About us
Once upon a time in a Tuk Tuk...
... three nerdy friends were riding home from one of those parties they had in Phnom Penh in 2010 (and probably still have these days).
"Everyone there seemed really interesting, but we only talked about where we were from and how long we've been in Phnom Penh," said one friend. "Is there a way to get people to talk to each other about more interesting things?"
"We did this thing at RISD called Nerd Night one time," said another friend. "The speakers talked about their nerdy passion, they had to have 20 slides, and they could only talk about each one for 20 seconds."
"Cool, let's do it here!" said the first friend.
"This will be great, I'm going to give a talk!" said the third friend, who is still working on his presentation, like, 7 years later.
Our first-ever Nerd Night was upstairs at Equinox in January, 2011. Back then Equinox was better known for live music than for live Nerds, but we asked to throw an event on Monday, so they didn't mind. Almost all of the speakers understood the 20 slides thing. About 30 people showed up, and more people from the audience volunteered to give a talk at the next Nerd Night.
Maybe 70 people came to the next one. And then somehow, more than 100 for the one after that. And it's been pretty popular in Phnom Penh ever since.
Want to find things like Nerd Night Phnom Penh in other cities, or start your own? Check out Pecha Kucha 20x20, they invented this speaking format and have a pretty strong global network.
"Everyone there seemed really interesting, but we only talked about where we were from and how long we've been in Phnom Penh," said one friend. "Is there a way to get people to talk to each other about more interesting things?"
"We did this thing at RISD called Nerd Night one time," said another friend. "The speakers talked about their nerdy passion, they had to have 20 slides, and they could only talk about each one for 20 seconds."
"Cool, let's do it here!" said the first friend.
"This will be great, I'm going to give a talk!" said the third friend, who is still working on his presentation, like, 7 years later.
Our first-ever Nerd Night was upstairs at Equinox in January, 2011. Back then Equinox was better known for live music than for live Nerds, but we asked to throw an event on Monday, so they didn't mind. Almost all of the speakers understood the 20 slides thing. About 30 people showed up, and more people from the audience volunteered to give a talk at the next Nerd Night.
Maybe 70 people came to the next one. And then somehow, more than 100 for the one after that. And it's been pretty popular in Phnom Penh ever since.
Want to find things like Nerd Night Phnom Penh in other cities, or start your own? Check out Pecha Kucha 20x20, they invented this speaking format and have a pretty strong global network.
A volunteer run event every 2 weeks on a Monday
Since its inception, Nerd Night has always been put on by a group of pro-active volunteers. Every 2-3 weeks on a Monday, we find 4-6 willing speakers to talk about whatever they want! We find different venues around town to host us, and support & coach the speakers on their journey.
A typical Nerd Night gets 100-150 people attending, so come join in on the fun!
A typical Nerd Night gets 100-150 people attending, so come join in on the fun!