BarCampish Events
The official BarCampOrlando will be back next April. Sorry if you were expecting something twice a year, we got a little excited. However, here are 4 BarCampish events in the next 3 months that should fully quench your thirst:
August 23, 2008 – Jacksonville Code Camp
Jacksonville Code Camp is an off-hours forum for the development community to gather and share ideas. It is organized for, developed by, and owned by the developer community. It is always free to attendees, presenting community-developed material. The event builds development and presentation skills and encourages networking within the community. Registration is open and you can also submit talks.
September 25-27, 2008 – Blog Orlando
BlogOrlando is a free event where Central Florida’s bloggers, web designers, programmers, podcasters, videobloggers and others get together to learn about what’s new in blogging and other related fields. Registration is now open, and it did sell out last year, so get on it!
October 11-12, 2008 – BarCamp Tampa Bay
BarCamp Tampa Bay will be held at the USF College of Business, and they’re still looking for people to help put this event together. If interested, you can join the MeetUp or you can subscribe to the mailing list by sending an email to barcamp-subscribe@tampabarcamp.com.
October 13, 2008 – BarCamp Chaos in Orlando, FL
Create Chaos 2008 is a five-day creative industry destination event produced to inform, inspire, educate, and connect creative professionals across industries through an all-inclusive event. Monday night they’ll be having a BarCamp from 6pm to 10pm. BarCamp Chaos registrants will receive access to the Expo hall all day (for free, normally they charge for it). Use the discount code “barcamp” for $200 off an All-Access or 3-Day pass to the whole conference.
Lastly, don’t forget about your monthly users groups.
More about Create Chaos
Create Chaos features several unique industry conferences under one roof, at one time, and takes place Oct 13-17, 2008 at the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort in Orlando, FL. Create Chaos serves as a spark to ignite a new renaissance by bringing together creative professionals across industry boundaries including: graphic design, advertising, film and video production, animation, photography, printing, Web, and publishing professionals. Produced by Brahn Awards & Events and partners, the Create Chaos experience features the following conferences and events: The Creative Suite Conference, Printing+Paper+Packaging Design Conference, The Vector Conference, Stash Theatre, CreativeHeads Job Fair, The Web Design Conference, MGFest, The Pixel Conference, and more.
It's a Wrap
Thanks for coming out to BarCampOrlando!
If you’d like to continue to get monthly announcements of tech/media related events around town and future barcamps please join our announcement email list.
If you’d like to join the discussion about BarCampOrlando, give some feedback, and maybe help shape the next event please join the discussion list.
Lastly, I hope to see you at some of the upcoming tech events around town.
- Thursday, April 10th, 7 PM at Devry – Orlando Ruby Users Group
- Thursday, April 17th, 7 PM at Devry – Refresh Central Florida
- Monday, April 21st, 6 PM at Crooked Bayou – Florida Creatives
- Tuesday, April 22th, 7 PM at Devry – Orlando PHP Users Group
- Thursday, April 24th, 7 PM at Devry – Orlando Java Users Group
- Thursday, April 24th, 7 PM at City Hall – Orlando .NET Users Group
Orlando’s tech groups sure are getting organized, it’s like BarCamp twice a week! ;-)
If you can’t make it to a meeting month, please take time to join the group’s email list so you can get updates!
Lastly, you can see a bunch of pictures from BarCamp up on Flickr
BarCamp Tomorrow!
Tomorrow is the first day of BarCampOrlando (Dev Day), and sign-in will open at 10 AM so you can get a name tag, free T-shirt, and schedule a time to talk. I’m fairly certain all of the talk times and T-shirts will go pretty quickly, so if you really want a T-shirt or talk time, I recommend coming in the morning. We’ll have T-shirts to give away both Dev Day and Media Day (although it’s the same shirt), so if you can’t get one tomorrow, you can get one Sunday morning.
Last BarCamp it became clear we needed a better way for people to view the schedule (rather then crowding around the white board). We will still have a white board to sign up for talks, but we’ll be updating http://s.barcamporlando.org/ as talks get updated, so be sure to save that URL to your laptop / IPhone.
As you can see when you go to that URL, aside from having our two venues “Slingapours” and “One Eyed Jacks”, I’ve added a third called “Courtyard Discussions”. If you have a talk that doesn’t necessarily need a big screen, and you want it to be more interactive, you might want to just sign up for one of these (This is probably weather permitting). For presentations in the venues we will be providing a microphone, projector, screen, and we’re even hoping to have audio out so you can hook up your laptop for sound (rather then pointing the microphone in the general direction).
