The Barcamp Dublin team have recovered from the Irish Blog Awards and have recently been spotted organising. I’ll let Elly, Joe and Eoghan post as their bits of news go public.
If you’re reading this before the end of March , it’s very likely that you know what a BarCamp is. More likely than not, you’ve been to one already. So the question is: What do YOU want from BarCamp Dublin? In particular,
* What do you think worked, and what didn’t, at previous BarCamps?
* How should we reach out to people who would enjoy / contribute to BarCamp, if only they knew what it was?
* Should we have a particular theme for the Dublin BarCamp? I’m not talking a strict topic, but something that might encourage new people to come along and contribute?
Let us know what you think.
6 Comments
Strict timekeeping!
I know this sounds very harsh and very negative to get started, but I believe it is worth it.
One of the problems I experienced in Waterford was that I missed the beginning of one session, because another ran over. Stricter timekeeping would avoid this…. possibly
I helped to organize the first BarCamp Vancouver, and attended the first (I think) BarCamp Dublin. Joe asked me to write up some advice:
http://www.capulet.com/weblog/darren/how-to-run-a-great-barcamp
Darren: Thanks for the link - A lot of the conversation on Thursday night was along those lines, so it shows that Joe was paying attention!
Alan: I’d agree on the timekeeping (and I’m glad that it’s not just my own personal fetish). Any ideas on how to keep things more to schedule?
Paul
I don’t know what the venue is like, but I might suggest two methods of warning bell (based on the Ig-nobel stop the acceptance speach going on too long)
1) School bell. Ring lould when the session is due to end.
If nothing else, it’s fun
2) Ringing around.
step 1. Register someone’s phone for a web text session (or get sponsorship for this)
step 2. Take attendees mobile phone numbers on entry, and warn them about this….
step 3. 5 mins before the end of each session, text out the next item on the schedule to all registered attendees…. the collection of mobiles going off shoulod serve as a warning to the speaker
step 4. Get a patsy in one presentation room to ring a patsy in another presentation room and start a loud and anoying conversation as the end of session bell.
nasty, but based on the Ig Nobels…
And how to get the word out… Might I suggest old media whoring?
One long term concern I have is the tendency we all have to over-organise. I was the chief culprit of this at the Cork one. Damien/Walter were great at pulling me back. My comments here are on the overall BarCamp direction in Ireland rather than being specific to Dublin.
BarCamp is an unconference and I hope the focus remains on a highly dynamic day full of surprises where the attendees contribute more than the speakers.
For me the best session of the first two BarCamps was Haydn’s. He arrived late just off the plane, I found him an empty slot, he grabbed a postit and wrote one word on it “Content”. In his session he talked for maybe five minutes, threw some questions to the floor and then interacted with the audience for the remainder of his slot.
I genuinely wish that all BarCamp sessions were like that. Maybe insist that you can only talk AT the audience for 15 mins and the rest must be Q&A WITH the audience.
If we end up in a situation of published agenda, no free slots or rooms and the delivery of powerpoints to a silent audience I think we’ll have lost the essence of what BarCamp is all about.
Would it also be worthwhile putting something on the wiki for all upcoming BarCamps saying that shameless self-promotion will be frowned upon and maybe even go so far as to say that branded slides are a no-no?
One issue I’ve seen with all three BarCamps is the huge preponderance of web-related topics. This is natural given the medium but I’d love to see more non-web technology talks. e.g. someone on DVB-H to mobile phones or the issues around FTA DTT in Ireland.
Looking forward to another great day.