BarCamp - How to Run Your Own

BarCamp and other derivative events are a fun and rewarding experience for everyone involved. Since you're reading this, you're probably thinking about setting up your own or helping out on one which is going ahead in the near future.

This guide is meant as a introduction to the BarCamp phenomenon and bring together tips, tricks and clever use of social engineering to make the event take place and be the best it could.

Why the need for this wikibook at all? Well BarCamp.org is a great place, but it's frankly too alive and good information is scattered across the site and buried underneath the next lot of BarCamps. There was also nowhere to collaboratively come to a decision about the best way to do certain things or what things should be avoided based on the experience of other BarCamps around the world.

The format is punchy one liners of advice opposed to long length discussions (which are best served on the discussion/talk pages).

Contents

Noted contributors

BarCamp Legacy

  1.   History of the Unconference
  2.   The first BarCamp
  3.   The rules of BarCamp
  4.   BarCamp Code Of Conduct
  5.   BarCamp publicity
  6.   BarCamp or not

How to run your own

  1.   Planning
  2.   Venues
  3.   Creating a team
  4.   Developing your BarCamp
  5.   Schedule and the wall
  6.   Telling people about it
  7.   Networking and web access
  8.   Sponsorship
  9.   Hosting
  10.   Food + Drink
  11.   Welcome talk
  12.   Dealing with late changes
  13.   Organizing an International Barcamp

Successful BarCamps

  1.   Special surprises
  2.   Notables
  3.   BarCamp Records