BarCampRDU

BarCampRDU 2008

Dugald Wilson — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:21:56 GMT

BarCampRDU is almost here, and I cannot wait! I attended my first BarCampRDU a year ago. I volunteered, and got to meet many great folks, and the sessions I sat in on were just great - full of smart people eager to share their ideas and experiences.

The last BarCamp I attended I knew no one. I think that was really a great way to come in. I could focus on the sessions, and what really appealed to me, versus finding my friends and trying to stick with them. It will be interesting to see if knowing a dozen or more folks at this one changes things.

At the last BarCamp, I did my part by volunteering. I didn't feel like I had an area of expertise to speak in, so I didn't offer up a session. After attending, I now know you don't need to be an expert to lead a topic - often the best topics are discussions that bring together lots of folks contributing their ideas. So in that spirit, I have a few ideas that might make for good discussions:

What's the deal with airline food Twitter?

I want to start a business that isn't headed for an IPO or acquisition. Is there a place for me in RTP?

BarCampRDU Has Left the Building!

Dugald Wilson — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 21:30:00 GMT

BarCampRDU has come to a close. I don't know if I can wait another year for it to come again.

I'll just do a rundown of my personal highlights:

Meeting Rob Zelt and Brian Hitney at the pre-party. I had a great time talking tech, and hopefully will get a chance to put-up or shut-up in regards to my gripes with TriNUG. :)

Got to meet Nick of DisruptorMonkey, and got to say "Thanks!" for his blog posts that I've been enjoying over the past month or two.

Attended my first session, and actually said something - a minor victory. As I learned more and more about the folks attending, I really got to feeling like the only person in the room who wasn't excelling in their field. Thus, it was great to feel I could make even small contributions at BarCamp.

Loved my second session on "Getting Things Done" - a really fun session, with lots of folks sharing their experiences. I wish it had either been a smaller group, or run for a longer time, as there were a lot of folks with experiences to share.

Next was "What's Stopping You From Starting a Startup" - this started with a good bit of information for starting up your own company, but quickly morphed into it's merged-in session buddy "How About Doing a Start-Up Weekend?". The rest of the hour focused on that concept, which didn't really appeal to me. But, I did get inspired for a later post on the shortcomings I see with that concept.

After lunch, it was a session regarding lessons that can be learned from the Luddites. I think this session lost its way more than once, but it was great to see an off-the-cuff pitch run the whole hour and get some lively participation.

Next was Coder2CTO, a pretty good presentation on the realities of the requirements of the CTO Position. Really good points were made about how it's not the Alpha Coder that gets promoted to CTO, but rather the person who understands the business objectives, how the technology can and does address those needs, and can communicate those issues. A good session, though it did veer into "Startup Funding 101" at the end.

Lastly was Mark Andrews' flamewar-worthy session titled "Why IE Sucks and How You Can Cope". In more even-keeled terms, it was great session about debugging options available to you when IE support matters. He first showed how side-by-side installation with IE 4, 5, 6 (only SP1, though) is possible. Then, we got a guided tour of how almost all the functionality available in Firebug can be gathered up in various tools on the IE side of things. We looked at the IE Developer Toolbar and Fiddler. Then there was some time to get into a few nuances of the quirks involved in supporting IE. Definitely one of my favorite sessions of the conference.

Since I had no session to bring, I volunteered. I liked being able to help out with the conference, and get a closer look at what really needed to be done to pull this off. While BarCamp does have this vibe of things getting done because folks roll up their sleeves and do it, the truth is the organizers do way more to facilitate it all getting done. I was glad to be able to help them out. Special recognition goes out to fellow volunteer Fred Medlin, who seemed to always be there to help out when things needed doing.

This was my first unconference, and I'm definitely coming to the next. For me, BarCampRDU 2007 was a huge success, and a lot of fun.

Live from BarCampRDU

Dugald Wilson — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 17:59:21 GMT

Sitting here at BarCampRDU, and couldn't be happier I came.

I've been in sessions discussing traffic spikes and hosting providers, "Getting Things Done", and starting a startup in RDU. All of them have been full of folks who know their stuff, and are passionate about what they do. They're also pretty funny and engaging, to boot.

It's been amazing watching how the unconference runs - folks just pulling together, driving it, and getting it done. The caterer goofed the lunch delivery, but everyone just moved the seminars around and kept on trucking.

Looking forward to the rest of the afternoon, but I'm already itching to get home and write, think, and get things done.

BarCampRDU is here!

Dugald Wilson — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 13:50:04 GMT

Technically, it starts tomorrow, but the pre-party is tonight, so I'm counting that.

BarCampRDU is here, and I cannot wait! When I first signed up, I agonized over what I could present. Nothing ever shook clear as an idea that would lend itself to a good session - most of what I had handy I would certify as rants. But, I've consoled myself by contributing my wireless router for the day, and volunteering.

I can't wait to go. I'm very excited to meet the other attendees, quite a few of whom I've been reading since they linked their blogs to the BarCampRDU sign-up list.