re-inventing the DemoCamp eXperience

September 30th, 2007 by Mitch Brisebois

It seems every city that has had a successful run of BarCamps / DemoCamps / *Camps has eventually slammed into a wall of controversy. Look at SM friend David Crow – he’s had more of his fair share of problems with the hugely popular Toronto Camps: stolen beer kegs, sexism, whinning about location, violent outbursts… Despite it all the camps continued.

Meant as “an unconference” – the camps are ad hoc showcases of startup technology. The format is simple and designed to encourage active participation. Dozens of camps are held every week around the world. The format even is being adopted my mainstream conference promoters. The latest incarnation was this year’s TechCrunch20 – hosted by Mizzter Arrington, and offering $50,000 in prizes.

Back in HICK-town Ottawa, the bickering continues over DemoCamp6 because it seems some startups are better at marketing themselves than others. If there’s ONE thing you need to know about Ottawa, it’s that MARKETING IS A CRIME. Punishable by bullying and disassociation.

We’ve been lucky so far. The organizing team headed by Ian and Peter have been dedicated and diligent. The Ottawa tech community is small and severely under-serviced by development agencies such as OCRI, so the need is there. By producing a regular platform for demoing, the camps have been able to partner with business groups at local universities. We have a local pub – The Clock Tower – that is very accomodating to hosting these and other tech events. Beyond the demos, the Camps offer terrific networking opportunities.

It seems Peter feels the Ottawa Camps are at a cross-roads, and he’s asking for help. If indeed, we’ve outgrown its usefulness, where do we go? It might be a good discussion – although I’m just looking forward to the next DemoCamp! I even promise not to complain if someone sneaks in a PowerPoint slide!

[tags]democamps, hellcamp, networking, startups, OCRI, whinning, David-Crow[/tags]