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Unless you work in the industry it can be difficult to make servers, databases and business intelligence appealing or exciting, but once a year something pretty miraculous happens. The IT industry as a whole puts aside its differences, discards the tech talk and gets together under the Byte Night banner to fight against youth homelessness in the UK.
Everyone in the industry from journalists and tech workers through to managing directors and C-level executives at some of the biggest names in IT spend a night sleeping out in locations across the UK, braving the winter weather to help raise money for Action for Children.
Now in its eleventh year, it has grown from an event that saw 30 individuals sleeping out in London and raise around £35,000 to over 500 sleepers raising nearly £470,000 last year.
Despite the credit crunch squeezing the pockets of people and businesses alike, the Byte Night team are hoping to recruit over 700 sleepers this year and raise a record £500,000.
The event's founder Ken Deeks said he firmly believes that the appetite for charitable giving within the tech industry is higher than ever and is convinced Byte Night can reach its target despite the recession.
The event is championed by Jenny Agutter, while generating support from celebrities outside the tech industry including the likes of chef Ainsley Harriott, comedian Alexei Sayle and the Arsenal football team.
Top executives from Dell, Intel, The Talk Talk Group and BT, to name but a few, will be joined by their staff as they once again bed down for a night in the great outdoors.
Commenting on the launch of this year's drive Polly Neate, one of the charity's executive directors, said: "Since its inception 11 years ago, Byte Night has gone from strength to strength. The event has allowed us to continue to provide safe and secure accommodation to vulnerable youngsters at risk of homelessness. The continued support from the tech industry is second to none."
This year the campaign culminates on 2 October with sleep out events taking place in London, Edinburgh, Manchester and the Thames Valley. For those that want to get involved you can visit the web site or keep up to date with all the latest news on Facebook or Twitter.
Once again we'll be there with bells on, not just reporting on the event, but freezing alongside all the other supporters - and this year we'll be taking the video camera down with us.
21 May 2009
