BarCamp Apache Sydney 2010

11 December, University of Sydney, Sydney

The University of Sydney, Alfresco and The Apache Software Foundation have come together to run a BarCamp in Sydney in December. The fun will start on the evening of December 10th with a geeky meal followed by pub, the real action commences at 10am on Sunday the 11th (add your name to the list of attendees).

ATTENDEES: follow the tag #barcampsydney to join in), and join the Google Group. That way we can all keep each other informed, about resources, planning, requests for  help/crash space etc.

Details

Venue and overview

(See the bottom of this page for a map showing walking routes to the venue)

The venue is ???. It's booked for the Saturday, but we will kick off on Friday evening with a meal somewhere in Sydney. The unconference will happen during Saturday daytime.  For those planning to turn up on Friday night, there are plenty of other cheap options for overnight accommodation in Sydney (including couch surfing for free, see below).

A map showing the centre of Sydney, with walking routes to the venue from the rail and main bus stations, the hotels suggested in the "accommodation" section, and from the Park & Ride bus stops.

Friday Evening

For anyone arriving early, we'll be meeting at ??? in ??? for a meal from 7.30pm, and then heading to one of the many nice, nearby pubs afterwards. Do come along!

Meals on Saturday

Food will be provided on Saturday, thanks to generous sponsorship from The University of Sydney. More details to follow.

Themes

BarCamps are ultimately themed by the attendees: what you want to present, the BarCamp will host.

We'd love for this event to allow academic/hacker types to meet up with the vibrant and highly active geek community in Sydney, New South Wales and beyond. Our intention is to make geek connections between projects in the academic, open source and business sectors.

BarCamps are supposed to be fun, informative and useful. Whilst we do not intend to limit the kinds of topics you can discuss we are deliberately marketing the event to people with interests in one or more of the following:

• Open development techniques and practices
• Web 2.0 style data mashups
• Use of and engagement with The Apache Software Foundations projects

Schedule

It's up to you. Here's the suggested framework. We will fill in the details at the start of play.

• 09:00 set-up/get-in
• 09:30 registration (say hello, make name badge, get swag/loot etc)
• 10:00: After a brief introductory talk, the schedule will be decided by us all at the start of the event. How it works is that we scribble down topics we're interested in and hold them up. If others are interested we then pick a slot on the programme (single or double). It's all very flexible and as topics emerge there is often splitting and lumping and reorganizing. If a session is really going strong at the end of its slot then folks simply decamp and carry on elsewhere, having free'd the room for the next slot. The schedule is expected to morph during the day
• 10:30 First session begins
• 12:30 - 13:30 Lunch
• 13:30 Sessions resume!
• 14:00 Downstairs bar opens. Upstairs will remain available for sessions.
• 16:30 Closing session
• 16:45 clean up and off to pub

Here is an example of the schedule from an earlier Apache BarCamp. This years will become available on Flickr tagged #barcampsydney if someone takes photos!

Scheduling will occur on the Saturday morning, driven by those in attendance!

Barcamps need you!

Although we have sponsorship, a venue and a date, unconferences consist of you, the attendee! We need:

• People!
• More sponsorship: food, schwag etc.
• Network bits and pieces, projectors, stationery
• Offers of basic help, setting stuff up
• Offers of crash space for out-of-town visitors, on Friday and maybe Saturday 

Attendance at the BarCamp is Free, but normal BarCamp rules will apply, most importantly all attendees will be expected to participate in an active way. Ways to contribute include:

• present (informally or formally) about your favourite project
• hack together a mashup with other attendees systems
• play devils advocate in a lively debate
• have a drink with someone you have never met before

Help publicise the event

You could help by telling people about the event, or by designing and putting up a poster.

What to bring

• Laptop
• All the chargers/cables you'll need
• A plugboard to make sure we have enough sockets
• If you're using a Mac for a presentation, VGA adapters
• Spare battery (if you have one)
• Camera
• Sleeping materials - sleeping bag, pillow and toiletries (if you are using our crash spaces - see below)
• An idea for a session, presentation or talk
• A smile
• ...?

Crash space

Geeks from out of town will be in need of crash space on Friday 10th. Please put your name down if you can offer someone a piece of floor. Anyone without crash space sorted should let it be known at the meal on Friday, and we can pair people up then.

Attendees

Attendee numbers are limited owing to funding for things like catering. Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors we have managed to increase the maximum attendance from 75, so we're please to report that everyone who has registered below will have a space.

Also mention what you can bring to the party. Everyone at a barcamp will speak or contribute somehow, but if you can offer extra bits and bobs then that'd be great.

Finally, if you don't want to get a pbwiki account, then just email us and we'll put you on it.

Noirin Plunkett (Google / ASF)

Catering

We'll be providing snacks and drinks throughout the day. Lunch will be provided with plenty of vegetarian options, let us know via the google group (see above) if you have any special requirements.

There is a bar in the venue and we've asked for it to be opened at 3pm. I'm sure there will be a bunch of us heading off for food and more beer in the evening, so  all your needs should be catered for.

On the Friday evening before, we're going to ???? for a meal from 7.30pm, followed by drinks in a nearby pub. The restaurant is a short walk from ???, ??? and the centre of town.

Accomodation

These are some suggestions for accommodation in Sydney. 

1.  ????:  reportedly reasonable.  Around a 20-minute walk from the venue, or a 5-minute bus ride plus a 10-minute walk.  Around $90 per room per night. 

If you would like more advice, please contact any of the organisers, as below.

Travel

From airports:

Heathrow and Gatwick:  There is a good bus service direct to Oxford's central Gloucester Green station; see here 

Stansted:  There are indirect services run by National Express, through London or Heathrow Airport; see here 

Birmingham:  There is a frequent rail service from Birmingham International Airport to Oxford Rail Station; see here

For details of travel from other airports, please contact the airport for information.

Travel by rail:

Trains to Oxford all arrive at Oxford Rail Station.  For details of trains, please see here

Travel by inter-city bus:

Buses to Oxford generally stop near the centre of the city, often at the Gloucester Green bus station.  Some services also stop slightly further from the centre, in Oxpens Road.

By car:

On-street parking is difficult to find in Oxford, and is limited to 1 or 2-hours.  Some details can be found here.  

There are also some car parks where a car can be left all day for a fee (see the above link).  The most convenient locations for the venue are at Gloucester Green and Worcester Street. 

There are also park-and-ride services, but please be warned that these stop in early evening on Sunday.  See here.

Getting to the venue:

Taxis are available at both the rail station and Gloucester Green bus station.  By foot, the venue is around 10 minutes from the centre of the city, 15 minutes from Gloucester Green bus station, and around 25 from the rail station.  Please see the map in the next section. 

Buses from the rail station to the city centre are available, and cut the walk to around 10 minutes.  Services include the S3, which runs from the station to George Street during the day; see here.

Map of Sydney

A map showing the centre of Sydney, with walking routes to the venue from the rail and main bus stations, the hotels suggested in the "accommodation" section, and from the Park & Ride bus stops.

Core Organisers

If you've any queries, contact one of these people.