I was talking to a friend of mine abut Outlet the other day and he couldn’t quite wrap his head around why he would want to go.

“It’s just a meetup, right?”

Yeah. Exactly.

“Our purpose is that we have no purpose,” I said. The whole point of Outlet is that the world doesn’t need another event that comes with a long list of demands and expectations. It needs the opposite.

In fact, our expectations are easy:

• Have fun.
• Enjoy the people you’re with.
• Keep your phone in your pocket.

We’re not here to make you feel better (or worse) about your business. It doesn’t matter how many email addresses or business cards you collect. Outlet is not about forced networking, sharing Google+ strategies, or finding new LinkedIn connections. 

You can do all of those things and more if you want to, of course, but the point is it’s not the point. This is about setting aside some time to do things the way our grandparents did them. Face to face with a handshake. Ink on paper. Make a memory. Laugh. 

From there, who knows what might happen?

Even though Outlet exists on its own, we’re quite pleased to be a part of Betascape for our official relaunch. There are a lot of reasons for that but one of the biggest is the number of cool speakers/talks/conversations they’ve lined up. Don’t believe us? Click here for the full lineup.

Full disclosure: I (Neal) am one of those presenters. But don’t hold that against the Betascape folks — they compensate for it with an otherwise great lineup.

Also, check out Literature Party: Baltimore, another event that’s piggybacking on the Betascape energy. Looks pretty cool, no?

We’ve been excited all along to bring this event back. Today that excitement gets bumped up a notch as we announce that Outlet will return on Friday, September 23rd as part of Betascape 2011. We’ll be at the Windup Space from 6-8 pm.

The chance to partner up with Betascape is one of the coolest things that could have happened to this new-and-improved version of Outlet. Their audience and ours are quite similar, and we fully support the Betascape mission of bringing art and technology together to spur growth. Indeed, that notion has been a core part of the Outlet ideology from day one.

So, mark your calendars. More info on drink specials and (maybe) door prizes coming soon. 

And if you haven’t yet, make sure to click here and find out what Outlet is all about.

See you soon.

Greetings and welcome to the new page for Outlet Baltimore. You may remember us from our first incarnation back in 2009. When we put things on hold in June of that year we said we’d be back “in September.” Turns out that was true, even if we didn’t know then that it would take an extra two years.

More info is coming soon on the when, where, and how of Outlet’s rebirth. Stay tuned.