Tag Archives: unconference

Barcamp Pune is Back: 27 Sept #BCP8

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What is a BarCamp

A BarCamp is an unconference. Basically, it is a crowd-sourced conference; which means that the date, time and theme of the conference are announced but the actual talks and speakers are not decided until the day of the conference itself. On the morning of the conference, a whiteboard is put up with the rooms and speaking slots, and anyone who feels like talking on any topic (that is in line with the theme of the conference) can add their topic and name to any of the open slots.

And then people are encouraged to go to any talk they find interesting, and use the “Law of Two Feet” – i.e. if a talk is not interesting, walk out, and go to the next talk, or start your own informal talk in the corridors.

What this really does is that you get a much more dynamic and diverse conference. The speakers and topics are not the same old ghisa-pita stuff – You discover new topics and new speakers and make new friends. You find enthusiastic and genuinely interested people – not corporate types who attend because their company requires them to attend.

More about Barcamp Pune

BarCamp is happening in Pune after a gap of about 6 years and we are expecting that this time around BarCamp Pune 8 will be more focused on early-stage web and mobile apps. However, the BarCamp is open for a variety of other topics, including healthcare, education, banking, real estate, Social Media, lifestyle, Auto, Aeroplanes, environment, Police, Anti-terrorism, Songs, Movies, Books, etc. Practically anything and everything under the sun (and even beyond) can be discussed in BarCamp.

What Should you expect?

Apart from networking and meeting people from various walks of life in different sectors, a BarCamp is probably the only place where ideas evolve during the course of the event. Nothing is planned in a BarCamp – Every participant has right to talk on the subject they love (and think that others may also like). While this format can be chaotic sometimes, it also opens doors to something you may never have known or been exposed to in an event.

And yes, BMC Software, the place where we are hosting the event have sponsored us with Free Lunch and beverages.

BCP8 Details

  • Where: BMC Software, Wing 1, Tower ‘B’, Business Bay, Airport Road, Yerwada, Pune
  • When: 27th Sep 2014 (Saturday) 10:00 to 5:00pm
  • *Map: http://bit.ly/BarCampPune8

Venue Instructions

BMC Software office is based in a large complex and the participants of the event need to follow certain rules and regulations. Please read below carefully.

  • While arriving from Yerwada, the venue is on your right and if you are coming from Airport it is on your left.
  • When you reach the building, use gate #3 to go to Parking level 2.
  • 2 wheelers & 4 wheelers must enter through Gate #3
  • Pedestrians can enter through Gate#3 or Gate #4
  • Tell the security you are going to “Barcamp at BMC software”

Keep in Mind

  • Being an IT company, registration is important
  • To facilitate that, online registration for the event is a MUST
  • Due to security reasons, you’ll be asked to provide laptop serial number etc. at reception. Do not carry if not necessary
  • If you want to talk on something and need presentation, do carry your own laptop.
  • Internet connections will NOT be provided by the organizers or venue sponsor. Make your own arrangements or talk to volunteers in advance
  • Event will be on 4th floor & lunch will be served on 5th floor
  • Entry will not be allowed on any other floor apart from 4th & 5th

Fees and Registration

This event is free and open for anybody to attend. However Please register here: http://bcp8.explara.com/

Top 5 reasons why students should gate-crash Drupal Camp India – Jan 31

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Drupal
Image via Wikipedia

On Saturday, 31st Jan, from 10am to 5pm, 100s of Drupal enthusiasts will descend upon SICSR. It is a free (un)conference for Drupal developers, and entry was given a first-come-first-served basis. But as of this writing, Drupal Camp is full. However, Tarun Chandel, the god-father of all Pune unconferences, is encouraging everyone to gate-crash, and land up there, with or without registrations, and PuneTech fully supports him, (and so does Amit Kumar Singh, a.k.a. thecancerus).

That’s right – gate-crash, like uninvited wedding guests. It’s free, and it’s an unconference. Gate-crashing will actually be in the spirit of the event.

And if you are a student, then you must go, because in that one day, you will get more education than an entire month of your so-called classes.

With this in mind, here are PuneTech’s top 5 reasons why students must gate-crash Drupal Camp

