Hey Everyone! 6 weeks left until Barcamp and I can't wait! I'd like to give everyone who's signed up so far an update on what's happening. ============SUMMARY ============================== Read the summary below if you are too busy to read the entire newsletter ================================================== > Please click on the link in your "Thanks for Registering" email to confirm attendance (or reply to this email if you've lost it.) > Please blog about Barcamp - we have 33 registrations right now and that's > awesome but I need help getting the word out (read on to find out about our ABC promotional plan.) > Please consider sponsoring Barcamp (or let me know if you know of anyone who'd want to), any amount helps (even as little as $200) however if you want to have your logo on the event shirt then read on. > Read on to find out about the times and schedules. Basically we start at 9 AM. > Consider preparing a presentation or "session" - read on to find out more. ================================================= 1. ATTENDANCE 1.1 Current Numbers 1.2 Promotion 1.3 Confirm your attendance 2. SPONSORS 2.1 Current Sponsors 2.2 Getting more sponsorship 3. ON THE DAY 3.1 Times and Schedule 3.2 Think about preparing a presentation 4. STAY UPDATED 4.1 Get micro-updates with Twitter ====================== ---- 1. ATTENDANCE --- ====================== 1.1 Current Numbers ``````````````````` So far we have 33 people signed up to attend Barcamp Auckland. So many registrations this long before the event is great! I would like to thank those who volunteered to setup and cleanup since it makes my life a lot easier :) 1.2 Promotion ````````````` Things are going great right now and we have a steady flow of signups however there's a lot more than 33 people in Auckland (and maybe even in Hamilton, Tauranga, Northland or even Wellington or Christchurch) who'd want to attend the Barcamp, however I'm only one person and my reach is only so far. I'd like to thank Mauricio Freitas for his blog post (http://www.geekzone.co.nz/freitasm/3979) as this led to a noticeable spike in registrations. There's also been steady traffic from http://www.forthemasses.net/ and I thank them for that. Would you all please help me with promotion by following the simple ABC plan of attack. A - Ask your friends and colleagues if they'd be interested B - Blog about the event C - Communicate in other ways (Yea ok, couldn't think of a C but by this I mean twitter it, facebook it, set it as your IM status message etc) Following the ABC plan of attack I'm sure we'll be able to tell a lot more people about Barcamp - which means that we can all enjoy the day even more. Barcamp is all about networking and sharing knowledge and ideas therefore; more people = more networking + more knowledge + more ideas. If you have blogged about Barcamp Auckland then please tell me and I'll link to your post on the BCA website. 1.3 Confirm your attendance. ```````````````````````````` In order for us to get the right numbers for food (and especially the t-shirts) we need you to confirm your attendance. You can do this by clicking in the "BarcampAuckland Registration" email or by replying to this message saying you'd like to confirm. We need confirmation at least two weeks before the event but don't worry you'll be getting another email on the Thursday two weeks before the event (on the 29th November) with some final details and this will also contain your confirmation link in case you still hadn't confirmed by then. Of course if you are sure that you'll be attending and you'd like to confirm today then you can do so. ==================== ---- 2. SPONSORS --- ==================== 2.1 Current Sponsors ```````````````````` We have got two official sponsors, Microsoft NZ, who's given a cash donation (which will probably be going toward the t-shirts) and Botany Downs Secondary College who'll be sponsoring the venue and the Wifi. A big thanks to all our sponsors. There's another sponsor who has said they will sponsor the food (however this is yet to be confirmed in writing.) 2.2 Getting more sponsorship ```````````````````````````` Since you guys aren't paying anything to attend the event we need people or companies to sponsor money which we can use to pay for your food, t-shirts and any other expenses. Would you all please think about whether you or your firm (or whether you know of someone who) would be able to sponsor the event. Sponsoring Barcamp doesn't mean thousands of dollars. If your firm could donate $100, $200, even $300 then we'd be able to put your logos up at the event (and on the website) and you get to feel all warm and fuzzy inside for doing a really good thing. However, if you think you can afford more and would like your logo on the back of the t-shirt (Awesome!) then you'd need to donate $500 or more. We really appreciate and thank all our sponsors (whether their donations gets them on the back of the t-shirt or not) because without them we'd be sitting outside, under a tree, feeling very hungry, without a shirt on our back (or a Barcamp one atleast.) So thank you all! ======================== ---- 3. ON THE DAY ----- ======================== 3.1 Times and Schedules ``````````````````````` This is the suggested schedule and may change before the event. If you are unable to make arrive at 9AM then please contact me so that we know who is arriving when. 09:00 Please be at BDSC by 9:00 AM (If you volunteered to set up please be atleast half an hour early, preferably an hour) > Getting your t-shirt and name badge. > Welcoming and introduction. > Filling in session slots. 10:00 SESSION SLOT 1* 10:45 MORNING TEA 11:00 SESSION SLOT 2* 11:45 Social Networking Break 12:15 SESSION SLOT 3* 13:00 LUNCH 14:00 SESSION SLOT 4* 14:45 Social Networking Break 15:00 SESSION SLOT 5* 15:45 Social Networking Break 16:15 SESSION SLOT 6* 17:00 Final Roundup > Prizes (If we have money left over - unfortunately not with the amount of sponsors we have now) > Saying thanks to everyone who helped. > "Where from here?" 17:30 First Barcamp is over, and hopefuly by 5.30PM you'd be able to go home (unless you volunteered to cleanup, thanks guys!) *There may be more than one session on during this timeslot as there will be different tracks (up to 5, depending on numbers.) It's recommended for sessions to last about 45 minutes however if it's really interesting then you can go into the 15 minutes networking time between sessions, however the session must be done before the next session slot if the room is booked. 3.2 Think about preparing a presentation. ````````````````````````````````````````` I've gotten a couple of emails now where people ask about presenting. The number one rule of Barcamp is that if it's your first time at Barcamp then you must present. This is to encourage participation. Now since this will probably be almost EVERYONE's first Barcamp we won't be enforcing this rule however we still encourage everyone to consider it and if they think they can, to give it a go. Unlike conferences, at Barcamp the attendees are the presenters so without anyone presenting we're going to have a very dull day. Don't be scared! Barcamps are friendly social gatherings where you will just be sharing your ideas with like-minded people. We won't be judging your presentation style or speaking capability and this won't be an extended speech or an hour long Powerpoint presentation (like what you'd expect from conferences.) Barcamps are un-conferences so we have "sessions" which start with one person presenting their ideas (often including audience participation) and followed by discussion. We just need you to come up with the ideas, give your opinion about it and then open the floor for discussion. On the day you just need to write your name into one of the open session slots to be able to get onto the schedule. It's that simple! ========================== ---- 4. STAY UPDATED ----- ========================== 4.1 Get micro-updates with Twitter `````````````````````````````````` There's a twitter account (http://twitter.com/barcampauckland). If you have twitter then please follow us to get all the micro- updates and if you don't but you do the RSS thing then you can subscribe to the RSS feed (http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/8946292.rss). If you don't have twitter then please consider getting an account since I'm going to try and integrate it into the event with a Plasma screen (a la SXSW.) ================================================================ You've received this email because you have registered for Barcamp Auckland (http://bca.ludwignz.com) - if you do not wish to receive anymore emails then you need to deregister yourself from attending Barcamp by replying to this message requesting to do so - but you wouldn't want that since you want to attend BCA :)