Image: goldenporshe/Shutterstock
Fancy your hand at some wakeboarding? Well, this is just one of the cool things happening at the Fringe after-parties at Inspirefest 2017.
The summer evenings might be getting shorter from here on in but, when Inspirefest comes to town this July, there should be plenty to keep you entertained.
Exclusively for Inspirefest ticket-holders, the Fringe events will be taking place across both evenings of 6 and 7 July, where attendees can take a sneak peek inside two of Silicon Docks’ most intriguing offices: Facebook and Airbnb, respectively.
On both the Thursday and Friday, starting at 6pm, attendees will get a chance to unwind with some good old-fashioned networking and chats, likely about some of the incredible stuff you’ve just seen on stage.
Afterwards, you can dig your teeth into some poetry from esteemed poet Kate Dempsey, who has won numerous awards for her work as well as running Poetry Divas, a collective of women poets who aim to blur the boundary between books and theatre.
Then, after a short break, Limerick native and singer-songwriter Emma Langford will perform some of her favourite tunes with her powerful signature vocal and musical style, blending elements of an Irish lilt with a Latin beat, jazz and folk.
Langford rose to fame in 2016 when she received international acclaim for Tug O’ War, a home-recorded song about anxiety, before managing to crowdfund and launch her self-titled debut EP in June of the same year to a sold-out date in Limerick.
Image: Emma Langford
To end Thursday evening, a DJ will then play some tunes.
On the Friday night, things will be getting off to an altogether wetter start for a handful of Inspirefest attendees, as Hays IT will be hosting a wakeboarding session in the heart of Grand Canal Dock, at Wakedock.
You’ll receive an expert tutorial and the gear to do it, before taking to the water yourself for an adrenaline-fuelled experience you will never forget. Act fast, though – spots are very limited and pre-registration will open soon on a first come, first served basis.
Or, if you’d rather stay dry, get ready to laugh your socks off when the Bright Club group brings together comedy and science for an evening of funny, witty stories.
Bright Club
Set to take the stage at the Airbnb Fringe event are four people from various fields, including researcher and Bright Club Dublin organiser Jessamyn Fairfield, who we profiled back in 2015.
“There’s a difference between talking with humour about your research and making fun of your research, and humour can be such an effective tool for talking to people and conveying ideas,” she told Siliconrepublic.com.
“How many people learn their news from The Daily Show or Last Week Tonight compared with serious news shows?”
Performance unlike any other
Fairfield will be followed by Inspirefest 2016 speaker Sinéad Burke, otherwise known as Minnie Melange, who has established herself as one of Ireland’s most prominent social media figures, with a sharp wit to boot.
Wrapping up the comedy foursome are Conor O’Toole and Brenda Romero, the latter of which had everyone in fits of laughter at Inspirefest last year for her eye-opening talk on the reality of ‘jiggle physics’ in video game design.
After a short break, attendees will get a chance to see and hear music rarely performed in Ireland with Udagan, an international, ethnographic, music fusion group.
The music of Udagan captures the rich, shamanistic universe of the far north and draws the audience into a world of hidden culture and mythology, spanning tens of thousands of miles and reaching back millennia, into places existing on the edges of understanding.
Due to space limitation, the event will be for attendees only, so make sure to keep your Inspirefest wristband on (you will receive it when registering at the main event).
Also, don’t forget that on the Saturday (8 July), a free Family Fringe event will be taking place at The Dock building, hosted by Accenture, which will be available to all those who book a place online.
Inspirefest is Silicon Republic’s international event connecting sci-tech professionals passionate about the future of STEM. Book now to join us from 6 to 8 July in Dublin.
