I'm camping today. Not literally. It's a bit cold to go camping outdoors. Rather, I'm at BarCamp. Imagine a bunch of geeks in a room -- with pizza, soda, and candy bars -- sharing ideas.
The first BarCamp in 2005 was an "open-source" answer to the invitation-only FooCamp (FOO stands for Friends of O'Reilly -- that is, publisher Tim O'Reilly). The Bar moniker comes from the software development slang term "foobar."
BarCamp is an "unconference". Unlike typical conferences where presenters present to a passive audience, BarCamp more often resembles a free-for-all, albeit a polite, controlled one. Attendees who want to present write their ideas on a whiteboard. They are given several minutes each to demo -- to show something they are working on. PowerPoint presentations are frowned upon.
During each demo the audience asks questions and tosses out suggestions for improving the product or service. Just think of it as crowdsourcing the knowledge of a bunch of really smart people.
Who would have thought that bleeding-edge technology would be linked with camping? But the idea of "roughing it" parallels the differences between the one-way information flows of a typical seminar, compared to the freewheeling exchange of ideas at BarCamp. Anyone can come to show of their idea, prototype, or startup. And anyone can critique and make suggestions about it. The result is usually a few excellent and vetted ideas about how to improve the product.
StartupCamp and DemoCamp are even briefer weeknight versions of the concept that have grown out of the BarCamp concept. They tend to provide quicker per-product demo and comment sessions, much like the much-vaunted DEMO conference. Companies such as b5media have received venture capital funding as a result of presentations at DemoCamp.
The people who attend BarCamp and similar events don't limit their involvement to just those events. Many are programmers, but there are other constituencies as well: Authors of open-source code, bloggers, Twitterers, students, and corporate employees with "real" jobs. All can sense a grassroots technology groundswell and they want to be a part of it. In markets where the existing corporate technology companies are a bit long in the tooth, it is people like these who will launch startups and drive innovation. They're also building networks which they can turn to for ideas and collaboration in the future.
Keep in mind as well that events such as BarCamp are an excellent place to find very talented people -- the kind you would want to work with. These are bright, engaged, and often young people (I'm a bit older, but still accepted) who are out to change the world. And they don't mind giving away ideas and support to help others change the world.
If you aren't attending BarCamp already, make plans to do so. If there isn't one near you, then start one -- this helpful BarCamp guide will get you going. The kind of people who are likely to attend BarCamp will find it, and you.
Larry Borsato has been a software developer, marketer, consultant, public speaker, and entrepreneur, among other things. For more of his unpredictable yet entertaining thoughts, visit his blog at larryborsato.com.
More news, commentary, and predictions from The Industry Standard:
Note: Anonymous comments on The Industry Standard are disabled. To leave a comment and participate in the Standard's prediction market, please register first.
Post new comment