What is Barcamp?

What is Bar­Camp Cedar Val­ley, you ask? Oh, it’s just a con­fer­ence, wrapped in a forum, wrapped in a net­work­ing event, wrapped in chocolate.*

In other words, it’s a get together for cre­atives, entre­pre­neurs, devel­op­ers and oth­ers in the Cedar Val­ley where pleas­antries, busi­ness cards and, most impor­tantly, knowl­edge will be exchanged.

Any­one can talk about any­thing, but no one is required to speak. You can just come and observe if that’s what fits your fancy. There’s no strict sched­ule, and you don’t even have to decide whether you want to speak until the day of the event. Not sure what you might talk about? Visit our Ses­sion Ideas page.

Learn about the his­tory of Bar­Camp from the always-reliable Wikipedia. (Yes, we just used Wikipedia as a source. You would have Googled it anyway.)

*Choco­late is metaphor­i­cal. Sorry. You’re wel­come to bring some, though.

FAQ

If you have a ques­tion that’s not listed below, just shoot us an email: info@barcampcv.com.

When and where is the event?

Did you even read our home page, silly? It’s Oct. 5–6.  There’s a pre-party on Fri­day night from 7–9 p.m. at Octo­pus Col­lege Hill (Reg­is­ter here). Saturday’s event is at the Inno­va­tion Incu­ba­tor on UNI’s cam­pus.   Doors open at 9 a.m.  The full agenda is on the home page.

Will there be adult bev­er­ages?

What kind of ques­tion is that? Of course there will. (On Fri­day evening, that is.)

How much does it cost?

Seri­ously? Did you not read the home page? The cost is $5.  Thanks to our awe­some spon­sors, that gets you a t-shirt (lim­ited sup­ply), cof­fee, mid-morning snack, and lunch.

What can I talk about?

This is our favorite part…you can talk about any­thing! Any­thing you’re pas­sion­ate about, any­thing you want to share with oth­ers, any­thing you have bounc­ing around your brain. Visit our Ses­sion Ideas page for, well, ses­sion ideas.

How long are the sessions?

Each ses­sion is 20 min­utes. Speak­ers can fill the time how­ever they’d like. Half pre­sen­ta­tion, half dis­cus­sion; 100 per­cent dis­cus­sion; three-fourths pre­sen­ta­tion, one-fourth discussion—you get the pic­ture. Bar­Camp is sup­posed to encour­age par­tic­i­pa­tion and engage­ment, so we encour­age you to encour­age atten­dees to get involved.

This event sounds so awe­some that I want to reg­is­ter now.

That’s not really a ques­tion, but thanks any­way. You can reg­is­ter here.

How can I keep up with Bar­Camp Cedar Val­ley news?

We know you like us IRL, so like us on Face­book. And fol­low us on Twit­ter.

Shouldn’t you men­tion your spon­sors here?

Thanks for the reminder! We’d like to use this space to thank our awe­some sponsors—without which this event would not be possible:

Could I spon­sor the event?

Well, we’re flat­tered! Of course you can. Just email info@barcampcv.com and we’ll take care of it.

Ses­sions

Bar­Camp has no set agenda until atten­dees arrive the morn­ing of the event.  We’ll have a board where you can sign up for a 20-minute time slot to present your topic.  Still not so sure?  Lots of peo­ple don’t decide on a topic until arriv­ing that day.  Need a lit­tle inspi­ra­tion?  Check out the ideas below:

• Dis­cuss a book you recently read and the impact it had on you
• Lead/start a group dis­cus­sion on inspir­ing or influ­en­tial books
• Talk about a new tech­nol­ogy you are using
• Dis­cuss a new cre­ative tech­nique or tool
• Share the source of your inspi­ra­tion and/or how you gen­er­ate new ideas

The pos­si­bil­i­ties really are end­less.  Need some more ideas?  Check out some topic sug­ges­tions from Bar­Camp Mobile or Bar­Camp Mem­phis.

One final note.  There’s one thing a ses­sion should def­i­nitely not be:  a sales pitch.  But you knew that already, right?

Our Spon­sors

We wouldn’t have a Bar­Camp with­out our spon­sors. Please con­sider their patron­age when­ever you need prod­ucts or ser­vices that they pro­vide. Thanks!

Please email us if you’re inter­ested in sponsoring.