As far as Parking downtown, Josh Hoskins put together this google map which shows you the two closest Parking garages, and their fees.
The official tag for the event is BarCampOrlando2008, so if you’re uploading to Flickr or other services, please use this tag. You can see all the Tweets that are being sent around about BarCamp here.
Lastly, we’ll be using two different means of connecting to wifi. The first will be SmartZone, the city’s local free wifi which has improved over the last few months. We’re also setting up another wifi connection as backup incase this gets smashed.
The After Party
It's my pleasure to announce today the official after party for BarCampOrlando, geek out! 08, produced by Izea, running 6:30 PM till 9:30 PM on Saturday after dev day.
The event will include:
- - Open bar (Free alcohol)
- - Finger foods
- - Rockband competition
- - Video games old a new
- - Live DJ
- - Swag Bag for first 150 people.
- - Bring your resume and be entered to win an AppleTV.
- - A chance to chill and exchange ideas from BarCamp
The event will be held at IZEA headquarters in downtown Orlando, a few blocks from Wall Street.
They are located directly across from the Mini dealership, 150 North Orange Avenue, *Suite 412*.
Be sure to bring your digital camera, it's going to be a blast.
Signups, Posters, Sponsors
As of today we have 220 people signed up for Dev Day, and 188 signed up for Media day, pretty darn sweet. Please Register if you have not yet.
If you're walking around downtown you may see Posters about the event hanging up around Wall Street. Thanks again to Meagan Fisher for putting these together. Feel free to download the version to your left and print it out for your office.
If you're interested in becoming a volunteer for the event you'll want to come to the meeting we'll be having a meeting this Sunday, 2:30 PM down at Wall Street Plaza. Email Gregg at BarCampOrlando.org if you want to help out but you can't make it.
We have solidified our sponsor line up for the event, and I've listed them all below.
Atlantic Dominion Solutions A Web Development firm that specializes in Ruby on Rails.
NFi Studios A Creative, Interactive, Web Development Company.
Izea Offers bloggers and advertisers the tools and strategies necessary to build effective social media campaigns.
Fresh Books An online invoicing and time tracking service that saves you time and makes you look professional.
Rasmussen College Offering training in the hottest careers of today.
Morph Labs Deploy, deliver, and manage Ruby on Rails apps on the Morph Application Platform.
Stack Frame Developing great software and mission-critical infrastructure for organizations with unique needs.
Pentaho The Commercial Open Source alternative for Business Intellegence
EZYield A web platform for Hoteliers to manage online wholesalers.
Hydra Studio Building websites that impact both cause and commerce.
Rails Envy A local Ruby web development firm & creators of the Rails Envy Podcast.
Voxeo Helping the enterprise improve service and lower costs with Interactive Voice Response (IVR) or Voice over IP (VOIP) solutions.
Eppraisal Free online real estate property valuations.
One Step Solutions Dan Kinchen's Internet consulting company.
Registration is Open
Registration for the next BarCampOrlando is now open. Although we have a bigger venue, you'll still need to register to guarantee you a seat. After you register, please help spread the word by using the BarCampOrlando buttons below created by Meagan Fisher. Thanks Meagan!
Dev Day Source to cut and paste:
Media Day Source to cut and paste:
Please spread the word, and we are still looking for sponsors if you know of any companies that would benefit from getting their name out to our crowd.
The Next BarCampOrlando
It's official, the next BarCampOrlando will be taking place on two days, Saturday, April 5th and Sunday, April 6th. Registration will open on February 28th (the same day as BarCampMiami), so you may want to join the announcement list if you haven't already to get notified, or maybe you'd like to be a sponsor?
Thanks to the film production of Jason Hawkins and manliness of Jason Seifer, we have a video to pass around to start the buzz going. Please feel free to blog it forward, I've put the snippet below.
View Video on Vimeo.
Also, here is the above logo if you'd like about talk the event, without a sexy video.
Thanks to Meagan Fisher for the logo and the kick ass flyers you'll probably begin to see around town. If you'd like a few of these to pass out to your co-workers, just let me know and we'll get you some.
Future & How you can help
At the BarCampOrlando Planning party on Saturday, January 13th I gave a presentation covering the Future of BarCampOrlando. Take a watch, feel free to post it around, and get the word out.
Watch on YouTube
As shown in the video, the next BarCampOrlando will have two days, a Developer focused day and a Media focused day. It will be taking place sometime in early April, we’ll be setting a date as soon as we reserve a venue.
Interested in helping out?
There are several roles you can help with, which each have variable levels of responsibility. We’ll start with the easiest and from there move on to the hardest.
