Crystal Williams

You know, we keep thinking that at some point, people are going to get tired of this whole “BarCampLA” thing. Apparently that point hasn’t come yet. *phew!*

This past weekend, about 220 of you joined us at the AOL offices in Beverly Hills for the fifth BarCamp in Los Angeles. We talked about WordPress, hacking, the Internet Backbone, Computers that may/will take over the world, Ninjas, Zombies, and sandwiches. We played fake guitars (and real ones). We danced with inflatable robots. We rickrolled each other. We ate, we laughed, we talked, and hopefully, we learned some cool stuff in the process.

One of the best feelings I get at these events is when I’ve poked my head into the room to give a 5 minute time warning, and I get a dozen people shooing me away. That happened more than a few times this past weekend, and I can think of no better validation that we’re doing something right here. So thanks, everyone, for showing up, sharing what you know, and soaking up the knowledge and ideas of your peers. It’s always amazing to see what people bring to this.

Ok, enough with the sap, let’s start thanking people.

Travis Savo and Marie Maxey, our in-house hosts from AOL went above and beyond the call of HALP!. When we decided to abandon our potential downtown LA venue because of complications from the LA Marathon (it would have been ugly, folks), Mike Macadaan from AOL answered the call and got this space arranged in under a week. Since Mike couldn’t join us for the weekend, Travis and Marie, veteran BarCampers, volunteered to be our hosts. We couldn’t ask for two nicer people in the world, and much of the credit for the event running as smoothly as it did goes to these guys. Thanks again!

Geoff Emery (Dude, what’s your url?) also jumped into the fray of organizing this time by handling all of our food arrangements, catering orders, etc. If you enjoyed eating, you should thank this man. We did! (Thanks!)

James Cooper was there before I was on Saturday and already had half the chairs moved into rooms. Much, much thanks. We’ll work on that hat, ok? :-)

Jane Lee once again swooped in and picked up the monster load of Saturday’s lunch and the lion’s share of the sodas. The necessary Saturday morning Costco run is one of the biggest logistics “can’t be in two places at once” problems, and twice in a row now, Jane has made that a non-issue. Thank you!

Chris Darbro ensured we all had coffee. Both days. Deserves a medal in some cultures, but isn’t coffee its own reward? (thanks, good sir!)

Eric Hammond – Somewhere a few weeks back, I just started getting a flood of people interested in giving us money to do this. It turns out, Eric sent them our way. Funding these things is always one of the hardest parts. (It’s a what-camp? Bar-what?) I don’t know what you did, man, but thanks! It worked!

Chef JoAnna continues to guide our fooding, even when the catering orders come in looking a little too small to feed the mob outside the kitchen. That woman can wield a knife better than I hope to in a hundred years. Thank you!

A shout-out to the incomparable C.Nelson for bringing you the SMS and flickr projection walls (written on-site!) and the DJ/sound gear. Mucho entertainment. Props to Substandard!

Big thanks to Woody Pewitt, Andy Sternberg, and Mr. Michael Lambie for the kegs, without which, Rock Band would have been better performed and far less popular.

And to Vaughn Hannon, Michael Dorausch, Bronwyn Lewis, and Chris Gagne for just being darn helpful with a bunch of various things. If I’ve forgotten you, please ping me. No slights intended, all help greatly appreciated, and no notes taken (by me). :-)

And finally, there’s this “Jason” character I keep hearing about. Dude… It doesn’t feel right to thank you here, because this is equal sweat, blood, and lolcats. (ok, the LOLcats are *all* Cosper. Actually, if it was spontaneous and glinting of awesome, it was almost surely Cosper) But holyFSM, we did it. Again! BarCampLA-5 was sustained awesome, and I’m so glad we’re on the same team. (psst, folks, the Scoops Ice Cream on Sunday? That was ALL Jason – go mob him with your thanks).

But wait, there’s more!

Sponsors!

A Giant thanks to all of you. You make this event happen!

Venue

AOL – Again, thank you! You guys really came through for us last minute, and it was fantastic.

Sponsors ++

• 3Jane IndieClick

• SpeakTECH
• Qtask zomg.. Cupcakes! Thanks again!
• CyberCoders
• Yahoo Developer Network
• MatchCraft
• Planet Chiropractic
• Oddica
• Ticketmaster
• Streamy

Sponsors

• Hulu
• ::search.labs
• Startup Schwag
• BlueString
• LAtwiist

Party Sponsor

• Thursday Lunch

Media Circus

I am totally going to cheat right now and just post in the slideshow of all photos from the camp here:

photos tagged barcampla5 in flickr
I’ll put up some personal faves soon. Go check out the main page of BarCampLA-5 for links to talk notes, PPTs, audio, video, etc. And add your’s if you’ve got ‘em!

