BarCamp Boston UnReport (Updated)
[This is an edited version of the June 5th post, to reflect feedback from readers. Most of the changes are in the second to last paragraph, but there are also a few edits for clarity in the third paragraph.]
I spent a good part of the weekend at Bar Camp Boston. I talked to some great people and got an update on what's happening with micro formats, but over all I came away feeling that Bar Camp has some great potential but the idea and the execution needs refinement.
The best sessions were the ones where the presenter was showing off what they worked on or are passionate about. Ian Muir's mico formats presentation was interesting, as were all of the product presentations I attended. The worst sessions were the ones where the presenter didn't know the technical aspects of the topic, and the ones where people were experting away on something they didn't have much experience with but had read about (generally without crediting sources).
The fact that anyone can talk about any topic is a great premise, but without bios or meaningful blurbs I wasted a lot of time running around figuring out what was worth listening to. The Bar Camp philosophy is deliberately anti-commerical. As a result, most people didn't put company names on the oversized stickies used on the schedule board. Most of the good sessions - where someone was showing off their work - were dutifully disguised under some general topic like "web 2.0" which again made it hard to figure out where to direct my attention.
There was a space pitch for about three minutes during lunch on Saturday. It wasn't a particularly good speech - it was somewhat condescending and not well tuned to that particular audience. Some attendees took offense on the grounds that at Bar Camp commercial pitches are inappropriate. But the speech was short and if anything the idea that the major sponsors give you space, food, and logistical support without an opportunity to address the audience came off as a bit childish. On reflection and after listening to Shimon Rura and others I've come to appreciate it as a mixture of idealism and naivete. Maybe I should have given a session on tanstaafl :-). Plum was a small ($200) sponsor, and although I'm happy to support the Boston technical community it's tough to justify sponsoring.
I noticed stacks of VCs, only one sponsoring. Smart guys - no need to sponsor, no fees, just show up, grab a session, and work the crowd!
I spent a good part of the weekend at Bar Camp Boston. I talked to some great people and got an update on what's happening with micro formats, but over all I came away feeling that Bar Camp has some great potential but the idea and the execution needs refinement.
The best sessions were the ones where the presenter was showing off what they worked on or are passionate about. Ian Muir's mico formats presentation was interesting, as were all of the product presentations I attended. The worst sessions were the ones where the presenter didn't know the technical aspects of the topic, and the ones where people were experting away on something they didn't have much experience with but had read about (generally without crediting sources).
The fact that anyone can talk about any topic is a great premise, but without bios or meaningful blurbs I wasted a lot of time running around figuring out what was worth listening to. The Bar Camp philosophy is deliberately anti-commerical. As a result, most people didn't put company names on the oversized stickies used on the schedule board. Most of the good sessions - where someone was showing off their work - were dutifully disguised under some general topic like "web 2.0" which again made it hard to figure out where to direct my attention.
There was a space pitch for about three minutes during lunch on Saturday. It wasn't a particularly good speech - it was somewhat condescending and not well tuned to that particular audience. Some attendees took offense on the grounds that at Bar Camp commercial pitches are inappropriate. But the speech was short and if anything the idea that the major sponsors give you space, food, and logistical support without an opportunity to address the audience came off as a bit childish. On reflection and after listening to Shimon Rura and others I've come to appreciate it as a mixture of idealism and naivete. Maybe I should have given a session on tanstaafl :-). Plum was a small ($200) sponsor, and although I'm happy to support the Boston technical community it's tough to justify sponsoring.
I noticed stacks of VCs, only one sponsoring. Smart guys - no need to sponsor, no fees, just show up, grab a session, and work the crowd!
posted by Margaret at 6:39 AM
3 Comments:
I don't think I have an anti-commercial attitude. I love commerce. I just hate being lectured about things that have no value to me. I also think that the phrase "the Bar Camp organizers" is misleading: the role of the people who planned BarCamp was not to organize the event, but to provide tools for the people who attended to efficiently, dynamically self-organize. This approach trades off a lot of ability to do pre-selection and biography research in favor of flexibility and openness. If you'd prefer a less chaotic approach, perhaps this isn't the tradeoff you want. On the other hand, maybe we can indeed refine our execution for next time. Would you like to step in earlier next time to help with the aspects of planning you found inadequate this time?
Bar Camp was quite an accomplishment and you should be very proud of what you and the other volunteers pulled off. Maybe organizers isn't the right word but I know it had to have been a ton of work!
The entire Bar Camp concept is quite new and that there is room for improvement is hardly surprising.
Margaret-- Great to meet you at BarCamp. I was a podcaster capturing "Sounds of BarCamp" material, and we talked briefly about content networks. Your VC colleague mentioned that we were in the same space (though having looked into Plum, we have completely different use cases).
Anyhow, it was great talking with you, and I'd love to talk more about your thoughts on content and the like. If you still have my glaring orange card, please send an email. If not, chris at grasshopperfactory dot com. Please say hi, and maybe we can talk about a podcast interview?
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home