You may have noted my lack of posting on my various blogs recently. The main reason for this is that I was helping to organise a free technology conference in Cork called BarCamp. BarCamps are neither about booze nor barristers but are grass-roots unconferences where the agenda is only decided on the day by attendees putting themselves forward to speak or to moderate sessions on topics they are interested in.
We had the event on Saturday and it was a huge success. Over 80 people attended from all over Ireland and their backgrounds ranged from college students to programmers to Venture Capitalists. We were thrilled to be able to get tons of sponsorship for everything – the building, the wifi, the food, the drink, the t-shirts, the works!
It made me think that this model of a free adhoc grassroots conference is applicable to far more than just techies talking about the web. And of course I wasn’t the first one to have this thought since WineCamp was held in California and I see links to BourbonCamp and ArtCamp.
Rather than having top-down invite-only or pay-through-the-nose events, I highly recommend that people who want to have a get together with like minded others investigate this idea. You could have BookCamp, FoodCamp, FishCamp and with a nod to a very funny gross-out movie: “This one time, at BandCamp…”.
There is general BarCamp info over at BarCamp.org and the info our our event is at BarCamp.org/BarCampIreland. I ran a blog for a few weeks which you can read over at the BarCamp blog. We have the great site set up by one of our sponsors which collects all the blog posts, pictures and links between people. Check it out at the Backnetwork. If this idea does interest you, feel free to contact me with any questions on arranging them. If you’ve ever run a kids birthday party, then you are more than capable of arranging a BarCamp.
Technorati Tags: barcamp, barcampireland, barcampireland1, winecamp
October 3, 2006 at 9:12 am
Conor, I’ve said it elsewhere, but “Thank You” for organising a brilliant BarCamp, I’m so looking forward to the next one…
October 3, 2006 at 9:27 am
Ah thanks Elly. But without the initiative of Fergus and then Damien and all the co-ordination of sponsors and suppliers by Walter, it would never have happened.
October 4, 2006 at 3:02 am
Would you consider running another tech event in Cork but during an event like the Film Festival? That way the certifiable non-geek partners would have a compelling reason to visit the Rebel County.
Would you consider wikifying a “Best of BarCamp Ireland” round-up for those interested but unable to hear the real thing? Even if you were in the venue all day, you would not hear all the presentations or meet all the attendees.
BTW, my presentation materials are CC and use non-commercial with attribution.
October 4, 2006 at 7:08 am
Hey Bernie,
There stills seems to be big enthusiasm after the event and I wouldn’t be surprised if a BarCampCork comes from the grassroots sooner not later.
What do you mean exactly by the Round-up idea? We are already collecting as many of the PPTs as we can. Any other things you’d like to see? More reviews?
Good to know re your PPT. I’ll pop it up now.
October 4, 2006 at 8:42 am
It would be handy to get the phone numbers of attendees who would like to make some short comments about BarCamp Ireland so the PR students at Tipperary Institute could do a quick ring-around and make a podcast of the afters lingering behind BarCamp Ireland. We do the ring-around if we can get the numbers sent via text msg to +353 86 827 828 7.
October 4, 2006 at 9:24 am
We’ll do our best Bernie but considering we have less than half the email addresses of the attendees, it may prove a challenge! I’ll put the call out.