Looking Forward

Yes, we’ll be doing another one of these. Yes, we’re open to new faces getting involved (and old ones taking on bigger roles. We’ve already started some great discussions on the google group about that and also started a Suggestions Page while the ideas are fresh. Lots of good points there already.

Ok, As the pig says, That’s All, Folks. This community continues to impress me as it grows. Tag your photos, keep up the conversation, go out and learn more cool stuff to share, and we’ll see you for the next time.

It always takes me about a week to come to closure with a camp. Besides the obvious sleep debt to be paid, I also enjoy watching the pics and videos roll in, checking out the session media that gets posted, and listening to the conversations that originated at camp as they get taken out into the world. Especially the last one: I believe that’s what motivates me to keep working on these. Those conversations and connections are priceless, and it’s a pretty amazing feeling to get to see those shockwaves from the epicenter. So, really, thank you all for making good on all the promises we made that this would be an amazing group of people with things to share. We can only set the stage, but you guys put on one hell of a play.

By the Numbers

So, the breakdown looked something like this:

• About 200 Participants over two days (That’s almost double from March 2007)
• Close to 40 unique presentations
• 15 Sponsors
• $5400 Budget (Spent to the last $40 or so, so if anyone wants reimbursing for drinks or snacks, hit me up) Complete Expense details will be available on the wiki as soon as the last sponsor check gets processed.
• Two Gongs (Opening intros were MUCH shorter this time!)
• 113 BarCamper Portraits
• And the world’s first FooBar Mitzvah

I’m happy with that.

Thanks

There are more people to thank than I think I can fit into this space or possibly link to, so let me start off by saying thank you to every person who answered our call for help on Sunday morning and brought sodas, fruit, bread, yogurt, ice, etc. When you’re on a fixed budget for a free conference and then attendance doubles out of nowhere (as it did), you’re suddenly not sure whether to say “yay!” or “uh oh…” Those contributions, from cupcakes to sunflower seeds to sodas to fruit, kept us in the “yay!” category. So thank you all for stepping up and really being every bit the awesome community we love to brag about.

Sponsors

BarCamp simply could not be the free, accessible, community event it is without our sponsors. These companies make this event possible, pitch-free, no strings attached. They ‘get’ what we’re doing here, and so many of them were in active participation at the event, not as sponsors, but as BarCampers. So, thank you to:

• Little Radio Warehouse – There’s a reason we list these guys under both ‘Sponsors’ and ‘Hosts’ on the wiki. Not only do they give us such an awesome venue for free, Jimmy spends the weekend working just as hard as the organizers to make sure everything runs smoothly for the event. I don’t think we can say thanks enough, but we try.
• 3jane IndieClick – A big thanks to 3jane IndieClick for returning as sponsors this round.
• Belkin - Belkin has always been such a huge supporter of BarCamps in LA and elsewhere. Thanks so much to Jory and crew for sticking with us!
• crowdgather – Thanks Sanjay and crew for supporting BarCampLA!
• Disney – A big thanks to Mike and the team at Disney for continuing to support BarCamp in Los Angeles, even with the success of PoohCamp, their internal unconference. Also, I think Mike’s most excellent wi-fi shirt upstaged us all for supreme geek wear.
• DreamHost – Suuuuure, Dreamhost couldn’t just sponsor, they had to throw in a year’s free hosting for everyone at BarCamp as well. Sweet! Thanks, guys!
• Microsoft – Thanks again to Microsoft, always a huge help to us. They were kind enough this year to cover our insurance costs, one of our largest expenses, for us. Such a huge help. Also, a huge thanks to Woody Pewitt for working the registration desk for most of the day Saturday.
• ::search.labs -search labs specializes in placing top talent in the web 2.0 and new media sphere. Thanks for supporting BarCamp!
• Show-in-a-Box -How cool is it that a free software project wanted to be a BarCamp sponsor? Show in a Box is a video blogging platform built on WordPress, and consisting of WordPress, a custom set of plug-ins, and a custom theme. Check it out! It’s free!
• [Si]TV – [Si]Tv is a 24 hour, English-speaking Latino cable channel with a video-rich website. Tune over to www.sitv.com/ to see what they’ve got going on.
• Startup Schwag – Startup Schwag picks up where ValleySchwag left off, bringing the latest Web2.0 shirts and tchochkes to folks everywhere. Check them out!
• Qtask -A huge thanks to Reichart, Lisette, Emi, and the rest of the Qtask crew for the sponsorship, the help, and the cupcakes! (ok, and the pink t-shirt)
• twiistup- Next twiistup is Jan 16, 2008 in Vence. Deadline to apply to Showoff is November 15, so hurry! Thanks again, guys!
• Yahoo! Developer Network – A big thanks to the Yahoo! Developer Network for sponsoring lunch on Sunday. Cheers!

