Phases:

1. organizers show up

 

2. participants show up

 

3. introductions

3. session wall organization

4. sessions begin

 

5. feedings

 

6. endings / closings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day of BarCamp

 

The purpose of this essay is to explain the experience of being in BarCamp at the level of a day in the conference. We've broken the day into a number of phases:

 

- Organizer Setup

- Arrival of Participants

- Participant Introductions

- Organization of the Session Wall

- Sessions

- Feedings

- Closing the Event

 

For each of these phases, we'll explore the decision points made by conference organizers in that phase based on our experience. We're trying to keep a concrete and practical focus, because little details like session wall paper sizes can affect the usability of the event for many participants.

 

 

Phase 1: Organizer Setup

 

Organizers should show up about 2 hours before the opening of the conference. If possible, some setup the night before can reduce your workload on the day of the conference. Since there are usually many little jobs, it's good to call on a large number of participants to show up early and help, whether by taping up brown paper, moving tables, driving around town to buy last-minute supplies, and so forth.

 

The main setup tasks are:

- registration desk

- schedule wall

- wifi

- signs

- staffing assignments

- testing A/V equipment

- handouts

- sponsor support.

 

The registration desk is the first touch point for participants. It should be staffed with friendly people throughout the conference, and should welcome both new arrivals and current participants who have problems or questions. It can make a good nerve center for conference support staff, and having 3 to 5 people there at all times makes it easy to dispatch someone to fix a projector, fetch an extension cord, or find that hidden light switch.

 

The main function of the registration desk is to give badges (and sometimes shirts) to participants. Badges don't need to be fancy, as long as they make it easy for people to show their name. Some badges have a space for listing your interests, motivated by the worthwhile goal of helping participants find others with shared interests. Unfortunately, you can't skim all the interests of everyone in a crowded room, and there are other processes (detailed in Phase 3, Introductions) that can do a better job than badges.

 

Both lanyard and sticky-label badges work fine, but if you use sticky labels you should expect to provide replacements each day (and perhaps more often). If you make pre-printed badges, also bring many blanks and permanent markers. You'll need this for two reasons: people who show up without having registered (unless you're a registration cutthroat) and people who forget their badge on the second day. In both cases, make sure that participant names are printed or written as legibly as possible, using a large bold font or thick permanent markers.

 

[Schedule Wall.] The schedule wall is a critical part of BarCamp and must be well organized and explained. The gamut of choices in desigining the session wall are explored in Phase 3, Session Wall Organization, but in the initial setup you'll want to dedicate two or three people for about an hour to setting up the wall.

 

[Signs.] Don't let participants get lost. Find out well before the conference what your venue's requirements/rules are for signange, parking, unlocked entrances, etc. Ensure that any entraces to you venue display a large sign with the event's name and an arrow directing participants. If you have special parking rules, direct people arriving by car using signs clearly visible from the street. Put yourself in the place of people heading toward the event by foot, bicycle, car, bus, and train, and guide them through the trip both on your website and in the physical space.

 

[Wifi and A/V equipment.] In testing the conference equipment, you cannot possibly test too early or too often. Unless you are very confident that the venue consistenly supplies reliable wifi, you should test it the week before your camp. You should also secure the contact information of a venue IT staffer who can respond in case of catastrophic failure.

 

If possible, test all projector and audio equipment the morning of the event. Have spare projectors on carts available in case one fails. And have a wireless mic/speaker system available for introductions and as backup.

 

[Handouts.] At the registration desk, have several hundred copies of a conference guide, including a map of the venue and some explanation of the rules of your camp. The map should show the layout of rooms, the seating capacity of each room, and the A/V functions available. Ensure that the rooms all have clear identifiers, whether room numbers or names, and that the rooms themselves are clearly identified. This can also work for hallway discussion nooks, although "nook outside room 32" can work just as well.

 

The handouts are also a good place to include sponsor names and logos, and to advertise social events surrounding the conference.

