BarCampSDK

With a few days left until the big weekend, I’d like to remind everyone to get registered and post your presentation topic on this site so everyone knows what to expect.  The actual time spots will be up for grabs the day of the camp, but go ahead and give us an idea of what you’d like to share.  (Just click “Add your topic” link on the top right of this page).

Preparation

• Pre-register on this site (registration link in the top right of this page). Please put your name on the form, to give coordinators an idea as to how many people are coming (and to get your nametag printed, instead of Sharpie’d!). Also make sure to include your t-shirt size and food preference (if applicable).

• Bring a laptop - It’s great for showing off that program you mentioned in your session. Plus, there are many hotspots provided, and plenty of downtime to browse around and look into everything you’ve learned.  (SDN Communications is giving us plenty of bandwidth for this, but be kind.. flickr good, torrents bad.)  :)

• Come early, but not too early - Showing up at the announced starting time will be fine. Show up earlier, and you’ll get drafted for setup work (much appreciated!). Show up later, and you’ll miss some social activity and your T-shirt.  The organizers will be arriving at 9:00 on Saturday morning, and would encourage you to get there no later than 10.

• Be ready to participate - come with an idea for a session you can lead. You don’t have to be an expert at your topic; as long as it’s not too specific, there’ll probably be someone else present who can help you out. You can also contribute to the conversation during a session. This is a great way to participate, since it spreads knowledge from everyone, instead of just the leader.

Continue reading…

Major thanks go out to Brienne from Datasync for finding us an after-party location!  Don’t forget your sleeping bags and tents, this is going to be a REAL BarCAMP!

Also, if any locals want to help out with the BBQ, let us know.

A couple items we might need:  (Just add a comment if you can help with any of these — contact us if your company does!)

• Items to grill
• chips/dips/snacks
• BEER!  (any local brewers around?)
• Soda/Water
• Wii (and/or extra Wii controllers for the Wii Bowling Tournament)
• Television?
• Surge protectors
• Projector - Movies on the side of the barn!
• Tents
• Napkins, plates, silverware
• Beanbags?  Other ideas?

Thank you in advance to all who can help!

Also, since this is a camp-out you’ll probably want to bring necessary “overnight personal items” and sleeping bag/pillow/etc.

I met with Brienne Zimmer from DataSync this morning and we now have a venue!

SD Technology Business Center (venue sponsored by DataSync and SDTBC)
2329 N Career Ave
Sioux Falls, SD 57107

Get directions

A BIG THANK YOU to DataSync for providing us a place to meet!  Please take a moment to check out their website to find out about their services.

The dates are also set for May 30-31st, 2009; so make sure to get registered and put it on your calendar!  If you’d like to help out please contact us, we’re still looking for sponsors for food, t-shirts, and other items; so if you’d like some community recognition and mad props please contact us.

We’ve also added a couple new fields to the profile page, so please make sure to update your profile as necessary, so we can keep track of who’s attending.  If you’d like you can also add a short post about your selected topic to give others a peek at what to expect.

-Justus

We’ve changed our list of locals to a list of registered attendees on the sidebar to the right. So if you don’t see your name on the list, just update your profile and let everybody know know that you’ll be showing up.

We also tweaked the code so that all of your profile URLs should be working now. If anyone is still having problems please let us know.

As indication of the difficulty of this decision, we have chosen a winner in our logo contest.  We would like to thank all those who submitted their designs for this contest.

The website design will be updated in the coming days to include the new logo, but in the meantime please feel free to share this design on your blogs, etc. to help spread the word! 

Once again, thank you to all who submitted their great designs!  :)  We look forward to seeing you in May!

A few of the runners-up:

Submitted by Barb Stacey and Kathy Smith:

In a effort to better explain what BarCampSDK is really all about, we’ve added a couple videos from BarCampSF (San Francisco) and BarCampOrlando (I’ll let you guess where that one is located).  Each video has folks just describing in their own words what BarCamp is all about.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, then at 24 frames a second this should be worth at least 7,680 words.

We’re pleased to announce that the planning crew is going over the details of how to get BarCamp SDK off the ground.

Current News:

• Tentative Date: May 30/31, 2009 (dependent on venue)
• Sponsors: Want to sponsor a BarCamp?  Let us know, we have a variety of sponsorship options available.
• Current Venue Ideas: We’ve begun the search for a venue.  If you have any leads for us please let us know!
• Our Google Group has been set up! Be sure to join here to keep informed of all the latest news.
• Stay tuned for more updates!