Special Thanks To:

Jason Cosper, my co-BarCamp Counselor (Lambie, did you coin that?). You know I can’t possibly name everything, but thanks for the moral support, the mad publicity and blog and twitter and sponsorship wrangling, Saturday and Sunday and all they entailed, and for that amazing yell of doom of yours that made it possible for my squawking to be heard. Beer doesn’t cut it, I owe you whiskey.
Dan Tentler, for running network ops and getting/keeping the wifi running. “What? There’s a muffin up here! How the hell?
JoAnna and her ninja-like reflexes where catering is involved made it possible to get food laid out for 150+ people in 10 mins or less not once, but THREE times. That plus the pre-ordering food consulting made a world of difference for us.
CJ Little, whose remarkably lifelike cardboard facsimile somehow managed to co-staff the registration booth for most of Saturday along with Woody Pewitt, ensuring that BarCampers were greeted, tagged, and signed in. Thanks!
Andy Sternberg, who wrangled us an awesome keg of Craftsman and the ice to cool it.
More thanks to Bino Gopal for the no-questions-asked instant office supply run.
Jane Lee, who volunteered herself and her vehicle to pick up EVERYTHING that wouldn’t fit in my car from Costco, plus Saturday’s lunch. (That was a lifesaver!)
Thanks to Chris Gagne for picking up Saturday morning’s coffee.
And lastly, a huge thanks to Darren Wong for not taking no for an answer and working in the middle of the night to give us a killer new BarCampLA logo. We love it!

Plus, a very special thanks to Richard M. Stallman (RMS) for joining us, hanging out, having fun, and for speaking. We don’t usually condone ‘keynotes’ for BarCamp, but if there were ever a case for an exception, this was most certainly the time.

And lastly, the Media…

If you haven’t already, go check out Noodle Scar’s On Location at BarCampLA-4 video. You can find other videos here, on YouTube, and linked off of the BarCampLA-4 Main Wiki. If you have videos you want the world to see, put them there!

There are also Tons of great pictures, of course, so check them out, help with tagging, and make sure your own are up and tagged so we can all enjoy them. Here are some of my personal favorites.

I’m going to treasure this one for a long time.
Photo by Daniel Hengeveld.

PowerPoint Karaoke
Photo by Lisa Brewster

FooBarMitzvah
Photo by Lisa Brewster

“What’s in your Not-Coming-Back-Bag.” I walked in to call time on this session and just lost it laughing. Thanks, guys!
Photo by Dan Tentler

The bus. Seriously, the bus was awesome. Go check out The 1 Second Film.
Photo by Dan Tentler

Thanks everyone. It was nothing short of surreal. Post your pics and comments here and/or to the wiki and we’ll see you for the next one!

-Crystal

It’s been two weeks since DrupalCampLA and I think the dust has finally settled enough for me to write this.

As I said in my opening remarks, when I first started planning this event, I was really hoping for a small gathering of dedicated Drupal Developers, you know, just 40-60 people to kick things off…

Man, what the heck do I know?

DrupalCampLA saw a bit over 100 participants and about 25 unique session topics (not to mention 120 somewhat unique cupcakes) in two days at the AOL offices in Beverly Hills, and I really don’t think I could have asked for a better group of curious folks or a more supportive community.

From Project Management to Flex, Install Profiles to Podcast tools, we had some really fantastic presentations, and as always, hallway conversations that spark friendships, projects, and more than a few modules. While the attendance skewed heavily towards the developers (another surprise for me and others) we also had great participation from project managers, designers, admins, and the business development folks who are keeping these projects coming through the doors.

