We added a Media page to the site today. We hope this will help with any media outlets that are interested in covering BarCampBirmingham. It has contact info for our media volunteer, Wade Kwon, as well as a link to our initial press release.
The other reason for the Media page is to show some love to anyone that has blogged about BarCampBirmingham. So, if you have posted something to your blog about BarCampBirmingham, send us a link and we will add it to the page.
When you signed up for BarCampBirmingham, we asked you to let us know what you wanted to learn about and what you wanted to talk about. An overwhelming majority of you answered at least one of those questions, if not both. We have even listed a few of the topics that were submitted. Now it is time to make it official.
We have opened up a Proposed Sessions page here on the site. We have traditionally done this on the Wiki, but we thought we would save you the hassle of having to create ANOTHER account to keep track of. All you have to do is leave a comment on the page with your name and what you want to talk about. The session schedule won’t actually be set until everyone arrives at BarCamp, but this will help give everyone an idea of what they can expect when they attend BarCampBirmingham. It will also help us in planning how many rooms we need to use at Innovation Depot.
So, head on over to the Proposed Sessions page and leave your comment. Let everyone know what you plan to talk about.
Thanks to Ryan Davis over at The G Brand, we will have an awesome poster to help spread the word about BarCampBirmingham. Also, thanks to Precision Graphics, we are getting 250 of them printed for FREE!
If you are considering sponsoring BarCampBirmingham, we have set a cut-off date for Friday, April 18 for the poster. If you want your logo on the poster, you will need to have your sponsorship donation in and the logo sent to sponsors@barcampbirmingham.org.
If you sponsor after April 18, you can still get your logo on the site and the t-shirt.
Once the posters are available, we will announce locations where you can pick them up.
When you registered for BarCampBirmingham3, you probably noticed that you could suggest topics that you wanted to hear about and topics you would be interested in talking about. The response has been great. An overwhelming majority of the people that have registered have filled out at least one of those items.
The way BarCamp works, for those who have never been, is we don’t have any sessions already planned. As you arrive, you will be given an index card to write your topic on. Once we have enough, we will start filling up the schedule grid for the morning slots. We will do the same thing after lunch in case anyone is inspired by a morning session to do a follow-up topic.
Here is a sample of what folks are interested in talking about and learning about (in no particular order):
Social Media
WordPress
Drupal
Funding Your Idea
Branding yourself online
iPhone development
PS3 Hacks
Mobile Marketing
Personal Finance Tools
CSS
Rails
Technical Debt
So keep those ideas coming and help us spread the word about BarCampBirmingham3.
This is a first for BarCampBirmingham. We will hold an after-party (dubbed PostCampBirmingham) at the new Shift Workspace in downtown Birmingham. We are still working on details, but the location is definitely locked down.
We have created an EventBrite ticket so we know how many to expect. Stay tuned for more details.
PreCampBirmingham is our traditional meetup on the eve of BarCampBirmingham. Any and all campers are invited. This is a great time to meet up with fellow BarCampers, hang out and have a great time. For those coming from out of town, it is also a good way to meet some of the local folks that will be at the main event on Saturday.
So, meet at Jim N Nicks in Southside around 8pm on Friday, May 1 to mix and mingle with your fellow BarCampers. Here is a Google Map if you are unsure where it is. We have also opened an EventBrite ticket for this to get an estimate of how many to expect.
Now that we have a location locked down for BarCampBirmingham3 and registration is open. we need your help. BarCamp is all about participation, and here is your chance to participate.
We need you to help us get the word out about BarCampBirmingham3. How can you do that? Here are a few suggestions:
Tweet about BarCampBirmingham
Post about it on your blog (especially if you are attending)
Join the Google Group and participate in BarCampBirmingham planning discussions
Email your friends and family
Email your co-workers
We had 70 technology enthusiasts from Birmingham and the surrounding area attend BarCampBirmingham2 and we want to make BarCampBirmingham3 even better.
In addition to the main BarCampBirmingham3 event, we will also have our traditional pre-camp gathering as well as a post-camp wrap party. Stay tuned for more info on both of those events.