I wanted to wait a couple of days before writing about BarCampDallas3 — take some time to let the dust settle. Today that dust finally settled — and I’d like to reflect on last weekends experience.

I’d like to start by thanking all the people who have thanked me for helping to organize BarCampDallas — I really appreciate it — but at the end of the day the success of a BarCamp is really up to the participants. This BarCamp was no exception. So — I want to thank everyone who made it out to BarCampDallas. I’d especially like to thank Dave Bost and Chris Bernard from Microsoft — who helped make BarCampDallas3 one of the best BarCamps I’ve ever attended.

The reason I love BarCamp is because it offers me an opportunity to meet and interact with some of the most amazing people on the planet. This was especially true of BarCampDallas since so many of my closest friends happen to call Dallas home. Here’s a short re-cap of what went on at BarCampDallas3.

Friday Night at Lee Harvey’s

For me, BarCampDallas3 started on Friday night when I met several BarCampers at Lee Harvey’s in Dallas for drinks. Caleb Jenkins - the man behind CommunityCast.tv and Giovanni Gallucci of The Agency Blog did pre-BarCamp interviews with the gang. Ingrid Kast Fuller, from Pasadena joined us, along with Kinan Sweidan, Joseph, Cody, Matt, and Ken. Since BarCamp would be starting early on Saturday Morning — we cut the evening short. Cody, Matt, and I stayed that night at my best friend Kyle’s house in Denton.

BarCampDallas Day 1 - Saturday

I woke up early on Saturday Morning to pick up 80 breakfast tacos for the campers. On my way to pick up the tacos, I phoned the taco place to let them know I was on my way. It was around 7:50 AM when I called and they informed me that the tacos were ready. I let them know that I was about 30 minutes away and would pick them up at around 8:20 AM. To my surprise the Taco Guy went a little nuts — saying that he thought I was going to pick them up at 8:00 AM on the dot — and that they would be no good by 8:20. WHAT??? He proceeded to say that he would have to throw all 80 tacos out and re-make them when I arrived. I explained that I didn’t intend to serve them until 10 AM. He said in no uncertain terms that they would not last that long. Since he insisted on re-making them — I said fine — re-make them. We hung up — about 10 minutes later he called me back and said I should find somewhere else to get my breakfast tacos. WHAT - WHAT??? No Breakfast tacos for the campers??? What’s a girl to do?

The Agency Blog Saves Breakfast

I called Gio in a panic hoping he might be able to help me locate another Taco Dealer on short notice. Instead Giovanni pledged the support of The Agency Blog and said he’d pick up Donuts for the gang. And Pick up donuts he did!!! Krispy Kreme — and Not just glazed — but the assorted premium kind too!

Meanwhile, Ingrid and I ran by Kroger’s to pick up assorted snacks including chips, fruit, cookies, and fruit punch.

BarCampDallas Kicks Off

At around 10 AM, campers began arriving at the Microsoft Campus. Giovanni set up video and audio equipment in the main rooms to record the sessions, and Dave Bost helped welcome participants in the lobby and escort them to the 4th floor (security was tight).

At 11 AM, I gave the BarCamp presentation and we went around the room giving the traditional 3-word intros. Then sessions kicked off with Sabre’s own Jay Fichiolas giving a presentation on how to run your own Hack Day.

With BarCamp in full swing I ducked out in the hallway to check on the grid and welcome new arrivals. Not long after, whurley, Kinan, Caleb, Giovanni, Adam, Mel, Jim and I found ourselves deep in conversation.

The rest of the evening was an exciting adventure. Microsoft was kind enough to pick up the tab on both lunch (Jason’s Deli) and dinner ($900.00 worth of BBQ from Red, White, and Blue — YUM). THANK YOU MICROSOFT Of course — we ended up with more food than you can imagine.

Jim, Kinan, and I took a side trip later that afternoon to catch up over Margaritas at Chewy’s. This is when the idea for HappyRAKS.com was born. Wondering what HappyRaks.com is? Sorry — afraid I can’t tell you that yet. Just rest assured that it’s a super groovy idea that will revolutionize friendships everywhere

Upon returning to BarCampDallas we found out that Chris and Dave had taken the liberty of purchasing tons of beer for the campers to enjoy. Those are two of the grooviest guys on the Planet!!!

The evening was filled with more BarCamp Sessions — including an awesome presentation by Chris Bernard on User Experience — and a CSS Presentation by Aaron Baxter. Christopher St. John also hosted an awesome session of Half Baked, where The Real Adam led his team to victory as they pitched a business plan for their company g.litter.com
The Battlebots guys from SWARC also wowed us with a variety of robots and info on their craft. Special thanks to Brady and the crew for stopping by

However, several people seemed to be missing from the crowd — turns out Kinan, Jim, Caleb, whurley, and Mel had pulled a whiteboard into the kitchen and were having an impromptu session (argument) that later moved to one of the bigger conference rooms — and may be available via podcast later Tune in to hear Kinan and whurley spend the evening arguing about servers and systems managment.

BarCampKinan

Later — we all decided to have sushi — which instead evolved into the impromptu BarCampKinan. At Kinan’s apartment, Jim, Kinan, and I started the wiki page for BarCampSyria — and Jim and I signed up for BarCampAuckland — which we plan to attend in December of this year. Gio, whurley, Caleb, Christopher St. John, Ingrid, and I also played a joke on Angry Young Man — which kept us all in laughs for nearly an hour. If you are reading this Tyler — the joke was in good fun — we all LOVE you.

That evening whurley and I skipped camping at Microsoft in favor of camping at Kinan’s. Little did we know that throughout the evening Jay Phillips and Cody Marx Bailey were hard at work on a web application in ROR. The next morning they would each win a Zune for their efforts

FlickrMockr - whurley & giorley

The mocking of whurley begins - at BarCampDallas.

Corporate whurley vs. Corporate giorley

And let’s not forget the Legs — who could forget the LEGS?

BarCampBreakfast

At BarCamp Breakfast on Sunday Morning, I proposed a new variation on BarCamp to be held this summer at FoxFire Cabins in Vanderpool Texas. Jim, Kinan, Christopher, Cone, and I discussed having a BarCamp without technology — or a more focused BarCamp where you would need an actual prototype of a project to be allowed admittance. Christopher suggested we call this FOECamp (don’t ask) — but I’m more inclined to call it KnowTechCamp. We also discussed starting up StirrDallas — and I intend to have this project off the ground in the next 2 months.

BarCampDallas was an amazing success — and I had the opportunity to meet some a really terrific people. Alex tells me that they are planning to hold another BarCampDallas this summer at the Infomart. Cone Johnson is also trying to organize a BarCampDallas4 soon. I look forward to heading back up to Dallas to participate.

BarCampDallas Photos

http://flickr.com/search/?q=barcampdallas3&z=t

Blogging about BarCampDallas3

• The Agency Blog
  
• Tektactic Blog
  
• Caleb Jenkins
• Chris Bernard
• The Real Adam

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