  • Surprise your future employers: If you are in software, no matter what job you get, sooner or later you will be asked to build or oversee the building of a website, and there you should surprise everyone by having it ready, singlehandedly in one week as against their projections of 2-months using 3 people.
  • Beat the recession: As IT budgets get cut around the world, the web-development community will be hard hit, and companies will look to reduce spending on expensive web development. That’s why you should become a ninja at inexpensive web development using Drupal and its wide array of readymade modules.
  • Use this knowledge when you don’t get a job: Hey, let’s face it, if you are a student right now, it is very likely that you are not getting campus placement this year (or if you have been placed already, there’s a chance that it will get delayed or canceled). Instead of sitting around moping, the smart thing to do would be to start your own website and get to work for yourself. And for this, events like Drupal camp are great, for knowledge, for ideas and for contacts. For more reasons, see “Top 10 reasons why now is the best time to start a business with Drupal.”
  • Because you can: Think of all the poor little underprivileged students in Bangalore/Delhi/Hyderabad/Mumbai who cannot attend Drupal camp even if they want to. Because Drupal camp doesn’t happen in Bangalore. It doesn’t happen in Mumbai. It’s happening in Pune, and you are getting it free. Don’t give up this chance, because in the future, you (or your employer) will be charged exorbitant amounts for events like these, and you’ll still not be able to go because you have a stupid deadline.
  • Because PuneTech said so. And Amit Kumar Singh said so. And Tarun Chandel said so. And, I’m sure Rohit Srivastwa will say so as soon as he reads this. Seriously, you need to start listening to these guys.

If you are already going for Drupal camp, then please add to the list of reasons in the comments below.

Drupal Camp details:

What: Drupal Camp India ’09. Drupal Camp is a free, unconference, being conducted in Pune, with the objective to build up the community base and bring people closer. Details.
When: Saturday, 31st January, 10am to 5pm
Where: SICSR, 1st floor, Atur Centre, Gokhale Cross Road, Model Colony, Pune. Map.
Fees and Registration: This event is free for all to attend. Register here. Or not!

More from the website:

Drupal camp pune is an effort to pull in all drupal developers located in india to come together and cherish this wonderful CMS cum application framework. More than the sessions, its about interacting with fellow drupalers and listening to their experiences. This doesn’t discount us to not prepare session list, On our menu we have things like:

1> Advanced Module development
2> Site auto configuration using patterns.
3> Insight into Galaminds.
4> Managing staging,production and live sites specially syncing with Migraine.
5> Drupal on EC2
6> Case study on ILoveBolly

and much more…

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What to expect at Barcamp Pune

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Update: Our hearts go out to the people of Mumbai, but our bodies continue their day-to-day activities in Pune. Barcamp Pune 5 will happen. It starts at 10am, at SICSR (Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research), Model Colony, Atur Centre, Opp. Om Super Market, Pune (map).

Barcamp Pune 5 is this Saturday (29th November) and I am hoping that this time, a lot of people who are not familiar with the concept of barcamp will show up. Earlier, we wrote about what is barcamp, and why you should attend. For those still sitting on the fence, wondering whether to attend, let me try and give an idea of what to expect at BCP5.

The barcamp page shows 250+ registrations. So expect at least 150 people or more to show up.

Expect chaos. I mean that in a good way. Conferences are thoughtfully organized by committees of experts to include topics that you should know about. Barcamp is not a conference – it’s an unconference. No suits, no committees. What you will get is talks on topics that you want to know about.

Expect a tweet-up. At 5:30pm. A meeting of people who use and love twitter. If you are not a twitter-user yet, you should be. Attend the tweet-up to find out why.

Expect talks from a set of very wide-ranging topics (mostly tech): how to secure your home wireless network from hackers, PHP, how to build iPhone applications, the semantic web, using maps in your applications and websites, robotics, bootstrapping your startup. And many more. It’s an unconference, so can’t know in advance all the different presentations that will ultimately happen. And some of the presentations will actually happen with 4 people huddled around a laptop in a corner on the floor.

Expect enthusiasm. Expect to see lots of energy. People passionate about technology. Blogging. Web-2.0.

Expect to see people not just from Pune, but also Mumbai, Bangalore, Aurangabad, Hyderabad and other cities. Yes, barcamps are worth travelling 800km for.

Expect to see students, junior techies, people with 15+ years of experience, programmers, managers, designers, NGO volunteers, open source fanatics, .NET gurus, savvy businessmen and geeks.

Expect to make new friends. You’ll meet lots of interesting people. If you are thinking of a startup, you might meet your co-founder. If you are interested in Erlang, you might meet other Erlang enthusiasts. If you are a recruiter, you might meet your latest recruits. If you are single, you might meet your future partner (hey! it happens).

Expect to go off to dinner parties with strangers.

Expect to give and receive business cards – some old school habits die hard.

Expect people to take lots of photographs and upload them to flickr. Expect blog posts about barcamp to trickle in all through the next week. Expect wi-fi. Expect live-blogging. Expect twittering.

Expect struggling startups to demonstrate their work. Some of them would have been doing this for the nth time, because they’ve been going to every barcamp in the country to get visibility for their startup. In other cases, you’ll be the first people in the world to see the new product.

Expect the unexpected.

Expect to learn. To teach. To discuss. To argue. To agree. To disagree. To clap. To laugh. To giggle. To boo (yes, that happens too.)

Expect the boring people to stay at home, and only the interesting people to show up.

Expect those who wanted to come but could not to be profoundly unhappy.

Expect those who did not attend to have missed something great.