This past weekend Tampa’s tech community gathered for the annual unconference known as BarCamp. Not your typical convention or seminar, BarCamp’s are organized and hosted by volunteers and feature presentations given entirely by the attendees. Easel-sized Post-It notes act as the just-in-time agenda and in the first 30 minutes are quickly filled in with topics spanning a wide range of tech and tech business interests.

Local press coverage of BarCamp Tampa:

Creative Loafing article & video (by Miss Destructo)

TB Business Journal pre event coverage (by Michael Hinman)

Short Fusion (Blog by Jason Olmsted)

Examiner.com (by Mihael VanDervort)

The topics shared included the latest IT & web development technologies (Saturday) and everything you ever wanted to know about social media tools and media strategies (Sunday). Intermixed with the ultra-geeky technical sessions were a few business oriented sessions to help those thinking of taking the next step and turning their idea into a start-up. I hosted two discussions, one which was co-hosted by STAR Tec was on turning ideas into start-ups and where to find the resources needed for success. The second discussion was on coworking, but that quickly broadened into a group rant on overall tech community development and how Tampa Bay and Orlando stack up to other metro areas that have or want to have a major tech component as part of their economic landscape. The goal for BarCamp is to share knowledge and further collaboration within the community. This has implications not just for the advancement of technology, but also for the grass roots economic development potential that is embodied in the ideas and the innovators that host and attend these events.

This was my second year participating in Tampa’s event and my fourth BarCamp overall (including two in Orlando) and I can safely say that they just keep getting better. Attendance was up significantly from last year (hoping to see actual numbers soon) and the overall buzz of the unconference was a refreshing break from the usual stale seminars and networking that pass for technology events in Tampa. Thanks again to USF College of Business Administration for hosting the event and opening up their great facility to the tech community.

If you participated this year, thanks! If you missed it, set you sights on next year and check out the local Web Tech Meet-up that is always looking for more volunteers to share the effort.