This should be a ton of fun and will go a long way to building community. Not every event has to be lectures, after all. I hope to see everyone out and having a good time next week!

Martin Ringlein writes:

It was such an amazing experience to be surrounded by such passionate and like-minded designers and developers. Events like this really make you remember what drives this community; passion.

Martin hits the nail on the head. Late into the evening of BarCamp, there were still conversations going on about community. Alex Giron and Doug March came up with several great ideas for community-building. Expect good things out of those two.

Samantha Warren, on the Ogilvy PR blog, and Alisa Schadt and Jenna Marino, on the AIM Product Design Group blog also have excellent perspectives on the event.

Also worthy of note is Ross Karchner’s DC Tech Events Weekly. Ross provides a week-by-week rundown of all tech-related events happening in and around Washington, DC. Glancing at the list, you’ll see there are a ton of groups out there. Go find one that suits your passion.

BarCamp DC

BarCamp DC has come and gone. I’m still recovering from an event that exceeded every expectation I’d set. Justin Thorp, Jackson Wilkinson, and I (along with a handful of others) managed to coordinate sponsors, design and print some awesome t-shirts, and handle 100+ attendees. Justin did a fantastic job with promotion, and Jackson rocked it as an emcee.

Response to the event has been overwhelmingly positive. For the latest reviews, check out the Technorati search results. A few choice quotes:

Jared Goralnick:

Not since the heyday of Netpreneur have there been so many people in one DC room so excited about what’s happening online.

Russell Heimlich:

I had a blast at BarCamp DC and can’t wait until they hold another one

Despite getting off to a late start, the event went fairly smoothly. Many thanks to Matthew Bradley (of Grassroots Enterprise) for stepping up and writing (and re-writing) the session schedule, Nick O’Neill for filming some of the sessions, and Justin Stockton, Rodney Degracia, and others for manning the registration table.

We are also deeply indebted to our hosts Fleishman-Hillard and our many sponsors for helping us put the event together. None of the food, t-shirts, or book giveaways would’ve been possible without their generous donations of money and time.

The event wasn’t without criticism, though. A lack of design sessions and “this is too organized for a BarCamp” were common gripes. I agree that these are legitimate complaints and assure everyone that we take this sort of feedback to heart. These type of events are really for the community and what the community wants, the community deserves.

And with that, a little bit about the DC tech community. When I started Refresh DC in February of 2006 (has it been that long?), I had no sense of a community existing in DC. The only people I knew were those with whom I worked. Slowly but surely, month after month, Refresh starting building a loyal following. Somewhere along the way, Refresh tipped and we began attracting ~50 people per month.

BarCamp shattered my expectation of the breadth and depth of the tech community in DC. I’d say there was easily 2/3rds of the audience that I didn’t recognize. This community runs deep. Justin has expressed his hope that BarCamp will be the tipping point that brings this until-now fractious community together. I’ve overheard several people (Mike Cummins of the AOL Developer Network being one of them) state that DC has the potential to be an East Coast version of San Francisco.

I firmly believe that BarCamp DC was the start of something big and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let that wave pass us by. As I posted over on Twitter the night after the event, I am in awe of and humbled by the passion and enthusiasm of the sponsors, volunteers, and participants who made BarCamp DC an event to remember. Thank you all.

BarCamp DC logo

The vaunted BarCamp un-conference is coming to Washington, DC this August 11th! I’m proud to be one of the organizers for BarCamp DC. We’ve got a lot of work left to do, but we’ve lined up a lot of good sponsors to help us pull off the event.

What’s an un-conference, you ask? Well, it’s a conference with no scheduled speakers or panels. Attendees show up the day of and ad-hoc organize a conference. Everyone is encouraged (often required) to participate in some fashion, either by giving a presentation or by leading a discussion on a given topic.

BarCamps are not just for web designers or developers. I encourage anyone interested in technology or other forms of new media to attend. The more diverse the crowd, the better the conversation.

I’m really excited about this and hope everyone comes out and has a good time. More info can be found over at http://barcampdc.org/.