At the first BarCamp in Cork I really didn’t get to see any talks as I was busy running around tending to things. It was nice to sit down and listen to people this time around. Well done Keith and Tom for a very well-organised event. Wasn’t the spread done really well too? The scenery around there was lovely. Must be nice to come to work and appreciate the calming vista.
I enjoyed a few talks but missed out on some because of timetable clashes but hell, it is great that there was variety. The panel discussions were worth the ticketprice alone. 🙂 Videotaping the talks too. Clever. Tom and Keith took the baton from the Cork boys and improved on what we did. Kudos to you both lads, I really emjoyed myself.
I took some notes but the slides will probably be available from the various talks in a few days. And the vids!
Adrian Smith has a nice writeup and a rather brilliant mindmap of the “Building a Web Services company� discussion. I really need to get into the mind mapping stuff. That diagram is a great refresher of that talk. Keith has a review of the day, as does Ken McGuire and James Cooley too.
Suggestions for the next BarCamp.
And just to be clear, I’m not knocking anything at BarCamp Waterford. 🙂
Have rooms that are totally quiet. The main room location in Cork wasn’t great as it was an open area and some people were completely ignorant and would rather have loud conversations around the corner. This was less of the case in Waterford but I found room 1.10 at times to be drowned out in noise and I was straining to hear the speakers. I would still also have a coffee/food area for networking etc.
I fear the event is becoming far too cliquey. Yes, I’m sick of all your fucking faces after only two. I would like to suggest that next time, if you have been to a barcamp before you *have* to bring someone that hasn’t been to one but who you’d think would find benefit from one. I also think that preference should be given to those who haven’t presented before.
I would like to see an actual unconference at the next one too. If necessary we should drag someone along that has done unconferences before.
The soup and the scenery were the most unexpected parts of the event.
I wish we could have arranged a quick game of kayak polo on the river beneath the campus and if there’s ever another Barcamp in Carrignore, I will arrive by boat.
The soup was great and the view was amazing! Pity about the wind!
In any case it was great meeting up with people again
Hi Damien
mindmaps are great for notes capture – first one I have seen in a while that was used “live” and fair play to Adrian.
The room noise thing is a valid point – I guess it comes down to the actual location you manage to secure. Building rooms without ceilings maybe “flexible” (and is probably cheaper I guess) – but otherwise they are just dumb. For anyone running future barcamps it is worth keeping in mind as you choose your venue – however not everyone will have a choice!
On getting to know new people I am in awe of your knowledge of the crowd :-). There were quite a few people there from the South-East and a lot for whom that was their first blogging/barcamp event.
Your talk went down well – thanks for that!
keith
Damien,where do you get all your energy from?
Where will the next Bar Camp be?
Galway? : )
Ina
Lol Ina. There’s talk of another Cork one and also one in Dublin. I know other people want one in Carrick-on-Shannon. I’d love to see a Galway one just so I can get back to Galway. Anyone is free to organise a BarCamp. *hint* *hint*
Hi Damien,
I know what you mean re “too cliquey”. I really like catching up with people but it reduces the amount of new people you meet. I guess it all comes down to what you’re looking for in an event like this.
Barcamp Waterford was my first barcamp, and while I really did enjoy it, it was very hard to get to meet people as they did stick to groups they knew well. It only seemed to really take off regards getting to know one another at dinner time. All in all a great event though, and I look forward to going to the next one, or you can all go to my event at http://www.skycon.skynet.ie 🙂
Can someone please explain what barcamp actually is? I a bit in the dark. Ta!
Barcamps in Ireland are self-organising conferences. People start with questions–things they need to know–and post those questions on an online worksheet called a wiki. Anyone can post things on the wiki. After a few weeks, the facilitators lookat the questions posed and they try to encourage people to answer the prominent questions during a half-hour talk. Then someone offers a venue (hopefully one that serves soup and sandwiches) and around 80 people show up on the day. The ones in Ireland have tried to start at 10 AM and they’re normally finished with all the intense activities by 4 PM.
The Irish ones have been kinda geeky although Barcamps have revolved around food, gadgets and backpacking in some places.
[…] BarCamp Dublin is on the way, followed closely by BarCamps in almost every parish in the country. The last two BarCamps held in Ireland were brilliant. I was at both and met a whole lot of great people, learned a whole lot of great things and drank a whole lot of great beer. But there was something slightly incestuous about them that I’m afraid BarCamp Dublin will inherit too if we’re not careful. Damien picked-up on this when he mentioned how it’s becoming too cliquey. Let’s save BarCamp Dublin from that by opening it up to a wider range of folks who can no doubt enlighten us in ways we can’t yet imagine. Here are four steps for saving Barcamp Dublin: […]
[…] I was considering going to BarCamp Galway on September 22nd but looking at the talks, of which there only seem to be 8 now and looking at the attendees it seems to have turned into the cliquey event I suggested it might after attending BarCamp Waterford. Most of the people going I seem to know already via blogs and Twitter. I don’t know can I be arsed spending hours in a car each way to see people I see in a virtual form on a daily basis anyway. Were I to go right now I’d honestly only be going to give support to John who has himself traveled all around the county many times to give his support to so many events and is without doubt one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. […]