What's Bar Camp?
Bar Camp London: A place where like (and unlike) minded people come to share knowledge, information and opinions on their chosen topic. The area is web design, development and (in its own words) for "geeks of all kinds".
The setup is new to me, but clearly works. There are no speakers, rather all delegates are invited (if not, persuaded) to hold seminars and talks on their own chosen subject, regardless of whether they know much about it. Some are well prepared presentations who have a clear agenda of what they want to say. Others, are no more than the main "speaker" opening with a question and inviting the seminar's attendees to discuss and debate the topic (as with "what do we do with Google Wave?").
Delegates place a post card on a grid that represents a time and a room. Other delegates scope out the grid and choose which seminar they'd like to see. It's a simple concept that (apart from the usual logistics) is surprisingly self-sustaining.
It's a comfortable environment where stereotypes are reinforced, but no-one cares. Here, being a geek and being cool is not an oxymoron.
Not everyone comes with friends. Tickets are limited to around 250 and run out within 15 minutes of becoming available. That means lots of networking and making new contacts. I was fortunate that David could keep me company during the breaks!
Bar Camp is like diving into a sea of knowledge that can be incredibly overwhelming. It's my industry discussing about the relevancy, application and implementation of the web (search engines, web applications, the past, present and the future). And the best thing about that, is these discussions will have an impact on the wider world - certainly for as long as the wider world works on and relies on the Internet.
However, I find that the discussion rarely moves into the marketing strategy or the 'business case' of all of this. It's much more on the application and features. However, reinterpreting this is my job. Listening to these guys means I can apply what we've all learnt to the strategy of Base Creative and to our clients.
As I research, I find that Bar Camp isn't restricted to topics around the Internet or the web, but almost anything. The concept clearly has legs - I would encourage one on the topic of business, marketing and sharing these kinds of experiences.
Bar Camp: It's about listening to each other, and not giving the spotlight to the big players. Moreso, giving the spotlight to the people who do it, not just talk about it.