So, the big day is fast approaching, and some of you may be wondering, “Huh. I wonder what’s going to happen at BarCamp. Where do I go? What should I bring? Will there be beer?” Silly, silly you. Of course there will be beer.
Saturday, have a hearty brunch; that is, arrive fed, not hungry. Food comes later. When you arrive at the Avenue Building, as close to noon as possible, take the elevator or the stairs to the 4th floor. VendAsta’s HQ is a big open common area, surrounded by closed-in offices. Key rooms will be well-signed. There will be a room with tables upon which you will participate in the fine Saskatchewan winter party tradition of (no, not THAT) … piling coats. Keep your valuables on you.
Facing the elevators, the men’s washroom is to the right and the women’s washroom is to the left. Enjoy.
Your first stop will be to register. We’ve moved the registration away from the elevators, so there will be less crowding than last year. Optional cash donations will be accepted, and funds not used to cover the day’s incidentals will all go toward Movember. When you register and pick up your Tshirt (if you bought one), also let us know if you’re planning to talk (whether it’s already listed on the Speaker’s page or not). Let us know things like whether it’s a 5 minute talk or a 45 minute talk or somewhere between, and whether you have to be done by a certain time.
Next, find where we’re setting up the schedule and provide your input to Blaine. See the post about this.
Depending on how punctual people are, and how smoothly the schedule goes together, we will kick things off around 1:00 with some announcements in the common area. Please understand that because of the on-the-spot unconference-ness of this all, it might be closer to 1:30, but we will do our best to start before that. Enjoy the company of your fellow tech community peeps and tweeps while we get stuff together.
Talks will take place in one of three rooms: Skypad, Area 51, and the Bend. All will be labeled. Each room has a sound system and projector. Speakers can bring a USB key, laptop (HDMI or VGA) or use cloud-based service like Google Docs or Prezi.
After a talk or two, food (provided by sponsors) and Paddock Wood beer (tickets will be sold at a nominal price to those who are 19+) will be available in the common area. Talks will continue, so we thank you for holding your inevitable awesome conversations in the common area out of respect for those presenting and listening. Supper will arrive … around supper time of course.
After the talks finish around 8:00 (or later if there are a lot of long talks), there will likely be some mingling and socializing as things wind down. After that, some of us at least, will likely congregate for the so-called BeerCamp at a nearby establishment (details to be figured out, unconference-style, at BarCamp).
The volunteer planning team thanks you for doing your part in making BarCamp a success: showing up, talking, participating, socializing, and helping out where you can. Your constructive feedback will be solicited after the event. Unless we do it all perfectly, which you will know by the double rainbow over the Avenue Building, in the dead of night. Look for it.
If you have further questions, let @barcampstoon know. See you Saturday.