From kadams at gfs.com Sat Aug 5 12:52:33 2006 From: kadams at gfs.com (Kyle Adams) Date: Sat Aug 5 11:17:59 2006 Subject: [Barcamp] Welcome! Message-ID: <44D48682.6F65.0052.0@gfs.com> Greeting campers! There are a number of topics we'd like to cover in the inaugural e-mail, so I'm going to jump right in... WHAT TO EXPECT Good question, and one that depends in large part on you, the campers, as you'll see below. With that said, what follows is loosely based on http://barcamp.org/what%20to%20expect : BEFORE BAR CAMP Register via the wiki. There's a big green "Go Register!" button on the BarCampGrandRapids page ( http://barcamp.org/BarCampGrandRapids ); guess what it's used for? Pre-registering is _required_ and is a big help in understanding how much food we need to plan for, etc. Will we let you in at the door if you haven't pre-registered? Nope. So go register. No really. We won't let you in. Go register. We kept the form extra simple, so you should be able to do it in under 2 minutes. Well, maybe if you slip us a $20, we'll let you in. Registering is cheaper. In all seriousness: no one will be a big jerk and turn you away at the door just because you didn't register. On the other hand it is a really really really big help to have an accurate headcount before BarCamp. The other pre-BarCamp thing to do is publicize, publicize, publicize! All of our publicity is via word-of-mouth and other grassroots efforts. If you have friends or co-workers who would be interested, let them know. There are some marketing materials available at http://barcamp.org/BarCampGrandRapidsMarketing to assist in spreading the word. WHAT TO 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. * A session to lead - 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. If you're not comfortable with public speaking, think about pairing up with someone else or presenting a shorter session (e.g. a five minute lightning talk). There's a great deal of leeway for creativity here; the primary key is actively contributing back to the conference. The more participation in all aspects, the better the BarCamp. Here are some presentation resources: - S5, http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/ - a standards-based (read: HTML/CSS/Javascript) slide show system. Makes posting your presentation to the web very, very easy :-) - Presentation Zen, http://presentationzen.blogs.com/ - an excellent blog on creating compelling presentations. Be sure to check out the "Popular Posts" section in the right-hand navbar for the best reading. - Ditch the slides. Go code all the way. Especially good if you've got a demo of some sort. * Camping overnight? Bring a sleeping bag, pillow, overnight supplies, and a tent - yeah, a tent. It's a camp, right? Feel free to have fun and be creative with your shelter of choice. * Optional stuff: routers, power strips, networking cables, your homemade linux file server, anything that reeks of general geekery. WHAT NOT TO BRING * Alcohol - our venue (generously donated) is a dry campus. Going off-campus for refreshments is no problem (we're working on an official outing), but while on-campus we ask that you'd kindly limit your programming fuel to the non-alcoholic sort. Campus safety will escort anyone with alcohol off campus and may decide to shut down the event, which would really suck. THE EVENT Come early, but not too early - Showing up between 5:30 and 6 is fine. Show up much earlier, and you'll get drafted for setup work (much appreciated!). Show up later, and you'll miss some social activity and maybe even dinner (which starts at 7). When you arrive, go to the check-in table, where you can claim your nametag. Follow your nose to the food room, where you'll find (surprise!) food and lots of people to socialize with. Or not, if you're the introverted type; I mean, we are talking geeks here, right? In which case you may find one of the classrooms we've reserved for general use a good place to settle down with your laptop. If you brought networking equipment, power strips, or anything else vaguely technical, find Dave Brondsema and ask where they're most needed. If you bring your own wireless AP, please set it to a unique SSID (e.g.