today, I broke a world record.

Don’t believe me, well here’s the proof:

So, as you can hopefully see from my great Nokia phone film footage, I broke a record for “the most amount of people in one place simultaneously flipping a coin”.

Nice.

And the point of this? Well, this PR stunt world record attempt was the brainchild of agency Taylor Herring to promote a new Channel Five series called Heads or Tails.

I think it was quite a nice idea, although I would have perhaps done more online to build buzz prior to the event.  But anyway, I’m sure the ‘world record’ will provide a soft news story, and so this might make a few papers tomorrow, just in time for the show’s premiere on the weekend. On that note, I’m slightly regretting my proximity to Justin (watch vid of the photoshoot below!)

There was a really interesting mix of speakers, all of whom talked about how they use Twitter, what it means to them and how it has shaped the way in which they communicate. For example, Babs Rangaiah (@Babs26), VP of Global Comms Planning at Unilever, said that Twitter is the “best business tool”, and that Unilever now see it as “part of the job”. Kodak (@KodakCB) use Twitter to “engage, educate and excite” their audiences. Manny Norte (@MannyNorte), a Kiss 100 dj, says that he discovers new music and artists through Twitter, and Endemol (@jonalmond) are going so far as to create a Twitter app called “Tweemote”.  So, suffice to say, some pretty big companies and institutions around the world see Twitter as integral to how they do business.

For me, the real take home message was something that  most of the speakers were leaning towards, but that Stephen Fry (@Stephenfry) succintly and eloquently summarised: “Twitter is human-shaped, not business-shaped”.  Although it might seem like an obvious statement, it is something that alot of marketers forget when they put together their “Twitter Strategies”. However, judging from the conference case studies, it is the people that remember Twitter’s ‘human shape’ that reap the dividends of communicating through this platform.

There were over 60 speakers, and unfortunately I cannot summarise everything that they said, but I will leave you with some soundbites from the conference, and a video filmed by Gabe Mac (@gabemac). I have also included links to some other online coverage about the event if you would like more information.

Jeff Pulver (@jeffpulver) – Creator, #140conf

• “Listen, connect, share, engage”

Babs Rangaiah (@Babs26) – VP Global Comms Planning, Unilever

• “Twitter is like a live journal”
• “It has replaced RSS”

Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) Writer/Author/Actor

• “Twitter is human shaped, not business shaped”
• “Don’t deny the internet the pleasure of your humanity”

Andrew Keen (@ajkeen) – Author

• “Power doesn’t dissappear, it’s redistributed”
• “The internet is redistributing power”
• “Authenticity is the new currency of power”

Jeffrey Hayzlett (@jeffreyhayzlett) – CMO, Kodak

• “Kodak have a ‘four E’ strategy for engaging with social media: Engage, Educate, Excite, Evangelise”
• “There is a girl in the office called Tina, who is followed on Twitter by guys who only follow girls called Tina. Now, I don’t care what country you’re from – that’s weird.”

Rachel Fellows (@kelloggsuk) Head of Corporate Comms, Kelloggs

• “Twitter is one giant focus group”

Tony Mattson - Group Business Director UM London

• ” Enrich, Evolve, Maintain, Refresh, Participate, Leverage”

Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan) – President, New Marketing Labs

• “Promote other people 12x as much as you promote yourself”

JP Rangaswami (@jobsworth) Cheif scientist, BT group

• “Twitter is for “alerts, advice and assistance”

West Midlands police (@wmpolice)

• “Twitter is like a freight train – get on it, or get hit by it”

More coverage from London’s #140conf-

• Jeff Pulver’s Blog -  The week that was – A look back at the #140conf
• Jeff Pulver’s Blog – 140conf – Coverage by the media (this post contains links to more coverage)
• Mark’s Technology news blog – 140conf talks Twitter in London
• Barney Stephens – A day at 140conf
• Mirror.co.uk – Big Brother maker endemol working on Twitter app

Thankfully, the weather held out and, as the champagne flowed, the mariachis serenaded both clients and staff in the gardens of St. Paul’s Church – thanks Vicar!

We could go on, tell you what a fabulous night it was, how delicious the Mexican themed canapés were, and what mischief and shenanigans everyone got up to… But, quite simply, we think the photos speak for themselves…

For more photos from the night, click here, to go to our Flickr account!