OpenSocial Dev Garage Dallas

=== UPDATE ===

We've got a page on the opensocial.org wiki. This page is the canonical reference for all things OpenSocial Dev Garage Dallas (except the signups, which are still on Upcoming)

If you're developing Facebook apps, it's inevitable that you'll eventually also be developing for the "everybody but Facebook" OpenSocial API. Over the past couple of months, the API has stabilized substantially, and it's probably about time to check it out.

OpenSocial Dev Garage Dallas is your chance to write your first "Hello Friends" application in a supportive group environment. If you're more into writing containers than the gadgets that populate them, we're also planning to have a breakout session on implementing the API so your application can be an OpenSocial gadget host.

The event is planned for Sat, January 17th at the amazing new Cohabitat coworking space in Dallas's historic State-Thomas neighborhood. In the interest of keeping things focused we're capping attendance at 25 people:

http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1460416/

If there's enough demand, we may be able to open up some more space, but I'd recommend signing up now if you want to guarantee a spot!

See you there!

Bar Camp Austin III : The (Practical) Semantic Web

Whether you buy into the big-V Vision or not, the big-S Semantic Web folks have built a ton of cool technology. Join Taylor Cowan, Dan Connolly and me at BarCampAustinIII and find out how you can put that technology to work, today.

Want more details? Check out this interview by Lynn Bender at geek austin.

Bar Camp Dallas 4

BarCampDallas4 is tomorrow. I didn't help out this time, but I plan to be there talking about using Amazon EC2 for load testing when you just don't have the bandwidth and CPU to do it in-house. Or maybe something different, it depends on the audience. You can just sort of show up, but be kind and register at:

http://barcamp.org/BarCampDallas4

See you there!

MobileDevCamp Geek Lunch : Portable, Distributed and Parasitic Social Networks

Based on some interest at MobileDevCamp a few of us decided to get together for a geek lunch. You know those unofficial birds-of-a-feather lunches at SXSWi? Yeah, like that. Although it depends on who exactly shows up, the topic will probably involve some practical aspects of building a web service that depends in some way on a social network. Is it better to try to import Facebook (or GMail or whatever) contacts, or chuck your private implementation and just use the Facebook API? How about distributed social networks implemented via OpenID and FOAF/XFN? Too early to depend on for anything except an experiment?

The facebook event page has the details, but right now it looks like this coming Thursday starting around 11:30 at an as-yet-undetermined venue somewhere north of Uptown and south of Addison. In Dallas. Texas. The assumption is that if you're serious about this sort of thing you've probably got a Facebook account. It's probably going to be a small-to-medium-sized group, but anyone actively working in the space is welcome. An RSVP is appreciated since we may need to reserve space.

MobileDevCamp Dallas

MobileDevCamp comes to Dallas next Saturday, August 25th. The idea is that you show up in the morning with either the burning desire to create a mobile application, or mad development/design skilz you want to share. You leave in the evening having contributed to getting a real, live mobile application up and running. Check it out and sign up at:

http://barcamp.org/MobileDevCamp

The event is being run by developers and designers, for developers and designers and there's no admission charge. Newbies and old hands are encouraged to show up and work on everything from iPhone targeted HTML sites to Symbian and Windows Mobile. Whatever you want, as long as it runs on something you can carry around in your pocket.

The technology knowledge will be first rate, but I expect the most important result will be getting to know the best, most passionate developers and designers in Texas. Chris says check it out

Demo Camp Dallas 2 : Geek Show and Tell

Remember how much fun grade-school show and tell was? Recapture those thrilling days of yesteryear with a visit to Demo Camp Dallas 2, Geek Show and Tell:

http://barcamp.org/DemoCampDallas2

It's at Viewzi World Headquarters in Deep Ellum on Monday, April 23rd at 6:30 PM. Complete details and a signup sheet on the Wiki page linked above.

For those not familiar: Five people get fifteen minutes apiece to demonstrate their technology-related project. Ten minutes to demo, five minutes for audience feedback. The project can be software (web services are popular), art (as long as it's technology-related somehow) or anything else you can drag up to the front of the room. NO POWERPOINT presentations, the focus has to be the thing itself[1] The pace is very fast, we aim for about 30 seconds downtime between demos, so demoistas are requested to show up 30 minutes in advance for a quick setup/runthrough.

[1] As opposed to the thing-in-itself, which would be tough to demo.

