The theme of the 3rd BrumTwestival is education. Our team was set the challenge of coming up with a way to involve education with our plans so… we’re launching brumabilities.

Inspired by the ’shared brain’ element of Twitter, Brumabilities are 60-second online how-to guides. The idea being that Brummies can share their knowledge and that will build up an archive of all the things we know how to do.

We’ve set up a Tumblr blog so you can submit video, text, pictures, illustrations, designs, audio or whatever you want to share your brumability - and you can submit as many as you like. We’ll tweet all of them, so get sharing your brumability.

Email your brumability to paul@theaardvark.co.uk and the lovely Paul Taylor will upload them.

Birmingham Twestival has received a number of excellent raffle prizes (and we have more details on these soon). We are also looking for a number of smaller (£5 to £20) raffle prizes to give away in one or two “Mystery Packages”.

We would like to give away a collection of smaller raffle prizes as the prize in the “non-attendance” raffle, a raffle for those who want to be involved but may not be able to attend on the evening. The prize would be a single, eclectic selection of unknown prizes from as a large a number of sources as possible, a mystery if you will.

At the first twestival I, @theeardvark, won such a prize in a silent auction and absolutely loved it. @kincowbag and I opened a prize a day for weeks.

To keep the prize a mystery we won’t be publicising the contents in advance of the night but we will announce the content on the night. When we do that we will announce and thank the people and/or businesses that donated the prizes. We will post a blog entry here after the night listing the prizes and the donors with contact details and/or a web-link as appropriate.

If you would like to donate a prize to this collection, please contact any one of the Brum Twestival organisers:

Jashpal Mall @jashpal

Kathy Doyle @kathy_e_d

Paul Taylor @theaardvark

Sharon Taylor @kincowbag

Chris Brown @crisbrown

Mark Hill @cybrum

Kate Hughes @katehughes

Thanks to kindness and generosity of Richard and Jill Horswill, we are offering a fantastic holiday for two in Cyprus as one of our raffle prizes.

The week’s accommodation at an apartment at Majestic Gardens, not far from the brand new airport at Larnaca, is worth £245.

The penthouse studio has air-conditioning, flat screen TV, satellite channels and DVD. It offers a relaxed getaway all year round and sunshine is pretty much guaranteed! A week is available at anytime to suit the prize winner, subject to availability. For more info, check out http://www.mycyprusholiday.co.uk/ and you can also follow updates @mycyprusholiday

Richard Horswill said: “We have learnt so much from my friends on twitter since the first Twestival we just wanted to say thank you! It’s for a great cause.”

Thank you to Richard and Jill. Anyone else who would like to donate a raffle prize should email kate.s.hughes@gmail.com

Have you heard of Brum Twestival but you’re not sure what it is or why you should come? Here’s our reasons - feel free to tweet your own:

1. Because it’s part of a global movement of Twitter festivals all taking place on Thursday 25 March, all tweeting, fundraising and having fun at the same time
2. Because it’s for charity! 100% of the ticket cost goes to Concern Worldwide who are going to use the money to help children in developing countries attend school
3. Because you might win a prize in our raffle
4. Because you’ll meet people who you only know through Twitter and put faces to names
5. Because you’ll get to hear some great brummie DJs - Steve Nicholls, Caroline Beavon, Keri Davies and Gavin Wray
6. Because there’s a magician. Come on, everyone loves a magician!
7. Because if you’re from a business you’ll get to network with Birmingham’s online community
8. Because you get a free drink (if you’re one of the first 50 through the door)
9. Because there’ll be nibbley yummy nommy food
10. Because it’s at Poppy Red in the Arcadian
11. Because tickets are only £5 if you buy them online before the night (click on the buy tickets button above)
12. Because we’re trying to raise £2000 and we’re nearly a quarter of the way there already - even if you can’t make it on the night you can still donate via the buy a ticket button
13. Because you’ll have a warm n’ fuzzy feeling that you’ve made a difference by taking part
14. Because we’d love to see you there!

The team of volunteers organising Brum Twestival are:

Jashpal Mall @jashpal

Kathy Doyle @kathy_e_d

Paul Taylor @theaardvark

Sharon Taylor @kincowbag

Chris Brown @crisbrown

Mark Hill @cybrum

Kate Hughes @katehughes

You can follow us on Twitter and tweet us questions about anything to do with Brum Twestival - as well as following our official Twitter page @brumtwestival .

Matrix Creative Marketing has come on board as Brum Twestival’s final primary sponsor. The Birmingham-based agency is on Twitter as @matrixltd so you can follow them there too.

Thank you Matrix for your support!

We’re not just about Twitter, you know - we’re also on facebook! You can become a fan of Brum Twestival on facebook by clicking here .

Feel free to share it with your facebook friends.

Thanks!

Brum Twestival tickets are now on sale! They are £5 and you can buy them by clicking on the link above or here. The tickets include a drink, nibbles, fun and frolicks.

BMI Baby Brum Twestival: 7pm-late, Thursday 25 March, Poppy Red, The Arcadian, Birmingham. Tickets will be £7 on the door, so buy now and save yourself a couple of quid.

This year we’re also offering a non-attendance raffle ticket, so if you can’t make it on the night you can still stand a chance of winning a prize, and as we’ve done previously there is a donation ticket - feel free to buy as many of these as you like!

As well as the free drink and nibbles, there’ll be a raffle, a magician, games, DJs and a chance to chat to people you may only know through Twitter.

Every penny of your ticket price will go to Concern Worldwide, the selected Twestival Global charity. If you buy a ticket, please tweet about it and tell your friends. We’d love to see you there!

Thank you to the Bostin Group and Waxing for Guys for snapping up our primary sponsor spaces!

It’s great to see two Midlands businesses doing well, who are passionate about where they come from and supporting Brum Twestival. Of course, you can follow both on Twitter @waxingforguys and @iBostin.

Thanks for your support.

We’re lucky enough to have two more sponsor partners signed up:

• the University of Warwick, which has come on board because of Twestival’s education them, thanks to Ellie Lovell
• Mark Steadman’s new podcast Deadlink

Thank you both!

If you’d like to be one of our 15 sponsor partners for the princely sum of £20, then email kate.s.hughes@gmail.com