There are some great UK based webby events coming up.  In chronological order here are the ones I've got my eye on at the moment:

Whiskyweb 13 & 14 April

There's no speaker list yet, but it's really close to Aberdeen, costs £50, and is really close to Aberdeen. Oh - and @WhiskyCraig is doing a masterclass which is always a treat. If I'm reading it right the conf is on the 13th (friday) and the saturday is a hack day - which is a nice idea. Tempting.

DIBI Conference 16 & 17 April

Newcastle / Gateshead hosts DIBI - Design It Build It - a two track conference where you can jump between tracks easily. I went last year pretty much to see Zeldman speak. It was a great couple of days, great talks, made some good friends, and met a fair number of twitter buddies. Going this year was a no brainer - (my highlights from last year are here, and videos are on vimeo). Legendary afterparty drinkipoos too. I'm particularly looking forward to Brian Leroux (Phonegap) and finally hear Paul Boag live instead of on a podcast.

Port80 25 May

Even if Port80 didn't have a really interesting speaker list I'd be including it here just for the name. It's in Newport which is in South Wales and is a pain to get to from Aberdeen. But it's called Port80 - which is inspired. 

Ampersand 15 June

If type is your thing, or if you think it should be your thing, this is the business. Review of last years ampersand here. Speaker list includes Erik, Jake and Elliot - so you're gonna learn stuff. Erik Spiekermann is a hilarious and insightful speaker by the way - see him if you ever get the chance. Tickets go on sale 6th March.

Build 2012 tbc

It's way off and not on sale yet but Build is the daddy, so has to be here. If you haven't already you should get on the mailing list so you can grab a ticket. Build sells out. Fast. If you need any persuading just head to vimeo to see the videos from the previous events. My highlight from 2011 - when we build. Also, you haven't lived until you've had a Belfast Fry.

We'll try and post upcoming event lists pretty regularly so if we missed any that you have your eye on let us know in the comments. Or post your own list of events you have your eye on - this is open mic after all!

* Creative Commons photo of DIBI 2011 by David Parsons

Refresh Aberdeen is about more that meetups. It's about raising the bar in Aberdeen, and giving voice to members of the community.

One way to give voice to the community is to invite people to speak at Refresh events, but we're keen to explore other ways aswell. 

Which is where 'open mic' comes in.

This blog is open to all 'refreshers' in Aberdeen to contribute to. Share your thoughts, ideas and experiences with the community. We hope this does two things. It gives voice to individuals in the community, letting the rest of us see the talent and knowledge around us. It also more broadly shows the talent and knowledge in the city generally.

We are keen to avoid having rules for open mic - all we ask is that you keep your posts on a topic of interest to Refresh - i.e. tech, web, design.

How to contribute

This is a posterous blog - so you'll need a posterous account. Simply visit posterous.com and sign up. Then just drop us an email at hello@refreshaberdeen.com, tweet us @refreshaberdeen or comment on this post letting us know the email address for your posterous account. 

We'll then add you as a contributor and you can blog as much or as little as you like.