- Sponsor – We need companies that are willing to support our event. Companies can sponsor just one day or both days. We haven’t yet put together the sponsorship packages, but if you want to be notified when we do send me an email (Gregg at RailsEnvy dot com).
- Contributer – Just by joining the BarCampOrlando discussion list, you’ll be able to voice your views, comment on our progress, and suggest solutions.
- Volunteer – When it gets closer to the event we’ll be asking for volunteers to help staff it and keep organized. You’ll want to join the discussion group to catch word of this.
- Board of Directors – There are several positions listed below. I’m looking for a few responsible people who can help me get things together.
Board Positions
Most of these are already called for, by people who came to the party. However, if you feel like you can contribute further to a particular task which is already spoken for, or there’s another position I missed, feel free to contact me.
- Venue Director – Jason Seifer – This person will help scout out venues in the next 2 weeks and set a date. As the event gets closer they will assist with all communication with the venue, logistics when the event arrives, and organizing volunteers.
- Dev Publicity Director – Larry Diehl – This can be more then one person to be in charge of publicizing to all the local technology groups and companies. Going to their meetings and speaking. There are so many ways to creatively drum up publicity. Also should help target companies who might want to sponsor.
- Media Publicity Director – Ryan Price – Same thing as Dev Publicity Director, but for the Media day. This could be more then one person.
- Schedule Director – Tyler Hunt This person will be in charge of maintaining a schedule (the white boards) during the event. I’d also like to find someone who can create a simple web app which displays who is presenting. Nothing complex, just an app that would allow them to enter in the data, and anyone in the conference to see it.
- Director of the Internet – Mike Blake – How you think that’d look on your resume? We need someone to coordinate setting up Internet for the event and keeping it up.
- Audio/Visual Director – Thomas Meeks – This person will ensure that all necessary audio / visual equipment has been acquired for the event and maintains functioning during the event. It’d also be great for this person to setup some helpful “displays” around the event, like having a display showing the live flickr / twitter feeds / and schedule.
- Sponsor Director – Dan Kinchen – This person with communication with sponsors.
- Art Director – Meagan Fisher
- Media Director – Jason Hawkins
As you can see, some of these positions are already spoken for. These people will be required to attend Board of Directors meetings and work with me to make sure we put on an amazing event. Email me if you think you could help ..
Gregg at RailsEnvy dot com
BarCampOrlando #2 Planning Party
If you’re interested in shaping the future of BarCamp in Orlando, either because you want to sponsor or help put it together, we’re having a party Saturday, January 12th you may want to attend (RSVP and additional information). The second BarCampOrlando itself will be taking place sometime in April.
This is NOT a party where we’re going to sit around and plan, nor is it a BarCamp. Think live piano music, think martinis, think stimulating conversation, think party. There will be some food/drinks available, but please do bring something to contribute (might want to note what you’re bringing on the wall here).
At one point in the night there will be a short presentation to make a few announcements, but for the most part it will be a social gathering to get people excited about the next event and do some brainstorming.
Please feel free to bring your non-techie wife / husband / significant others, they should enjoy the party as well.
RSVP to the FaceBook Event if you’re interested in attending.
Mailing List & Video
Firstly, if you wish to stay aware of BarCamp planning and BarCamp like events around town, you should join the BarCampOrlando Announcement GoogleGroup. This mailing list is a low bandwidth list where I'll probably send out an email once a month.
Secondly, thanks to Jason Hawkins at MakeFilmWork.com, here is the official video of our first BarCampOrlando.
Post to your blog with this snippet
It's a Wrap!
There were 170 people who wrote their names down on the signup sheet, but I’m sure there were a few more that didn’t put their names down.
Here are a few people who deserve a big thanks!
Larry Diehl for helping me organize the whole thing.
Mike Blake for taking care of the PA system, and helping with the band.
Mike G. and Kat for doing a great job running the back room and transporting the extra chairs.
Tyler Hunt for helping me organize the main room.
Jason Seifer for creating the name badges and helping with the front door.
Tim Rosenblatt for organizing the Second Harvest food drive.
Tim Welch for bringing the second screen and projector.
Dan Kinchen for supplying the writeboards.
Jason Hawkins for taking video.
Thomas Meeks for setting up the parking signs and bringing his monitor to do the Flickr feed.
Raphael, Ralph, Kevin Murphy, Joshua Hoskins, and anyone else who helped us with odds and ends.
All our generous sponsors, we could not have done it without you!
Also thanks to all the presenters and to all you guys who came out for the event. If you’d like to give some feedback on how we can make the event better, I’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments here, or email them to the mailing list.