A big thanks to all who turned out and made this event such a success, and an even bigger thanks to our sponsors who made it possible to give an event like this to the community for free.

Sponsors

• AOL – Our venue sponsor, and close partner for this event. A huge thanks to Mike Macadaan, Bill Wetherell, Karl Dotter, and Daryl from AOL for being so amazingly supportive and ensuring that this event went off without a hitch. The space was great, the wi-fi was glorious, and we never had to worry about the projectors. Couldn’t have asked for more. Mike and Bill are also responsible for Twiistups 1 & 2, with #3 on the way. Go check them out.
• Warner Bros. Records – Giant thanks #2 goes to Ethan Kaplan and the rest of the team at WBR for not only being major sponsors of DrupalCampLA, but also for being a driving force in Drupal adoption amongst recording artists. How awesome is that?
• OurMedia – This event would not have happened if it weren’t for the support and encouragement of Markus Sandy at OurMedia. Back in June, when I was just starting to think about putting one of these together, I mentioned it to Markus and he immediately volunteered sponsorship. (Which meant, then, that I actually had to go through with this). Check out OurMedia, they’re doing some great things for independent online content.
• Sisu, Inc. – Another big thanks to my colleagues at Sisu for not only tolerating my crazy self in ‘organizer mode’ but even supporting it by serving as DrupalCampLA’s official cupcake sponsor. We’re currently hiring freelance art directors, designers, and web developers (especially drupallers), so if you’re interested, drop us a line at jobs@sisumedia.com.

But wait, there’s more…

Not only were we lucky enough to have such great sponsors, but we also had the incredible support and participation of many of the top Drupal firms on the left coast. A huge thanks goes out to:

• Achieve Internet not only brought a small, extremely Drupal-savvy army up from San Diego, they also sponsored Saturday night’s party at Islands. So if you’re looking for who to thank for that, look no further. They’re looking to hire great people, so if San Diego sounds like a good destination, give them a shout.
• WorkHabit may indeed take the prize for largest number of Drupal devs schlepped the furthest distance, bringing their core team all the way down from Sacramento to see how so-cal kicks it drupal-style. WorkHabit provides Drupal development, integration, strategy, deployment solutions, and training.They’re also looking to hire, so if Northern Cali is more your speed, Drop them a line.
• Another big thanks to Bryght for sending Chief Blogging Officer Roland Tanglao down for the weekend to speak on Install Profiles (definitely a hot topic lately).
• Also, thanks to the folks at CivicActions who couldn’t be there, but send their love in the form of Some really nifty Drupal pins. Thanks, guys!
• And lastly, thanks to Jen Simmons, who joined us all the way from Philadelphia, and Jacob Redding, organizer of DrupalCampNYC, who joined us on his victory lap around the U.S. before moving to China.

Other big thanks are due to Chris Charlton and everyone else who fetched ice, coffee, cupcakes, or napkins, or helped set-up, clean-up, or just generally keep the show running. It was all noticed and much appreciated.

And Now Time for the Media Frenzy…

Ok, not quite, but there was an amazing amount of recording done at this event. We’re still assembling it all, but stay tuned, we should have recordings of nearly every session available to the internet at large soon. For now, though, enjoy some glimpses of DrupalCampLA:

Video by Chris Charlton:


More video
A glimpse of the pre-opening craziness on Saturday from Mike Macadaan here That one opens with me saying “I can’t believe people are trying to email me to register this morning” (it was true), and later includes me answering “Hi Crystal” with “I need someone to go get the coffee.” This kind of sums up my morning there.

Pics

Drupal Deployment Solutions Session

By Roland Tanglao

Chris and Roland

By Me

Cupcakes from Sisu

By Me

Markus Sandy

By Roland Tanglao

Jonathan Lambert and Roland Tanglao

Photo from WorkHabit

Opening Session

Photo by Roland Tangalo

For all DrupalCampLA pics on Flickr, go here.

I was really sorry I couldn’t make it to BarCamp Block this weekend in the Bay area. For those who don’t know, this was the 2 year anniversary of BarCamp, an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. Ironically, the reason I couldn’t attend is that I’ve been just too busy planning DrupalCampLA and BarCampLA-4 (more info on those coming shortly).

I was happy to see, however, that at least a little part of me got to be there for the event. My friend Tantek Çelik is shown here sporting my BarCamp Shanghai shirt.

