Going Solo

As I announced, the cancellation of Going Solo Leeds does not mean that we will be idle on September 12th. The first SoloCamp, a barcamp focused on freelancing issues, will take place at the date and location announced for Going Solo Leeds: Old Broadcasting House, September 12th.

Get your ticket and put your name on the wiki. Then tell your freelancing friends to come too! The event is free and open to all, in pure unconference style.

The programme of the day will depend on the number of people present and what they want out of the day. If we’re five or fifty, we won’t be looking at the same kind of event — it can go from animated discussion around a table during half a day to a whole day packed with presentations and workshops. For obvious reasons, we won’t be reproducing the Going Solo programme, though some speakers will be present and we will be taking inspiration from it. You make the programme!

So far, Suw Charman-Anderson, Stowe Boyd, Philip Oakley and myself have confirmed participation. Imran Ali will drop in during the morning. We’re just waiting for you! Come and join us at SoloCamp Leeds on September 12th.

When I chose Friday as the day to do Going Solo, it was with a sneaky ulterior motive: make it possible to hold a BarCamp in Lausanne right behind it. Now, for some reason, BarCamps in this part of the world tend to be one-day events (I still haven’t really figured out why — what’s wrong with the whole “camp” aspect of running off somewhere for the week-end?) — so that would bring us to Saturday, May 17th.

I’ve mentioned this idea to a few people already, and the response has been pretty good. Particularly if you’re coming from abroad, you get to maximize your geek-feed for the trip. (Not that Going Solo is particularly geeky, but you see what I mean.)

Now, here’s the issue. Much as I would like to be the driving force behind this BarCamp (it’s “my” idea, after all), I’m already spreading myself really thin simply organising Going Solo. There’s no way I can be the person who “makes sure” the BarCamp happens.

So, the questions:

• what do you think of having a BarCamp-day right after Going Solo?
• do you think you would participate in this BarCamp (speak, or simply attend)?
• would you be ready to help organise it?

(Please leave a comment, it will help evaluate how much interest there is for this — and make it visible! Whatever you say in the comments is non-binding, so fear not…)

Obviously, we need some local people amongst the organisers, if only to deal with issues like the venue. I don’t know how available EPFL would be (with Balelec the night before), but I have another idea or two up my sleeve if that doesn’t work out.

So: is there interest for this? how shall we make it happen?

For those of you who do not know what a BarCamp is, it’s an unconference. That means that it’s a rather informal gathering of people in one place with wifi and conference/session rooms. At the beginning of the day, the people who want to present something, hold a session, make a demo take a spot for it in the programme grid (first come, first served). So there is no predetermined programme — it’s very much a peer-to-peer atmosphere.

The organisation happens in a similar way: obviously, a venue needs to be found, the date has to be set (done), and somebody has to keep an eye on the wiki page that people use to sign up and announce sessions. All the rest is optional: a Barcamp can be very bare-bones, or it can include a party, sponsors, T-shirts, whatever.