In a world where entertainment sometimes seems homogenous (ring in to vote for your favourite camel anus eating celebrity/ ice skating celebrity/ dancing celebrity/ [insert activity here] celebrity), Bettakultcha offers a bizarre evening of entertainment that borders on the sublime.

When my friend, @lovelyclaire, first suggested that I accompany her to an evening of power point presentations, I declined on the basis that it sounded about as fun as accompanying her to a waxing appointment (not that she’s asked by the way). After some persuasion, I followed her to the Media Centre in Huddersfield, where I met the Bettakultcha gang and made a new friend: @nakedpresenting. A love affair began! Not with @nakedpresenting, we’re just friends, although I still think I’m the crush she mentioned in her blog. You can protest too much.

A few glasses of wine and a bit of bullying later and I found myself jointly presenting a random slide challenge with @johnpopham. The footage in the archives of the Bettakultcha website confirm that this was every bit as painful to watch as it was to stand there and cringe through. What was I thinking? Was I thinking?!

Now, I am proud to call myself a kind of seasoned presenter. I’ve got a few Bettkultchas under my belt and am very excited to be on the list for the Leeds Town Hall extravaganza in January. But what has Bettakultcha-ing done for me?

Well, apart from being great entertainment and an evening away from the same old TV, it has introduced me to new friends and interesting new people that I may never have met otherwise. Bettakultcha creates a great environment for people to get talking, as demonstrated by @lovelyclaire who met @rouninmedia on that fateful first night at the Media Centre and is now engaged to him!

It has got me using Twitter, which previously I was highly suspicious of and am now addicted to. Bettakultcha attendees are encouraged to tweet throughout the presentations and that can mean that you continue conversations that spring forth in the land of social media long after leaving the event.

My presentation skills and confidence in front of an audience have improved to the point that I’m daring myself to try stand-up comedy and form a comedy writing powerhouse (?) with my talented new friend @AnarchicAli.

Oh, and in a roundabout way it’s got me writing for www.theculturevulture.co.uk and attempting NaNoWriMo.

I am so very pleased I listened to @lovelyclaire and went to Bettakultcha. Don’t tell her though; she gets very smug when she’s right about something. And I’m still not going to that waxing appointment.

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