BarCampLA Suggestions

How would you make the next BarCamp in Los Angeles better? We want to hear your suggestions! Go ahead and let us know by adding your idea to the list below and we'll consider what needs to be added.

We're also going to try to use wiki voting to gauge some of the more popular ideas. If you see a suggestion that you like, go ahead and add your name and a "+1" below the item along with any feedback you might have. The first two suggestions have been ported over from the list to get things started.

• CrapExchange - Everyone has old gadgets, electronics, phones, etc. that they don't need/want anymmore. These can be valuable for other people to use or hack. What if we have a place for people to bring this stuff so gift to others, with the caveat that if no one wants it you have to take your junk back home. - Scott Kelley
• Kids Camp on Sunday - A track specifically for kids age 8 and up. A couple of segment ideas I have bounced off people include: Pokemon Strategies, Lego Mindstorms, Build your own junk robot, Cooking for kids. - Douglas E. Welch
  • Jason Cosper +1 - Agreed! I'd really like to be able to give kids something interesting to do while they're at BarCamp.
  • Michael Lambie +1 - I was talking to a few people about this as well. I think even getting a games or console sponsor would be cool. Get/Hack a bunch of DS's. Or come up w/ some new games. even talk about hacking children's play therapy. or addressing how to teach kids
  • Scott Kelley +1
  • Chris Darbro +1
  • Miguel Hernandez +1 - I thought of this as well while in a talk on Sunday where a gentleman got perturbed for a child being there. I´d love to chip in & thought I could do a talk for kids on open-source software (Edubuntu, etc.). I get invited to give similar talks at schools so it´s not too different. I also have a buddy who works for a social networking site for gamers (I´m sure he´d loan out a few systems for such a worthy cause).
• Challenge/Talk Idea Wall - Somewhere that people can post a challenge or a product need that they are currently trying to solve. If you see a topic you'd like to hear about, put a mark on it. If you know how to solve it or just want to facilitate the discussion, pick up a post-it and put up a session. We might get some interesting topics that way. - Amanda Abelove
  • Jason Cosper +1 - Hopefully there's a courageous soul willing to step up and talk about one of the more popular suggestions, but this is a solid idea.
  • Michael Lambie +1 - Great idea amanda, or even if topics are submitted ahead of time, or on saturday, to be discussed at barcamp.
  • Mike Dorausch - Today I was thinking we had enough space to output a screen somewhere and could have done group work on design, usability, scripts, bugs, error logs, etc. Would have loved that.
  • Jane Lee - +1, that would be pretty fun!
  • Miguel Hernandez +1 - Great idea! I really like the concept Mike!
• Keynote Speaker - I really loved the Richard Stallman talk at BCLA4. And i would guess that people would be willing to speak for the good of the community. not of course necessary, but adds a little sauce. - Michael Lambie
• Panels - Maybe a little too 'Conferency' and not enough 'Unconferency' but this could be good discussion w/ hot topics. althouhg, we do have a lot of discussion aside . - Michael Lambie
• Workshops & Hands-on & Labs - stuff we've done in the past. i really enjoy that kinda stuff. could of course just be a time slot, but maybe a 2 block time spot. - Michael Lambie
  • Miguel Hernandez +1 - I thought of something similar, Michael, when Strom Carlson gave his impromptu session on How to DJ 101. I kept thinking how cool it would´ve been if we´d had time to have folks in the audience get up & try it.
• Polls for possible session topics ahead of time - Somewhere where attendees can talk about what they want to do a session on and vote (possibly comment) on others' sessions, and maybe propose a session topic they would be interested in (to find someone else willing to do a session on it). As opposed to the current system of listing potential topics on the wiki when signing up. This would solve two problems: 1. People can have an idea as to whether or not others are interested in what they have to talk about, possibly filling all the available session spots as well, and 2. if enough people participate you can get a feel as to how many people are wanting to attend, letting you solve seating issues beforehand. I didn't see this as being a big problem at the last barcamp, but still sort of a problem. Some of the sessions were positively overflowing with more people standing up (even crowded outside the door) than sitting down, maybe sessions like that could have taken place in the main hall instead with something like this? And, since I always have a major problem figuring out what to talk about and cave in and not do a session in the end.."is a session on rspec too technical? too boring?!" etc. - Jane Lee
• Somewhere centralized to upload and access all slide decks from presentations - I just assumed this was happening already. Am I missing something? I just put mine up on slideshare.net Ethan Bauley
  • Miguel Hernandez +1 - It seemed like everyone was either putting it up on their own sites or using slideshare. I like the idea of people visiting the presenters´ sites. Most of the sites I´ve seen seem to be people´s blogs, personal sites, etc. So why not have them put them up themselves? It´s a great way to get to know each other better & fosters the whole ¨community building¨ that I saw @ my 1st BarcampLA! Maybe a ¨Presenters¨ page on the BarcampLA-xx site w/links to where all the presenters put their slides up would be a Win/Win.