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September 6, 2006
BarCampMilwaukee 2006
About a month ago, fellow Milwaukee Web Design Meetup Group member Pete Prodoehl happened to mention something called BarCamp in one of our conversations.
Turns out Pete is one of the organizers of BarCampMilwaukee, happening on Saturday September 30th & Sunday October 1st, 2006, at Bucketworks 1319 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
What's BarCamp Anyway?
Now, I'd heard the term BarCamp before, but had only a vague idea what it was. I figured it was another geek conference, sponsored by a tech company, complete with expensive entry fees, well-known presenters, hosted in a pricey hotel in San Francisco, or New York City.
Wrong! I've since learned that BarCamp is an "un-conference" — BarCamp are started by local people who want to attend one, in any city where other interested people will come and be part of the event.
In many ways BarCamp is an open source conference — the "campers" create the event, attend the event and even present at the event for other attendees. In fact, every BarCamp attendee (campers) should share in some way about their passions with other interested campers, or at least help setup/cleanup.
I'm Not a Super-Nerd, Can I Come?
Well, I figured a super-nerdy un-conference would probably exclude me. I can't wax poetic about arcane perl commands, lecture on proper PHP syntax or discuss the inner workings of the latest Linux distro. What technical demonstration could I offer that geeky campers wouldn't know 50 times more about?
Wrong again! Pete told me BarCamp is about sharing your passion on a subject, not being a super-nerdy technical expert. Of course, good technical presentations are welcomed, but not required. If you have a passion, you can share it with others at BarCamp. Cool!
So, I asked Pete: could I share my logo design sketch process? Or maybe how I created a custom Moleskine planner and hacked a G2 mini to use a Uniball cartridge?
"Heck yes!" said Pete.
He thought both would be great topics, so I've added my Logo Design Process and Custom Moleskine Planner & G2 Mini Pen Hack Demo to the sessions page.
Come to BarCampMilwaukee!
If you live in or near Milwaukee and have interest in meeting other people, and being a part of BarCampMilwaukee, I encourage you to sign up as an camper and come on down Saturday, September 30th through Sunday October 1st. It's going to be a blast!
If you decide to become a camper, please let me know in the comments or via email. I'd like to meet fellow BarCampers and talk over a coffee.
Related Links:
JSOnline: BarCamp stuffs tech ideas into 24 hours
Wisconsin Technology Network: BarCampMilwaukee promises a tech-focused event
September 6, 2006 11:17 PM | Milwaukee | 
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Rohdesign is the site of designer Mike Rohde, who writes about design, sketching, writing, mobile computing, technology, travel, cycling, books, music and more.
