Ninth Division

BarCamp Omaha 2009 was a success

Posted on 08. Oct, 2009 by andy in Events

As you all know, ninth Division sponsored BarCamp Omaha this year.  I provided enough BrainToniq for everyone to try and enough soda to fuel downtown Omaha for a night.  The best part is I surprised myself and had a blast!

It was last Saturday October 4th in downtown Omaha at the Nomad lounge.  In typical BarCamp fashion there was a killer party the night before.  Bad news is, I was not able to attend that party as I was quite sick after I got back from Denver.  All was not lost because the entire day Saturday was fantastic.  I met a ton of people and just enjoyed the overall great atmosphere.

In BarCamp fashion, speakers sign up for their presentations that they want to do in the morning.  There were three tracks, something unique to the Omaha BarCamp (I think).  Entrepreneurship, Creative and Technology were the set tracks that were mostly followed.  Morning sessions sure filled up fast and the folks who were speaking were anxious to speak.  That is something unique about BarCamp, one is getting paid to speak and they are up there because they want to.  So you get some pretty heartful sessions.

Flickr source: nick, programmerman

I even spoke!  Twice!  I gave a 30 minute talk about the software and workflows I use to keep my business and myself organized.  For example how I use Basecamp on client work, why I use Things.app to manage all my tasks, and Freshbooks for accounting.  I have to admit, I originally was going to talk about a few iPhone apps that I am working.  However the apps aren’t done yet and I wasn’t ready to talk about them.  So I went with plan B and spoke about a topic that I get a lot of questions on; which was the software and tools to keep organized.  I think it went very well.

More than anything I was pleased at how many people I met.  Being in what is supposed to be a small town, I still meet new people at our events.  With the emphasis on community, I even put together a Midwest Mobile Developers forum at BarCamp.  We are organizing group sessions, meetups and sharing information.  More to come on this soon.

Thanks again to the fantastic BarCamp Omaha team who put it all together:  Matt Secoske, Eric Downs, Megan Hunt, Dusty Davidson, and Jeff Slobotski.  You guys did a very fine job.  For an “un-conference” that was supposed to feel unorganized, it was well done and well put together.  Great signs, great place, great food, great drinks, and most importantly a great turnout.

Below is my presentation if you are interested.  It wasn’t the best presentation I have prepared as I did it at the BarCamp a few hours before my session at 11:30AM.

Tags: barcamp, barcampomaha, Events