This past weekend I attended my first ever BarCamp here in Austin, and what an amazing experience it was for me. BarCampIVAustin, a part of the SXSW Interactive venue, is geared towards bringing together individuals from various backgrounds, cultures, and experiences, and allowing for great synergies and collaboration. In a sense, it was like a ‘show and tell’ of businesses and business ideas, but with a much more engaging platform to “group brainstorm”. I definitely walked away from this experience with many ideas for my businesses and clients.
How It Worked
So from 10AM – 9pm, there was a wall with paper taped to it. On the paper were 15 and 30 minute timeslots for 4 different rooms across the time. There was no agenda besides persons taking stick notes (as show below) and filling in time slots with subjects they wanted to present or know more about. Each person(s) would present and would interact with the viewing/participating audience. Some great sessions were presented today. From how to find a job to how to network to how to a business setup shop in 21 days! I myself didn’t participate just due to the fact that I needed to learn the ropes as a ‘rookie’. 
But you better believe I’ll be back and ready to present next year! 
Some of the notable companies presenting that I was impressed with were:
BridgeATX
www.bridgeatx.com
A Career Placement and Resource Networking Company.
OrgSync
www.orgsync.com
Collaborative Software for an Online Campus.
PeopleBrowsr
www.peoplebrowsr.com
Simple visual dashboard that adds more power to Twitter, your other online identities and those of your friends.
However, one of the most intriguing presentations that I was totally engaged with was the presentation put on by a group out of Portland, Oregon. I was just about to leave for the day when on the board I saw “Bac’n, How We Went From Nothing To Startup In 21 Days”. This intrigued me as I’m currently starting yet another business. And low and behold, right before it was time for the company to present, two of their presenters happened to be sitting at our table. And so I began inquiring about their company and how they did it. They didn’t want to tell me too much because they were about to go up and wanted me to stay to hear the entire presentation…. And this I”m glad about!
So, B-A-C-N-dot-com. Yes, they setup a company in 21 days to sell BACON. Out of all products to sell… BACON! So what is all the excitement about. I think I was more so intrigued, excited just due to going through the start up phase myself. I gleaned some very useful information in regards to the systems, communications, and shipping/logistics side of life. These guys really put together a very nice site and business model…. www.bacn.com! You can also visit Jason “Alvin” Glaspey’s website at www.jasonglaspey.com
I’ll be ready to present my business next year!
Tags: Marketing, networking, small business, Social Media, startup, Technology