See, back in January, Tantek and I had a little shirt swap:

Almost a year ago, now, I had the amazing opportunity to help bring BarCamp to China for the very first time by Co-Organizing BarCamp Shanghai. It was an amazing trip, a great adventure, and a rocking BarCamp. However, in all the mayhem, even though I designed and sourced ‘em, I didn’t manage to get one of the shirts in a size that didn’t absolutely swallow me. (I’m a bit wee, so I hear). Rather than see it get hidden away in my closet as a memento, I chose to give it to someone who could wear it proud. Since Tantek was a key factor in the very first BarCamp (two years ago now, wow!), I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have sporting it around Palo Alto.

Also, for the curious, BarCamp Shanghai 2 is in the works for September 8-9, 2007. I won’t be making the trek this year, but if you’re in China, check it out!

Photo Credit: Wired.com Click Here for Original

At the wrap-up dinner after BarCampLA-3, on a hunch, I polled the table with “Has anyone here NEVER accidentally electrocuted themselves while doing some crazy project?” No hands, great stories.

So when several members of that same crew took on organizing BarCamp San Diego, I knew it was going to be a good time, even by BarCamp standards. Not only was it exceedingly good, geeky fun, it was a really, really smoothly run camp. It was obvious a lot of planning went into this, so big ups to:

• Patrick Crowley – Project Management, Budget
• Dan Tentler – Sponsor Wrangler
• Lindsey LaShell – Public Relations
• Alex Kawas – Budget
• Billy Marsh – Awesomest screenprinting rig ever
• Phelan Riessen – Shirts
• Harry Slaughter – Venue Procurement
• Ryan Felton – Misc.
• Lisa Brewster – Blog

I met a lot of really fun, wickedly smart people this weekend and attended some great talks on search engine optimization, data visualization, dating, SecondLife, zombies, and network security. I gave a talk on pimping out your WordPress blog and an ongoing informal demonstration of why most people should be paying a bit more attention to their physical security (aka – lockpicking). I’ll be posting up my notes for that talk on here soon. I’ll also be linking to the Belkin site where they’ve graciously agreed (again) to host all of the recorded audio files from BarCamp San Diego sessions.

Just wanted to give some highlights here:
This was so unbelievably cool, a bit more MAKE Magazine or SRL than your typical BarCamp fare, but I think everyone was all for it. Metal Fabricator Billy Marsh MADE a custom screenpress for BarcampSD and they used it to print all the shirts, which came out looking great. (Photos by Lisa Brewster, click to go to her flickr stream)

I just couldn’t resist doing this. This is my 15′x17′ tent. In a classroom.

This still cracks me up. Man, twitter is great for unconferences.

And lastly, I’m not quite sure how this got started, but we dubbed it ninjacamp. Yes, that’s me. And yes, I have been doing a lot of yoga lately.

Thanks again to everyone who made this camp so much fun, I look forward to staying in touch with you all and hope to be back down for the next one in November. Congrats again to the organizers, you all did a fantastic job.

Lastly, thanks to the these companies for supporting the very first San Diego BarCamp. Sponsors make free, public BarCamps possible, so if you can, show your support for these companies:

• DivX
• Microsoft
• Opera
• wiseGEEK
• Achieve Internet
• Integral Impressions
• Belkin
• Technical Training Resources
• Eventful
• LAMP Host
• GroundWork Open Source

tap… tap..

Ok, I’m breaking radio silence here because this is going to be a fun weekend and I just wanted to let anyone in the area know about it. I’m headed down to BarCamp San Diego this weekend and really looking forward to it.

Details:
Technical Training Resources
6920 Miramar Rd., Suite 105, San Diego, CA 92121
directions | map

Things get rolling around 1pm on Saturday and wrap up Sunday evening. We met the folks organizing this at BarcampLA-3 and had a blast with them. I’ll be driving down Saturday morning, so if you want to go, but don’t feel like driving or don’t know anyone, hit me up.

As with any other barcamp, bring yourself, your tech, your sleeping bag, and your best ideas and get ready to meet a lot of really fantastic people.

First off, I can happily report that nothing caught fire that wasn’t supposed to. Everything after that is a bonus, right?

If you didn’t join us at Little Radio Warehouse this weekend, you missed dozens of amazing sessions, many of which I tried to document here, powerpoint karaoke, which shall live in infamy, some damn fine thai food, and the best group of geeks in Los Angeles.

if you want to check out more pics, Click Here.

