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Certainly in Australia and in my experience in other English speaking countries, and I’d hazard a guess in many countries of European tradition, we tend to socialise with alcohol. Whether it’s purely social, or a professional event after work hours, alcohol is expected, and of course by most, if consumed, then consumed responsibly.

But not everyone is comfortable drinking, or drinks every time they go out, or drinks at all. And not everyone may be entirely comfortable as the evening wears on, and some get the worse for wear.

Having run many many events over the last decade, we’ve always tried to create an environment that was safe and inclusive, as well as fun and engaging. And often (only after hours of course) this has involved serving alcohol.

We limit it to wine and beer, and we’ve also always made sure there are options for those who aren’t drinking (I often don’t drink at all myself, with on many occasions a long drive home at the end of a long day). We try to ensure everyone is a first class citizen at our events.

But this year, we’ve decided to really do something more, and make not having a drink no less appealing than a glass wine or a beer. How so?

The Urban Dictionary describes programmers as “an organism capable of converting caffeine into code“. If you’ve attended a recent event of ours, you’ll know we go out of our way to make sure there’s great espresso coffee. But we’re talking this a step further.

At every event we hold, or host (we host numerous events at our HQ, including SydCSS, Hover and IoTSydney) we’ll be serving fantastic hot filter (courtesy of our brand new Mocca Master filter coffee maker), cold brew coffee (if you’ve not tried good cold brew, then you’ve been missing out) and maybe even the odd Aeropress cup if you can twist my arm to make you one. The beans will be freshly ground, and world class, thanks to our friends Sample Coffee. And we’ll make sure there’s decaf for those who (like me), love the whole coffee experience but can sometimes over indulge in the caffeine.

Most importantly, all this is thanks to our wonderful friends at Campaign Monitor. A great Australian success story, a great supporter of Web Directions, and frankly the best email campaign software there is.