Another memorable Irish BarCamp
The second Irish BarCamp was thoroughly enjoyable and I’m already looking forward to the next one.
04:09 on Jan 22 2007 by Argolon Solutions Team
Keith, Tom and the gang organised a great conference on Saturday and once again, everyone left with their heads buzzing with ideas and plans.
I drove Damien and Tom Atkins from Cork and we arrived at 9.30 to be met by snacks, coffee and juggling balls. An excellent start. The location of TSSG is stunningly scenic but up a country lane where you are sure you’ve gone the wrong way!
The layout for the day was on the whiteboard and the sessions were set to 40mins after the realisation at the Cork BarCamp that 30 mins was too short. But actually it looks like the standard practice of 1 hour may have to be used the next time as everyone ran over again.
AS far as scheduling is concerned, my only small criticism is that because all the slots were pre-filled with pre-agreed speakers, there was not much opportunity for the ad-hoc aspect. Maybe setting one small room aside for impromptu talks would take care of that?
Both panels were a big success and the format worked really well. I took part in the “Building a Web Services company” panel and I think many people found it useful. It was interesting hearing the common threads between us all. Joe’s mantra of “simplify simplify simplify” really echoed my experiences.
My highlight was Donncha’s talk which I videoed. Both the WordPress section and the virtual team (aka working from home) section contained tons of valuable insights. That could easily have gone on for another 40 mins! But the sod never gave me a WordPress sticker like he promised.
One talk which I am very annoyed I missed was Justin of the legendary tache Mason’s one on EC2 and S3. I’ll be watching out like a hawk for the video of that.
Lunch was excellent and I caught up with Jan from Touristr. After some help from Stephen, both myself and Justin got our wifi connection working.
Pecha Kucha went down very well again and the scope was stretched to allow non-delicious users to just share great URLs. TJ did a very nice “here are 5 URLs you need to know about”.
A question for all attendees; Most BarCamps are two days. Do people think we might stretch to that the next time? It would allow for a slower pace each day with gaps between the talks and less clashes.
A bunch of us stayed the night and had some solid grub in Geoff’s followed by some solid pints and a few glasses of wine.
A seriously great success for Keith and the gang. Looking forward to the next one already!
About Conor O'Neill
5 Comments for this entry
Conor
Ach, I should have asked about other rooms!
We could have badgered James Corbett into one of them 
Bernie Goldbach
The day’s content was as nourishing as the lunchtime soup.
I think we need third level timekeepers, runners with cameras and mics, and a long lunch that masks break-out sessions.
I think you will get shuffling in and out if you extend the slots to one hour increments.
Conor
Actually I meant to mention timekeepers. It needs someone indicating 10 mins to go, 5, 1, end. And being tough about it.
I’d be happy enough with shuffling/sampling. I was at one talk that I decided was not my cup of tea but felt obliged to wait until the end.
I’d be a fan of long lunch too. Lunch seemed to help people meet new faces more than hanging around down stairs.
Donncha O Caoimh
The day flew past quicker than I could have imagined and I was amazed when my talk overran by about 20 minutes!
I had a bunch of WordPress stickers in my bag, took them out once, gave out one or two and promptly forgot about them for the rest of the day! Shout at me next time and you’ll definitely get one 
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keith bohanna
Thanks for that Conor and for your panel participation. The impromptu was open to being catered for – however we did not flag that properly. There were 2 rooms that Tom had set aside to be used.
You are right on the 1 hour – it must be for a good reason. As for 2 day event – I think (with the benefit of 2 BC’s under my belt) that this is an idea worthy of consideration. Or at least a Friday afternoon leading into a full Saturday to take the edge off the frenzy and the “wish I had taken the time to have a chat with X, Y, Z”
MEMO to self – next time tell people when stuff is there and don’t expect them to just figure it out!
keith