Audio files from Belkin will be posted and linked soon. Also, i’ll be posting up my microformats and wordpress session talks (PDFs of the presentaions – or maybe just some articles). We’re working on a page to pull together everyone’s materials at http://barcamp.org/BarcampLA-3Sessions. Please link up your own materials there. At the very least, list up your sessions with your name and your site so people can go and give you mad props for your awesome presentation.

I’m really proud of a lot of things that happened at this camp. While BarCamps in every city are a different mix, LA has a really fantastic group of eclectic interests. Topics ranged from Mapping the Homeless problem in Downtown LA to Fighting Speeding Tickets to Culinary Q&A with a trained Chef. Of course we had the usual run of web2.0 and Open-source software talks as well, but for those of us who are already getting enough tech in our daily diets, it’s really refreshing to go talk about other things with smart people. The fact that so many people really felt comfortable presenting non-techie talks at Barcamp says, to me, that we’re doing something really right here in Los Angeles.

Sponsors
I have to give a real, honest shout-out to our sponsors who make it this whole mess possible. Seriously, we get money and donations, and it’s pretty much no strings attached because all of these companies “get it” that there is real value in just being a part of this community. Thank you all so much for making it possible for us to host this event and feed and t-shirt 100+ people for free. It’s an amazing service to be able to provide, and we’re proud to do it and thrilled that you are too.

• Little Radio – The *home* of BarCampLA.
• Disney – Rock on with PoohCamp this year!
• Microsoft – Thanks for being such a great support of BarCamp, and not just financially.
• AOL – Thanks again, guys!
• Yahoo – You guys have supported us for all three BarCamps in LA. Thanks for sticking with us!
• Snap – Thanks for jumping in!
• ooVoo – Thanks!
• Belkin – Can I say it any better than this? You guys have been absolutely amazing to us (and many barcamps elsewhere). We’ve never lacked for routers, powerstrips, or new, fun toys. Plus the audio devices (so cool!) and the audio hosting…. I could go on, but really, thank you.
• 3jane – Thanks for jumping in on this! And esp for the link!
• Sisu – My dear Sisu. As if putting up with me for the weeks before Barcamp wasn’t enough, you threw down with the sponsorship as well. Thank you Uncle Sisu!
• General Mayhem – Thanks!
• Internet Brands – Thanks guys! Hey – they’re hiring. (Go Look)
• Demand Media- Thanks so much! It was a blast to hang out as well!
• Twiistup – Thanks and good luck with *your* event!
• speakTECH – Thanks!
• Buzznet – Thanks for coming out and joining us! And much thanks for the vodka. :-)

People
I could spend the rest of the day thanking everyone who made this happen, but I think my company wouldn’t like that very much and this post is already less than timely. So here goes, in no particular order:

• Mack Reed for running around all day sunday doing the (usually gross) small stuff that keeps the wheels turning at an event like this. Everytime I turned around, he was taking out the trash or cleaning something, and he was the last one there mopping on Sunday night. I just wanted to make sure to say thanks for a usually thankless task. It was much appreciated.
• Woody Pewitt – It’s not often you see one of your key sponsors wielding a mop at 8:30am. Thanks for being there to help on so many levels.
• Everyone who worked the registration desk at all. Without you, we wouldn’t have gotten to see any of the talks.
• Jimmy Brayl of Little Radio – Man, you’ve really been key to making these things happen and run smoothly. Way more than just the average venue sponsor. I really can’t imagine having BarcampLA anywhere else. Thanks for putting up with us and putting in all the crazy extra work to keep the plates spinning.
• TV – Powerpoint karaoke was a stroke of genius.
• To everyone who blogged us – Metroblogging LA, Laughing Squid, BoingBoing, and so many others, OMS Thank you! Without you, we could never get the word out for these events.
• Bonnie – Thanks so much for rocking the food again. It’s a bigger job than anyone wants to admit and you did a great job with it (again!).
• Jennifer – Wow, lady, thanks so much for picking up the publicity end of things. 140 sign-ups! w00t!
• Jason – Dude. From the late-night t-shirt brainstorming to the blog linkage magic to wrangling the ridiculous farm of BarcampLA web presences to actually thinking my twitters are funny, you’re a key reason why nothing caught fire this weekend and we all lived to tell the tale. Thanks. Onward to BarcampLA-4. That’s Son of Barcamp, right?
• Heather – It is often a thankless task, but that doesn’t mean people don’t notice and appreciate all you’ve done for the LA community. From the geek dinners to 3 BarCamps, you’ve done so much to foster a real, live (and kicking!) tech community here in the land of Range Rovers and Casting Calls and we appreciate it. Thanks for the past year of service, we promise we’ll take good care of BarCampLA as you pass the torch. Thanks for everything, it’s been one cackling good time.