Second Harvest Donations
At BarCampOrlando, we want to bring everyone together and improve our skills by sharing ideas. But we’d also like to help the greater Orlando community in the process. For our inaugural event, we’ve partnered with Second Harvest in Orlando to collect donations of food and supplies for people who need it.
So, this week before BarCamp, when you’re walking down the aisle of your favorite supermarket, grab something on this list and bring it to BarCamp. There’ll be a donations box to drop your items into, so you’ll make someone’s day brighter and make BarCamp better.
Second Harvest has given us a list of the best items to donate. These are:
- Meals in a Can
- Nonfat Dry Milk
- Oatmeal
- Canned Meats/Poultry
- Evaporated Milk
- Drinks
- Canned Tuna
- Peanut Butter
- Nutritional Drinks
- Dry Beans
- Canned Veggies
- Canned Soup
- Pasta/Macaroni
- Canned Fruit
- Diapers
- Rice
- Beef Stew
- Baby Food
Thanks for your efforts. It’s easy, and greatly appreciated by us—as well as those in need.
Because every <body /> needs good contents.
Also thanks to Tim Rosenblatt for writing up this blog post and getting this organized.
BarCampOrlando in the Orlando Sentinel
Orlando's Web Renaissance
About 2 years ago, the legendary first BarCamp was celebrated in Palo Alto, California and had over 200 attendees. Almost out of nowhere, BarCampOrlando has sprung up and just now hit 200 registrations. Let me say that again, the first BarCampOrlando will bring in the same number of people (or even more) as the original in Palo Alto! This is a huge deal that will undoubtedly change Orlando forever, but only if our wonderful community continues to work together to make it happen. 
BarCampBlock recently celebrated their 2 year anniversary with over 600 attendees. As its name implies, it took up an entire block of northern Silicon Valley, and made the future of all BarCamp's look bright. Silicon Valley is recognized as the heart of technological innovation. It is also the home of major web companies such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Ebay, etc, and an enormous source of web creativity.
Orlando has been generally thought of as a tourist (Disney, Universal, etc) and defense (Harris, Lockheed, etc) city, and rightfully so. However, in the past year or so, a surprising amount of web energy has begun to flourish into active user groups , communities, and conferences.
The Refresh06 conference brought people of international fame (Paul Boag, Andy Budd, Brian Fling, Jeremy Keith, Nate Koechley, Cameron Moll, etc) to Orlando, and the upcoming BlogOrlando looks like it will be an encore presentation to last year's hit.
Orlando is in a great position to become a contender for the next Silicon Valley of the web. Think about that for a second... that is huge!
Orlando has the second largest square footage of conference space in the world, right behind Tokyo (thanks to tourism.)
It is also home to a vast array of communities and user groups. When I say that, I don't just mean one technology, but lots of them including but not limited to Adobe, Java, Linux 1, Linux 2, .NET, PHP, Ruby, and Ubuntu .
Additionally, there are great generic web groups such as Florida Creatives and likemind that bring everyone together. There's also rumors that the old RefreshOrlando group will be reforming soon.
Orlando is also home to many universities. The University of Central Florida (UCF) has its roots in technology (it was originally Florida Technological University), and is the 6th largest university in the US. Full Sail cultivates many great designers, and DeVry is another technology university that is kind enough to host most of the local user groups.
Of course web companies are part of this whole revolution, and Central Florida has its fair share of them. It's exciting to see that many of them have decided to be sponsors of the event, including eppraisal, One Step Solutions, page12, PayPerPost, RailsEnvy, rj callison, StackFrame, and more. Another big development for the area is the beginning of Florida Venture Capital funds, such as Inflexion, to appear... which is practically necessary to reach levels comparable to the Valley.
Florida Creatives just launched a wiki that will be a community effort to document all the great groups and resources in Florida. Here you will find local groups, hangouts, resources, companies, and more as time goes on, and everyone is encouraged to contribute.
We have an unbelievable opportunity to make Central Florida a town that web fanatics will want to come be apart of. But, it's going to take each and every one of us to make it happen. Get on your blogs and social networks, and make this calling known with blog badges, posts, links, wiki editing, and more... right now! Together, we can blow those 200 registrations out of the water for the greater good of Orlando's web community.
Sponsors Posted
I just posted the official sponsor page. Check out these great businesses that understand the importance of supporting the Orlando community.
If you still want to sponsor the event, and you want to get on the T-shirts, I'll need you to get me your logo and sponsorship money by the end of the month.
Oh, and the registration count is up to 170!