Jim Haynes, a true inspiration

As I mentioned in my previous post, last night I ran a Qype event with Fernandez & Leluu and Qype. After Eight brought Jim Haynes over from his home in Paris, to host an evening with Simon and Uyen. The guy is an inspiration.

It's not often that you meet someone who has created something amazing, yet still remains utterly humble. Jim started the whole supper club movement, because he likes people. He likes having people over for dinner. He enjoys telling stories. He likes talking. He's utterly fascinating and you get the impression he gives you the same amount of attention as he would to Yoko Ono or Germaine Greer. He's got some fascinating stories (yes, there has been a wedding from a meeting at one of his supper clubs, neither spoke the same language) and he's a complete gent.

We spend so much of our lives online these days, and the event with Qype last night was a bit of a revelation for me. A lot of people ask Qype why they do the events, assuming that it's to boost reviews on the site. That's part of it, of course. But Qype understand the importance of continuing online communities offline. The importance of interaction. That's what the events are about. That's why Jim has been doing what he does for the last thirty years, it's why Simon and Uyen are so very very good at what they do. They're people people.

It's events like last night's that remind you for all the things we give importance to, having a chat over dinner is still one of the most precious. Doing it with fabulous people like the guys at the event last night, is a privilege.