- barcamp_xxx), to avoid networking conflicts (nasty with a dozen APs in the same room named the same thing). Also, if you can, please lower the radio output of your router. There'll be plenty of WiFi cloud to go around without everyone blasting out at full power. If you're just looking to help in general, find Kyle Adams and he'll let you know where help is needed most. Dinner will run from 6-7 PM, after which we'll all gather for the introduction session. There will be some announcements, and then people who intend to lead a session will be invited to add the session to the conference schedule wall. If you've never seen a BarCamp conference schedule wall before, take a look at these photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/whurleyvision/164619255/ (Houston) http://www.flickr.com/photos/whurleyvision/111954003/ (Austin) http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattapictures/176809392/ (San Francisco) http://www.flickr.com/photos/luke0x/89326444/ (NYC) Basically the wall will divided up into time slots and available rooms; session leaders will add their session to whatever slot they want to present in. At the same time be looking the wall over to see if there are any sessions If you see a session you're interested in, please put a mark on the paper to indicate it, in case room switches need to be made due to popularity. The schedule for the rest of the evening, as well as the following day, is currently posted at http://barcamp.org/BarCampGrandRapidsSchedule . While we're leaving as much time as possible for sessions, we'll also have rooms setup for general work and/or socializing. Then there's the ever-popular hallway track. Feel free to socialize, work on projects, show off your latest techno-triumph and just generally geek out. 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. As Tim O'Reilly would say, it's all about an architecture of participation. FURTHER READING * The Rules of BarCamp, http://barcamp.org/TheRulesOfBarCamp * What to Expect, http://barcamp.org/what%20to%20expect * A Video Intro to BarCamp SF, http://ryanedit.blogspot.com/2006/06/barcampsf.html QUESTIONS? Post them to the list! Over and out, Kyle Adams (on behalf of barcamp-organizers@gr-jug.org) From kadams at gfs.com Mon Aug 14 23:36:07 2006 From: kadams at gfs.com (Kyle Adams) Date: Mon Aug 14 22:01:13 2006 Subject: [Barcamp] This Weekend Message-ID: <44E0FAD7.6F65.0052.0@gfs.com> BarCamp begins at 6 PM on Friday (5 PM if you want to help setup). Until then... PRESENTATIONS Have you thought about how you're going to contribute to BarCamp? If you're the organized type, take the final week to put the finishing touches on your slides, get the demos working smoothly, etc. As for me, I'm planning on doing that at 3 AM Saturday morning :-) We've had more ideas added at http://barcamp.org/BarCampGrandRapids so you can take a look if you need inspiration. A tip: pick something you're passionate about. It'll make talking about it much easier. Don't feel constrained to the technical world, though it would be nice if you could tie it back to something geeky. DIRECTIONS Calvin College is located on the southeast side of Grand Rapids. Google Maps is your friend: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=3201+Burton+Street+SE,+grand+rapids,+mi Once you get on campus, head for the Science Building (SB): http://www.calvin.edu/map/ You can park behind the Engineering Design and Project Center. We'll try to have signs out there so you can find your way in. We'll be on the third (top) floor, but I'm hoping to have a registration area setup right by the back entrance (the one closest to the parking lots). One other note: the MCAT (med school admissions) will be going on in another part of the building ( http://www.calvin.edu/mcat/ ), so use common sense and courtesy. Standardized tests are grueling enough as is, without any distractions. GETTING IN When you first arrive, the Science Building doors should be unlocked. Later in the evening (or early in the morning), that won't be the case. We'll have signs posted at the door with various cell phone #s; if you need to leave and return (for whatever reason), contact one of those numbers and we'll let you back in. That's assuming that you have a cell phone and know how to use it :-) If you don't, let us know before you leave and we'll make alternate arrangements. FOOD If you have an special dietary needs, please let me know ASAP as we're making the food arrangements right now. REMINDERS Don't forget: * laptop * presentation * pillow (for the overnighters) When you arrive, be sure to stop by the sign in desk and let them know you're there. LAST WORDS The registrations keep coming in; it looks like we'll have somewhere between 20-30 people. If you know of any slackers (aren't we all?), get them to register so our food purchasing will be as accurate as possible. We'll see you there. On behalf of barcamp-organizers@gr-jug.org, Kyle Adams From jeffdm at iserv.net Wed Aug 16 12:09:14 2006 From: jeffdm at iserv.net (Jeff DeMaagd) Date: Wed Aug 16 10:43:33 2006 Subject: [Barcamp] requesting input for possible ecommerce session Message-ID: <44E3351A.2070909@iserv.net> I am preparing a presentation for a possible ecommerce session at Barcamp. As I have it now, it will be an overview of the considerations, what to do, and how it is done. I will be including my experiences. If you have anything you would like to see covered or if you have input on your experience with the various software or services, please let me know privately. Jeff