New Orleans’ tech “unconference,” BarCampNola is returning this summer for its fifth year. Set to take place July 14th and 15th, 2012 at Canal Place, the unconference traditionally features one day of co-learning and one day of co-hacking.
For the past several years, BarCampNola has taken place at Launch Pad. During BarCampNOLA 4, it became clear to co-organizer Matt Tritico that the event had outgrown the space. “Nicky [Mast] and I were standing on tables in the atrium [of the IP building] trying to squeeze the crowd into one room. I knew then we needed a bigger venue for 2012.”
Tritico expressed some disappointment at having to move the event and gratitude towards Launch Pad for hosting it year after year. A large semi-finished area of Canal Place at 365 Canal Street in New Orleans will instead serve as the venue this year.
Those interested in attending the conference but not sure what to expect (also folks who just can’t get enough BarCamp) are encouraged to attend NetSquared New Orleans’ Minibar on Tuesday, June 5th. In one hour, three mini-BarCamp presentations will be given to the group, the BarCampNola website for this year will be officially launched, and questions will be answered about the main event. Click here to get more information on Net2NO or the Minibar event.
The tagline for BarCampNola 5, “This time, more dinosaurs,” promises an action-packed tech weekend for attendees.
The dinosaur/robot mash-up logo, designed by Hop&Jaunt, may have been inspired by the dinosaur craze sweeping the region’s developers after the launch of Ben Lavender‘s website: bhuga.net (sound on, headphones in, and click on the buttons for full effect). Ben is a former co-founder of Dydra, an Ignition graduate, and is currently working on the Liveset team.
Word on the street is that @bhuga himself may present at BarCamp on how you too can have dinosaurs exploding out of your website. Either way, it’s sure to be an instructive, fun, and productive weekend.
Last year, during the second day of BarCampNola4, NOLADex.org was created. NOLADex is the digital rolodex of the creative and tech community. The talent list continues to grow and the site is maintained by gnocode.
Visit BarCampNola.com and “<3 the Dino” to spread the word about the event. After the official site launch next week, participants will be able to register online.
TL;DR
What: BarCampNola is back!
When: July 14th & 15th, 2012
Where: Canal Place: 365 Canal Street, New Orleans
More info: BarCampNola.com.