Demo Camp Dallas 1 : Geek Bread and Circus

Well, just leaned another friend is thinking of moving to Portland. The exodus from Dallas must be stopped, the restive geeks need their bread and circus:

http://barcamp.org/DemoCampDallas1

Also, I need a deadline to get me motivated. We need people to help organize, demo, and just show up. It's looking like Feb 15th out in Southlake at Sabre labs. Probably a fairly small group this go-round (targeting 30), but some interesting people should be there.

Thanks to Kevin Marvin and the group of geeks he got together at the Bar Belmont for inspiring this madness. And sorry, Giovanni, for turning my email to you into a blog posting, I swear it wasn't a form letter.

tags:democamp,democampdallas,democampdallas1,dallas,barcampdallas

HalfBaked.com - Entrepreneurial Improv

I stole the idea for my Bar Camp Dallas 3 session. It was a good decision. Amit Gupta and, indirectly, Dave McClure, James Levine and Paul Rademacher are excellent people to steal from.

Here's the idea: Get a group of geeks in a room. Have them yell out thirty or forty random words. Divide everyone up into teams of five. Each team picks two of the words and adds ".com" to form a company name. Give each team fifteen minutes to come up with a business plan, and five minutes to present to a panel of judges. Hilarity ensues.

For this go-round, the judges were Jim Young of Jambo and Giovanni Gallucci of AgencyBlog. The teams were LatexRobot.com (don't ask), g.littr.com (dumpster diving social network), UpTownish.com (high end dating for Dallas posers) and ToothBling.com (electronics for the mouth). The unanimous winner was g.littr.com, the strangely compelling and unsettlingly probably tool for those who live by the dumpster.

The key to running one of these things seems to be an absolutely ruthless approach to timing. Keep the pressure up, move things along, and you can get through four teams in an hour session with time to spare.

It's a total blast to watch a group of relative strangers gel into a startup team. The energy is addictive. There may be a video, I'll link to it when it shows up.

tags:barcamp,barcampdallas,barcampdallas3,halfbaked,halfbakeddotcom

Bar Camp Dallas III

Well, we're back in Dallas full time now, just in time for Bar Camp Dallas III. Not quite sure what happened with number two (we were in NYC when it was scheduled) but I have great hopes for this, the third installment. Not being an organizer, I don't have any inside info to impart, but check out:

http://barcamp.org/BarCampDallas

Running very, very tight on time but I'm hoping to arrange a "HalfBaked.com : Entrepreneurial Improv Theater" session like the one at Bar Camp NYC 2 and possibly, maybe (probably not?) a mini-DemoCamp. If you're interested in either one of those things, please contact me ASAP and we'll see what we can make happen.

tags: barcamp, dallas, barcampdallas3, barcampdallas, barcampdallasiii

Eight Things about Bar Camp NYC 2 Sponsorships

Amit asked me to write a few words about handling sponsorships at Bar Camp NYC 2. The first thing to say is that Courtney Pulitzer rocks. Things got extremely busy at my day job and I fell far behind in my Bar Camp duties. Courtney swooped in at the last minute and saved the day. Thanks Courtney!

On the theory that it's better to have something imperfect now than something perfect later, I'm going to skip the slick writeup and just make a list:

1. We went over budget. Not much, about $140 at last count, but one of our number got stuck unexpectedly with the bill. Although we worked it out, it was needlessly stressful.
2. Don't forget tips when budgeting, especially if the vendor delivers. Many things will turn out to be just slightly more expensive than expected and it adds up.
   
3. Google Spreadsheets was a lifesaver, both for pre-event planning and for keeping track of the budget on the days of the event. Making a local backup before arriving at the venue is a very good idea, though.
   
4. If you can possibly manage it, have the sponsors purchase the food and handle the delivery. Not only do they get stuck with tips and other unexpected charges, it means they are more directly involved in the event.
5. Although one of last year's sponsors declined to re-up on the basis of "insufficient benefit", most of them didn't seem to care that much. They either already knew, or had fairly low expectations for return on their $200 donation.
6. On that note, lots more people knew what a Bar Camp was this time around. Part of that was hitting up the sponsors from the previous event, but part was a generally greater awareness.
   
7. Donations were mostly in the $100-$200 range, with a couple of standouts contributing more. Everybody got the same sized logo on the sponsor wall.
8. People promise things, but then forget. Expect to send at least one, maybe several reminders to sponsors, especially the ones you line up early.
   

Bar Camp NYC 2

Yep, it's official. Actually, it's been official for a while and I've been too swamped to blog about it. September 30/October 1, 2006. Find out more: http://barcamp.org/BarCampNYC2 And here's the trippy part: Microsoft is hosting. Pictures of organizers and the venue on Flickr tagged barcampnyc2. Ought to be interesting. See you there!