What’s BarCamp?

• 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 participants who are the main actors of the event.

Source: barcamp.org

BarCampCanberra will be covering a range of topics including Social Innovation, Gov 2.0, Web, Makers/Hackers, Science Communication, Skeptic/Critical Thinking, Sustainability/Environmental and other interdisciplinary topics.

What to expect

The following info is based on Barcamp.org’s What To Expect page.

Preparation

• Pre-register at Eventbrite

• Bring a laptop, tablet, compact/subcompact or other device (optional) – It’s great for showing off that program you mentioned in your session. Plus, there will be many hotspots provided, and plenty of downtime to browse around and look into everything you’ve learned.

• 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 (which will be much appreciated!). Show up later, and you’ll miss some social activity.

• 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 presenter/session leader.
  Sessions are a strict 20 minutes long – we recommend allowing 15 minutes to speak and five minutes for questions

The Event

When you arrive, go to the pre-registration table to check in. Mix and mingle with people while waiting for the event to start.

Check out the schedule and add your name and topic if you’re leading a session.

We start by gathering together in the foyer to announce the format for the day.  There will also be some announcements.

After a couple of sessions, you will have some time for lunch. Feel free to wander around and socialize while or after you eat. More announcements will be made, and any newly proposed sessions will be announced.

After the sessions are finished, please stick around to clean up. It’s generally as simple as throwing trash away and taking down signs, but all the help is appreciated.

If you brought wireless equipment or power strips, find an unorganiser and ask where they’re most needed. Please set your wireless router to a unique SSID (e.g., barcamp_xxx), to avoid networking conflicts (tends to get nasty with a dozen routers in the same room named the same thing).

Recording the Day

Its pretty likely that you will have your photo taken during the day.  If you run a session, your photo will almost certainly be taken.  If you are having a good time and deeply involved in conversation and look to be getting something out of the day  - you photo may be taken.  If you don’t wish to have your photo taken – that is no problem.  Just let the person with the camera know.  If you see a photo of yourself posted online – you can ask the photographer to take it down if you wish.

If you take pics, you are welcome to add them to the BarCampCanberra flickr group.

Each room is kitted out with audio recording gear so that your talk can be recorded for posterity (last years talks are here).

There may also be video recording of some talks.  If you want guaranteed video of your talk, you may want to bring the required equipment with you.

If you use a slide deck, you might like to share it on slideshare or a similar service.

Post event

Stick around as we’re likely to head out for drinks and/or dinner to celebrate another fantastic BarCamp! If you know of a sponsor who would be happy to sponsor drinks and/or dinner, please get in touch.