If I’ve forgotten anyone, feel free to give me hell. It was a blast guys and gals, srsly. I wouldn’t trade this community for the world.

Wow, I have a lot of t-shirts to my name right now. The ‘I <3 LA' shirts (shown) are about half sold out of the first series of 50. For a better shot of the shirts being modeled, check out Micki’s daily self-portrait here.

If those weren’t fun enough, the official BarcampLA-3 shirts (See ‘em here) are sitting in a box next to me. I think we’re going to be able to give those out for free, but if not, they’ll be $10 or less.

If you want one of the I <3 LA shirts, drop me a line. I'm giving people at BarcampLA-3 first dibs on buying them. If the demand outlasts the supply, I'll consider making another batch and figuring out a way to distribute them, so if you really want one, let me know and I'll try to make it happen.

Also, BarcampLA-3 passed 110 sign-ups today. Rock! I’m really excited about this event. It looks to be 33.5 (official) hours of great geeky fun, but many of the session topics that have already been posted look amazing. For those who were with us for BarcampLA-2, we realized we had way too much awesomeness to force people to choose between 5 concurrent tracks, so we’re scaling back to three and just added more session times (hence the 33.5 hrs).

If you haven’t already, Go Sign Up! We’d love to see you there.

Ah, those Hollywood sequels… Here’s one you really don’t want to miss. It’s hard to believe it, but BarCamp Los Angeles #3 is upon us in just six short days from now. The organizer team (including moi) has been working hard on this one, so break out of your SXSW hangovers and come join us!

We’ve once again got the fabulous Little Radio Warehouse for a venue, a whole pile of fantastic sponsors, and the session topics that have already been posted look fantastic. More than worth a two hour train ride up from San Diego (and close enough to cab it from Union Station).

Details:
March 24-25, 2007.
Begins 10am, March 24 and rolling right on through 7pm on March 25.

Little Radio Warehouse
1218 Long Beach Ave
Los Angeles, California 90021

I’ll be presenting either:
a) “What’s the big deal about Microformats?”
b) Simplifying everything from planning to project management with wikis – Tips, tools, and conversion stories. Free yourself from email!
c) Theming for Content Management Systems -Wordpress Tips and Tricks (Round 2)

Feel free to leave a comment on which you’d like to see from me.

And for all of you who are still not sure what a barcamp is, here’s my description:

Barcamp is a small, informal conference where people from different backgrounds and levels of expertise get together for knowledge transfer, networking, and just general geeking out. Since all attendees are expected to present a session, there is no line between “experts” and “spectators”. Every person there is expected to be an active participant, based on the idea that we all have something to contribute.

While the original idea sprung out of the tech community, this is by no means a tech-only event. Any thoughtful, well-prepared sessions will be appreciated. Originally started in August 2005, over a hundred BarCamps have now been held all over the world. This is the third BarCamp for Los Angeles. More questions? Check out the numerous videos, articles, and pictures linked off of http://barcamp.org.

Now go add yourself to the wiki! Hope to see you there.

Just to make sure I am not bored for a single moment more than I want to be, thought I’d broadcast that I’m coming up to San Francisco this weekend. Friday night – Monday night. I’ll be headed to CookCamp on Saturday. CookCamp, an unconference in the BarCampp tradition, “will focus on food and health, bringing together people from diverse backgrounds (health, technology, design, food, politics, business, cooking, and more) to share, create, and learn from one another over the course of a day.”

Since I’m big on cooking AND the larger politics of food manufacturing and distribution, public health and food related issues, and food culture, this looked right up my alley. Should be fun. If you’re in the area, come join us! It’s at CitizenSpace, starting at 9:30 am on Saturday. You can get all the details you need here. Thanks muchly to Dave Chiu, Ann Haiden, Ray Seddigh, and Dave Sanford for organizing.

Other than CookCamp, if you’re in the area and want to join in whatever roving madness we instigate, go add me on Dodgeball and Twitter, world’s least effective stalker feed. There is also a wiki, but please contact me privately for that info.

Cheers!