BarCamp - Organisational Notes
(This was originally written as an email to the BarCampBoston mailing list, as notes to help us organise future events. Posted here in the name of getting-the-knowledge-out)
This weekend, I was in Palo Alto to attend BarCampBlock. It was a top trip. I met a shedload of smart people, and learned a staggering amount. My head was dangerously close to asploding.
Now, two days later, I’m finally ready to try and synthesize my experience into some lessons we can use for future BarCampBostons.
1. BarCamp scales.
Remember in March when we were worried about 250 people showing up for BCB2? BarCampBlock had over 900 signups, and around 600 people showed up on the first day. A straw poll showed that for most, it was their first BarCamp.
There were around 20 “spaces” available for sessions, ranging from a 70-capacity auditorium, to meeting rooms with space for seven or eight. The sessions got spread across the schedule fairly evenly, and the wide array of choices meant that, while sometimes there was more than one session you might want to attend, there was always at least one.
The overall feeling I got from the crowd was one of momentum. The organizers turned the key, but once they gave the crowd a little push, the energy carried the event forward. Yes, when they said “Go fill out the board!”, there was a crush. But it was a polite crush that negotiated the schedule well.
2. Have a “Kids’ Area”
There were a handful of kids at the event, and a small office was set-up with legos, pens, chalk, and random other toys to entertain them, with adults taking turns to monitor.
This allowed the parents to attend, gave the kids a chance to socialize, and brought a blast of energy to the other attendees.
3. Sponsorships: Small amounts, but many.
I remember Shimon at the BCB2 post-mortem dinner saying that he’d prefer more sponsors with lower cash amount, to one big sugar-daddy. BarCampBlock had a $300 limit on cash sponsorships, whether from corporations or individuals, and in the end had around 100 sponsors.
They did have some larger “in kind” donations: For example, Google ordered and paid for the pizza for Saturday’s lunch. (They also had the pizza delivered on a rolling-basis, every 15 minutes for an hour, so there was always fresh hot pizza.)
In return for sponsorship, companies got their name listed on the wiki, and in the map handout. No green t-shirts :)
4. Schwag
The name badges were band passes, from bandpasses.com.
Much better than “My Name Is…” stickers, they had the URLs for the wiki, backchannel and social networking site, plus space for three “tags”, so you could get a sense of people’s interests and icebreak with ease. (Photos) Lovely and collectible.
The first 500 attendees got a bandpass, a water bottle and a couple of BarCampBlock stickers and buttons. The water bottle was a nice touch, as it reduced the dependence on bottled-water, meaning less waste.
There was also a table set-aside for people to drop off their own schwag (pens, stickers, t-shirts etc.), which folks could rifle through.
5. Session times
Something we’ve struggled with. The first day, sessions were 30 minutes, with 15 minute gaps for walking. The second day, sessions were 50 minutes, with 10 minute gaps. I think this was a nice compromise, as it allowed folks to choose what length discussion they wanted, and could schedule for the appropriate day. And there were discussions that genuinely needed that full hour, and then some!
6. “Demo Camp”
At the end of the first day was a two hour block of 5-minute demos. This worked well for two reasons: 1) It gave the sponsors somewhere to show their wares to the assembled, and 2) It kept (most) egregious product-pitches from the session-times.
OK, that’s what’s bubbling through my head now. Comment/Questions?
I'm 