First off, hats off to Micheal Mealing, Lance Weatherby, the ATDC, and everyone else who helped to put this event together. It takes a lot of work to put something like this together and they deserve another round of applause.
This year’s sessions were on par with last years for interest. I think there were more rooms open on the first night, which made it even harder to figure out where to go. I hate throwing technology at everything, but I support the idea that there should be a computerized system to track this stuff. However, there was one noticeable difference. Barcamp Atlanta 2 had a real lack of business and hard-science focused sessions. It was mostly tech and new media. I know some business people who didn’t make it, and many of the ones that did stuck with technical topics. On the other hand, this year featured a session on beat boxing, and all the Saturday morning sessions featured a drunk guy passed out in the corner. We didn’t get that last year.
The sessions I presented were not terrible, which is acceptable since I did little to prepare. I got smacked down on my presentation for SCMPLE (hey its’ the first time I’ve pitched). I demoed Fluid, which was fun because I got to kick all the Windows users out. Plus, I think I got a convert from Twhril to Hahlo, so my work was done.
The other side of Barcamp are all the mini-impromptu sessions that happen outside in the halls. It’s one of the few opportunities where you get to hang out with that many of your fellow technologists. This makes one thing very clear: there are a lot of very talented and passionate people in this town. This is contrary to what some former local celebrities would have you believe. Almost everyone that wasn’t involved with a startup or small company full time is actively trying to build one on the side. There are also some innovative solutions out there that are really only possible in a place like Atlanta. Josh Sweeny’s AltInvest is a great example of someone trying to tackle the problem of early stage in a different way.
Barcamp Atlanta 2 was a success and in the halls you already heard the chief organizers starting to plan the 3rd. Until then, we’ve got Startup Weekend, Startup Riot, and a plethora of weekly meet-ups to keep us busy. See you there!
