[Chicago] BARcamp Summary

[Jason Rexilius]

Hi Everybody,

 Apparently my attempt to send this to the list didn't work last time, 
so I thought I would try again...

 I just wanted to thank everyone for making BARcamp such a success.  I 
also wanted to recap for those that couldn't make it and make a few 
requests to the group. So first let me thank everyone who presented, 
organized or sponsored:

* Troy Haaland - helped mop floors, and clean up after (I really needed 
the help, thanks Troy!)
* Garret Smith - brought liquor, tended bar, signage, conversation 
packet router
* Richard Lynch - material support, conversations, helping hand
* Sarah Gray - donated butcher paper and projector so we could write and 
see
* Dan Ratner - donated camping furniture, supported the temporarily 
disabled
* Brian Schoen - brought the Billy Goat CheezBorga for starving organizers
* My Linh Le - All around hot girl, donated SUV, food stuffs and camping 
furniture, puts up with Jason Rexilius  ;-) * Walker Hamilton - 
presenter, mischief maker
* Jonathan Wolf Rentzsch - presenter, tie display mannequin
* Jason Jacobsohn - presenter
* Joe Born - device debugger
* Ziad Hussain - presenter
* Matt England - presenter
* Chris Gladwin - presenter
* Jim Wales - presenter, political rabble-rouser, really cool guy
* Sean Johnson - presenter, conspirator
* Mason Dixon - presenter
* Ian Bicking - code sprinter, hacker, good guy
* Johnathon Andrew Walter - conspirator
* John Quigley - brought beer, nuf said
* Wendell Davis - conspirator
* Michael Tobis - presenter
* David Dalka - Marketing / Customer Listening evangelist leadership 
resource for high growth start ups.
* Realnets - sponsor http://www.realnets.com/
* SitterCity.com - sponsor http://www.sittercity.com/
* Portage Venture Partners - sponsor http://www.portageventures.com/
* Arc Technology Group - sponsor http://www.arctg.com/
* Intentionally Designed - sponsor http://www.intentionallydesigned.com/
* Mail Launder - sponsor http://www.maillaunder.com/
* Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center - sponsor 
http://www.chicagolandec.org/
* CleverSafe - sponsor http://www.cleversafe.org/
* Neuros - sponsor http://www.neurostechnology.com/


Here is what happened for those that missed it:

Friday
09:00 - setup begins, Troy and My Linh help me out. Troy goes nuts with 
the mop and the Pinesol..

Saturday
12:00 - people started showing up en masse..
12:30 - jason runs around like chicken, sans head, Garrett brings 
liquor, fetches ice
13:00 - we tapped the first keg
13:30 - Ziad Hussain gave a history-rich talk on mobile handheld 
multimedia and gaming appliances and the new GP2x linux device specifically
14:00 - Garrett threw up some break-out area conversation topic signs
14:00 - the Chicago Linux Users Group started their Uber fest
14:30 - lots of side discussions about web2.0, XML transforms, seed 
funding in Chicago (lack thereof)
15:00 - second keg from LUG is tapped
16:00 - Cleversafe gives talk on their approach to secure, distributed 
storage, its uses, and their roadmap
17:00 - A code sprint gets organized for HyperCard implementation in 
Javascript w/ light server side
17:30 - lots of food runs
18:00 - HyperCard code sprint continues
18:00 - Mason Dixon gave a talk on Motion User Interface, A presentation 
of flows within the development of interactive high-data rate displays
18:45 - Sean Johnson gives a talk on Burning Your Business to the 
Ground, or what mistakes a start-up should avoid.  By the way, the 
resources mentioned in that talk are up on the BARcamp main page
19:30 - Michael Tobis gave a talk on Programmable Educational Media, 
shared programmable widgets and a shared environment in which the 
widgets can interact, to teach programming or other quantitative topics.
20:30 - Jim Wales gave a quick talk on Wikipedia and a longer talk on 
Campaign Wiki, which is organizing a meetup event here in Chicago 29 
July, linked to on the BARcamp main page
21:30 - Lots of informal talks about the Chicago tech scene, HyperCard 
hacking, Wikis and clubs, pubs, and parties.

Sunday
05:00 - talks from the night before finally wind down, the last camper 
is tucked neatly into his sleeping bag, visions of code and AJAX widgets 
dancing in his head.
06:00 - jason sleeps
07:00 - jason wakes, goes to shower and fetch another fan (damn it was 
hot!)
09:00 - people start showing up for day 2, light talks, coffee is 
brewed.. extra strong
12:00 - some spontaneous talk was given.. can't remember which.. uhh.. 
more coffee
13:00 - script kiddie posse shows up, a little playing around with lock 
picking, video presentations, little rapscallions  ;-) 14:00 - jason 
rexilius gives boring talk on building geographically distributed HA web 
clusters
15:00 - Jonathan Wolf Rentzsch gives a great talk on Mac OSX GUI hacking 
in Cocoa and Objective C, really cool
16:00 - Jason Jacobsohn introduces the crew to the Chicagoland 
Entrepreneurial Center and what it can do for YOU! Nicely done!
17:00 - food?..
19:00 - spontaneous meeting of the minds on the challenges facing a tech 
start-up in Chicago, problems in building community, and what to do 
about it.  The answer: The Chicago CoWorking Incubator Project.  Take 
energetic, entrepreneurial tech folks, add beer, heat and creativity and 
you get an action plan.  See the details on the main page of the BARcamp 
site.
21:30 - jason, groggily, chases the last of the hardcore campers away so 
he can sleep..  ooh sweet sleep, how I miss thee so.

Monday
06:00 - clean up and return of borrowed tables and chairs begins, Troy 
Halaand throws in for help, yet again.  Thanks Troy!


So here is what came out of BARcamp Chicago 2006:

1) An open source project to bring HyperCard back from the dead
2) A CoWorking project to build a central hub for the community and a 
home for wayward entrepreneurs
3) Lots of idea sharing, introductions, conversations and learning
4) Some entrepreneurs who were looking for teammates for start-ups met 
some rock-star hackers, we shall see what comes of it
5) Companies met business partners and a few successful collaboration 
stories came of it.
6) A number of the stealth tech start-ups in Chicago saw some spotlight


Lastly I would like to make a request of people who were there:

1) If you gave a talk, mentioned a resource, or had something to share, 
get some reference material or a link up on the BARcamp site so people 
can find it

2) If I missed a shout out, a presentation or a thank you thats in 
order, please let me know.  I know I missed stuff..

3) Check back on the BARcamp site for updates on the various other 
events that are coming up and support those; nextChicago, campaign wiki, 
CoWorking Chicago, user group meetings.. theres a lot happening!


Thanks again to everyone that showed up, participated, supported and 
donated!  See you all at the next event!

-jason