Perspectives of a Canadian in the Old/Deep/New/Geographic South: This is where I ramble on about nothing in particular and post a few nice pictures.
Thanks to Chrys, the BarcampCHS website is now live and ready to take your ideas for sessions, workshops and demos!
There are still a few small things to be added, but the important bits are ready to go.
What are you waiting for? Go sign up and add your sessions!
Two very common questions asked by people who have never heard of Barcamps. Fortunately, both are fairly easy to answer.
The barcamp.org website says a Barcamp is
an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants who are the main actors of the event.
while the Wikipedia entry describes one as
an international network of user generated conferences – open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants.
What does all that mean?
Simple.
Invite a whole bunch of people (which includes you) to meet, and tell each of them that everybody else is there to learn what he/she knows.
Who is it for?
Well, that’s an even easier question to answer.
It’s for you.
Ok, so what kind of topics will there be?
Excellent question. There will be topics on whatever people (you) want to talk about.
Barcamps, because of its origins, are often tech related but by no means are restricted to that. Considering the wide variety of talents and interests in the Charleston area (particularly in the arts), there’s a good probability that BarcampCHS will have a broad range of topics. We’re looking for talks, presentations, workshops, demonstrations on pretty much anything you want to do.
So, if you want to give a workshop on belly dancing, great! Sign up and propose a Belly Dancing 101 workshop, or even a series of workshops! Want to learn how to knit? Suggest it as a topic you’d like to see and see if someone picks it up. Or even better, find a friend who knits and have them sign up to lead a session! Just got a fancy new DSLR camera and have no idea what to do with it? Suggest a Photography 101 session. Want to try out that new fangled Linux operating system? Want to give a session on blogging or offer a social media board certification course? Pottery? Advanced systems administration?
Ruby/Python/PHP/Perl/Haskell/Lisp/(Obj)C(++|#)? How to run a small business? Glass blowing? Blacksmithing? Sign it up!
Hopefully you’re starting to get the picture now.
If you want to give a talk or demonstration on something, you’ll be able to post it on the BarcampCHS website (coming soon). You can also just show up the day of BarcamCHS and write down your presentation topic on the scheduling grid.
If there’s a particular topic or item you want to know more about, you’ll be able to suggest it and maybe someone will step up and give a talk or demo on it.
BarcampCHS will be completely free to attend. Just bring yourself and whatever you might need to put on your talk/demo. Come prepared to have a good time, learn something knew and show other people something new (to them). Register now!
We’re also looking for sponsors. If you’re interested in sponsoring BarcampCHS or know someone who might be interested in a sponsorship opportunity, contact us!
Thanks to the folks at the Lowcountry Innovation Center, the first BarCamp Charleston has a place, and also a date!
We could still use help with organizing, so if you’re interested contact us via Twitter, Facebook or join the mailing list.
If you’re planning on coming to Barcamp Charleston, sign up here.
Calvin and Jared have started working towards setting up a BarCamp in Charleston.
BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants who are the main actors of the event.
BarCamp is all about the participants. It’s the participants that give talks and presentations on stuff they know about. It’s about sharing the stuff you know with others who have similar interests or want to find out about what you’re talking about. If you’ve ever watched a large group of people, you’ll inevitably see small groups of people form together. Typically those in the groups are connected by a common factor (friends, interests, etc). Others are just joining in on the conversation. That’s more or less what a BarCamp is, only with a little more (but not much) structure and organization. It can be organized around a theme or particular topic, or just one big free-for-all. Most importantly,
Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join. When you come, be prepared to share with barcampers. When you leave, be prepared to share it with the world.
There’s a meeting tomorrow (July 22) at the Muddy Waters West Ashley for the initial planning meeting. Come along if you’re intersted in helping to organize Charleston’s first Barcamp! You can also keep up with what’s happening with the BarCamp on Twitter and Facebook.