Barcamp Tampa Bay Wrapup

This last weekend, I attended the first ever Barcamp in the Tampa Bay area. Now, for those not familiar with Barcamp, it is basically an open source conference. It is free to attend and the speakers are decided at the very last minute. It is based on the community and anybody who wishes to speak just puts themselves on the schedule. So, it is very informal and very community driven.

This was a two-day event and I attended both days. The first day was oriented towards developers and the second toward new media. We had some great speakers. It was held in the new College of Business building at the University of South Florida. Very nice building. I graduated from the business college at USF and that building wasn’t there when I graduated. That campus is changing rapidly.

I was also pleased to see quite a few people ride over from Orlando to attend. A lot of people I met at either Izeafest or BlogOrlando drove over. For me, this goes to show how Tampa and Orlando really share a common sense of community in the tech industry. Next time I hear about an Orlando Barcamp, I’ll most certainly ride over for it.

I wasn’t intimately connected to the organization of this BarCamp, so I might forget some names. But, I wanted to thank Peter Radizeski, Megan Hendricks, Brenda Young, Josh Carrico, Kevin Lyons, and Ken Evans. These guys did a lot of work to organize this event.

I’ve really gotten involved in the local tech community (in addition to the larger tech community), and as I do, I am continually pleased to see the local tech community blossom. There are so many people doing things in Central Florida that it is almost like a little Silicon Valley Lite. The Orlando community looks to be a little better organized at the moment. Doterati is coming together and that group is going to play a big role. So, I’m going to play my part in organizing things here in the Tampa area, too.

Lastly, as a piece of general business advice (since this blog is about internet business), I am a STRONG believer in the importance of networking. Not just across social media, but in real life. I’ve really hit it hard this year doing this, and I intend to continue with it. But, getting involved with local entreprenuers is always a great idea. Whether it be in the form of a conference, a meetup, or even a private mastermind group.

So, thanks once again to the Barcamp folks for a job well done.

EDIT: I have posted some photos I took at Barcamp Tampa to my Flickr gallery. If you’re reading this post later, just search my photostream for tag “barcamptampa”.

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