On Thursday 3rd July at the Midlands Hotel I was asked to attend the Big Chip Awards in Manchester. Not our usual SEO/SEM conference, but a full on Digital Awards do celebrating Digital Excellence in the North.
A treat for me as both the North and Digital was where I started out before eventually moving in to SEO. A double treat in fact as I got to rub shoulders with Manchester’s finest and the night was made extra special as I got to catch up with old friends AKA Manchester Digital Legends Tony Foggett, Louis Georgiou , and Wini Tse where I cut my teeth and had my first taste of agency life at CodeComputerlove when they were a startup. Fond memories 🙂
Refreshing to see such creativity on a relatively local level from companies large and small that still pushed boundaries it actually made me want to move back from SEO to Digital as there is nothing like being caught up in a Digital Project where every idea and every moment just gets better!
Such a fantastic event, full of buzz, atmosphere, and definitely full of win. Andrew Ryan was an hilarious host for the evening and in true comic form, picked on everyone 🙂 (see photos here)
Dave Carter who was retiring gave a speech worthy of Churchill as he commended the Manchester Digital Scene. The night itself showing that Manchester has no signs of stopping or of creativity in the area becoming stagnant with a record number of entries and some pretty amazing talent on show.
After a splendid meal, the awards were underway with probably one of the busiest Twitter boards I’ve seen in a while (and I’ve seen a few!). At the end of the awards, all winners piled on stage for a cracking photo then prepared themselves for the following day’s walk of shame by heading to the neon disco room to boogie the night away (guilty as charged). I have spared you the embarrassing photos but for a pie and a pint, I might be persuaded to remember a few moments 🙂
Congratulations to all of the Winners and a big thanks to James Crawford at PRAgencyOne and Manchester Digital for inviting me to the event as a State of Digital VIP.
Big Chip Awards Winners 2014
See ALL Big Chip Awards Photos