 

[Sponsor Support.] Your obligations to sponsors will vary widely depending on what you've promised. If you have a sponsor wall, make sure you print and bring sponsor logos. Having access to a printer on-site can be helpful if you have last-minute sponsors or if a printout is damaged. If your sponsorships are tied to specific offerings, e.g. a meal sponsor, place the sponsor logo materials and instructions with the meal materials.

 

 

Phase 2: Participants Show Up

 

You can schedule a time before things formally start when participants can arrive, mingle, etc. If you can serve coffee and breakfast foods, that's great. If you're concerned with running the event on time, this can be a sort of useful scheduling buffer to ensure that everyone is there for the start time.

 

Example announcement for an event you want to start at 10: "Coffee and snacks will be available from 9:00 to 10:00 am. Please show up by 9:30 to register, so we can start promptly at 10:00."

 

• Tip: If there's setup work going on as participants show up, you can make announcements inviting people to volunteer to help. This sends the message, early on, that everyone is part of the event, everyone is expected to help out. Giving newcomers an opportunity to help with setup quickly helps them feel that they are part of the event.

 

Registration: (NEED TO ADD MORE HERE)

 

 

 

Phase 3: Introductions

 

 

You might want to take some time as the beginning of the event to introduce people, both to each other and to the event.

 

• Introducing people.

With a smaller group, you can go around and have people introduce themselves saying briefly who they are, why they are there, what they're interested in, what they hope to get out of the day.

 

It can be great to arrange chairs in a big circle. This allows everyone to see pretty much everyone else who's at the event. It also sends a nice message about the event being collaborative, non-hierearchical, etc.

 

• Introducing the event.

You may want to take some time, too, to explain to people how the event will work, what's expected of people. Some key points to make are:

- Explain that the event is self-organized, that it belongs to everyone who is there.

- Encourage people to take ownership. Don't be shy. Don't assume there is someone else who is in charge. If you see a problem, fix it. If there's a topic you think should be discussed, and it's not on the grid, it's because you didn't put it there.

- Explain logistics, law of two feet.

 

• Introducing Sessions:

 

You may want to have people get up and announce the sessions they want to present. This can be done within the opening circle. This has a couple of advantages: It gives everyone an opportunity to "meet" the people giving the session, which increases the social connectedness of the event. Participants can sometimes get more information from the presenters spoken description than from a written posting. It also can server to raise the stakes: The process of standing up and announcing your topic publicly can create a bit of extra accountability. If done right, the drama of this process can be exciting, and help get people excited to attend and to present sessions.

 

 

 

Phase 3: Session Wall Organization

 

TODO

 

 

Phase 4: Sessions Begin

 

TODO

 

 

Phase 5: Lunch

 

Lunch is a really important part of an event like this.

 

If at all possible, it's really great to be able to serve people lunch on site. This gives them a chance to mingle with each other informally. The alternative, to send people into the neighbourhood to fend for themselves, can dissipate the energy of the event.

 

Ideally, the lunch should be something that can be served pretty quickly to everyone who's there. It's great if you can have options for vegetarians, people w. special dietary needs.

 

 

 

Phase 6: Dinner and Evening Activities

 

(More needed here?)

 

You may want to serve dinner after the event, or schedule some sort of social event, party, etc.

 

Even if you can't do that, it can be good to schedule a place to go, however informally. This can be especially useful at events where a lot of people are from out of town.

 

 

 

Phase 7: Endings/Closing

 

 

 

If you like, you can schedule a whole group closing circle for the end of the day. A half hour or so can be a good length for this. A simple thing to do is to pass a microphone around and encourage people to make short comments: How they felt about the day, something they've learned, next steps they'd like to pursue.

 

If you do this, you might want to consider taking steps to ensure that it happens more or less on schedule, to ensure that everyone who wants to be at the closing session can be there, regardless of schedule conflicts.

 

• Tip: If you haven't done this sort of event before, you should expect that some people will leave during the course of the day. Don't be sad.