[GRLUG] BarCamp Grand Rapids 2013 Announcement

[Ben Rousch]

Geeks, Makers, and programmers lend me your Inboxes! The eighth annual
BarCamp Grand Rapids will be on Friday, August 23 and Saturday, August
24, 2013 at Calvin College’s DeVos Communications Center.

To register for free, visit: http://barcampgr.org/register/


New to BarCampGR or want more information? Read on.

What is BarCampGR?

BarCamp is about meeting interesting people, talking about what you
want to talk about, and listening to what you're interested in.
Subjects of discussion have ranged from web programming and digital
photography to computer vision and turkey basting. (No, there wasn't a
talk on having a computer visually monitor your turkey, but if you've
tried it, you're welcome to report on your experiences!)  You see, the
talks are not set beforehand, it's you, the attendees, who give
BarCampGR direction and content.

What's the format?

Presentations are 25 minutes long, with five minutes in between.
You're welcome to sit in on a presentation or hang around in the
lounge and talk; it's all the same with us. If you run a presentation,
we don't care how you run it - so long as you don't get us in trouble!
Give a monologue, a Q&A or a round table; it's your topic, your
presentation, your audience. If people didn't want to spend 25 minutes
on your topic, they wouldn't be there.

Don't know what to talk about?

Certainly you have some relatively unique experiences. What do you do
for a hobby? What's something you managed to fix that you're proud of?
It doesn't matter if the height of your accomplishment is changing
your car's oil or if you've war-driven half of the Grand Rapids area;
if people are interested, they will show up at your talk. If they
aren’t, they will probably attend one of the other talks during that
time.

But I'm not an expert!

Sure you are! If you know the first thing about a subject, you know
more than people who don't. And, yes, people who know more than you
will probably attend your presentation. Interact with them; you both
have something to learn from each other. Chances are, if you're both
really interested in a subject, you'll find yourselves looking for
each other in the lounge, later.

But perhaps you're...

Shy?

That's fine. Come on in, take a look around and get a feel for things.
It's a two-day event; come by on Friday, sit in on the presentations
which interest you or hang around in the lounge and network with other
people. Perhaps you'll be inspired to talk about something later, or
on Saturday. You never really know.

If you'd like to be able to listen, but don't know if you'll have
anything to say, you can still...

Help Out

On the days of the event itself, we typically need greeters, people to
babysit the facility overnight (some folks stay overnight), people to
respond to technical issues such as "why won't the projector work with
my laptop" and "could someone turn down the lights so we could see the
screen?"

We also have a subreddit again this year, r/BarCampGR. Use it to ask
for certain subjects to be covered. Use it to offer subjects that you
can talk about. During the event, use it to have almost-live
discussions about things with people who aren't immediately present.
After the event, use it to post supplemental materials and ask
followup questions. We have a lot of other ways you can keep up to
date on BarCampGR news and updates via the following social media
outlets:

   * Website: http://barcampgr.org
   * Campers Email List:
http://lists.barcampgr.org/listinfo.cgi/campers-barcampgr.org
   * Twitter: @barcampgr
   * Subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/BarCampGR/
   * Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/BarCampGR/112347402141619
   * Google+: https://plus.google.com/b/116952079842867940611/
   * IRC: #barcampgr on Freenode
   * LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/479534?trk=tyah

Also, if you'd like to help us organize BarCampGR, then sign up for
the BarCampGR Organizers' Email Group and jump right into the
conversation at
http://lists.barcampgr.org/listinfo.cgi/organizers-barcampgr.org


REGISTRATION
   http://barcampgr.org/register/


LOCATION
   DeVos Communications Center at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI


SCHEDULE

Friday, August 23, 2013
   5:00-6:00 PM - Check-in and setup
   6:00-7:00 PM - Dinner
   7:00 PM - Kick things off with opening session
   7:30-9:30 PM - Sessions every 1/2 hour
   9:30 PM - After party

Overnight
   10:00 PM-whenever the next morning - Camping, all-night hacking, etc.
   Midnight BBQ
   There will be plenty of room to crash on Friday night, so bring a
sleeping bag. Better yet, bring a tent for the geek base camp.

Saturday, August 24, 2013
   9:00-10:00 AM - Continental Breakfast
   10:00 AM-12:00 PM - Sessions every 1/2 hour
   12:00-1:00 PM - Lunch
   1:00-2:00 PM - 5 minute Lightning Talks
   2:00-4:00 PM - Sessions every 1/2 hour
   4:00-4:30 PM - Closing session
   4:30-5:30 PM - Cleanup


* Note, despite the 'bar' in BarCampGR, the event doesn't take place
in a bar, only the (optional) Friday after-party does.