You would think with all of my blah blah blah on this Blog that I would be traveling all over the world and experiencing the new meet-up community known as BarCamp or DemoCamp. Not true. Not until today.
En route to Toronto for Search Engine Strategies, I got an email from Ken over at One Degree who invited me to DemoCamp Toronto – aka TorCampDemoCamp5, which took place tonight.
I was a BarCamp and DemoCamp virgin. I’m not ashamed to admit it.
Here’s how the BarCamp wiki describes the whole BarCamp DemoCamp:
“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 attendees.”
So, someone starts a wiki and invites people to show up, demo their wares and tell the world about it. It’s chill. There’s water for all. People are calm, cool, collected and connected (there was no wireless access last night – the only flaw). Unless a discussion breaks out about the virtues of Java versus Ruby On Rails (oh! snap! no you did not).
There were a lot of people at DemoCamp Toronto – TorCampDemoCamp5 and I love the strict rules: you get fifteen minutes (on the clock) – ten to present, five for questions. No PowerPoint – you have to demo.
All of the presentations were impressive and you can check out who signed up at the wiki: DemoCamp Toronto – TorCampDemoCamp5.
The biggest surprise: no HR people. You would think at a time when great resources were so scarce that head hunters would be flocking in droves to DemoCamp.
It was an amazing eye-opener, and here’s my big question: who would like to set up BarCamp Montreal and DemoCamp Montreal with me?
Let’s grow this type of community and create a long tail riot.
Thanks to Ken for making this evening “eyes wide open.”