Last Saturday I attended the third Auckland Bar Camp up in Botany. This was my first Bar Camp and despite having read about these camps previously, I went without many expectations.

Bar Camps started out in Palo Alto and the origins seem to be tied in with Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Publishing.
It was a bit of a ‘geek fest' - a gathering of developers, designers, business people and marketers.
What is truly unique about a Bar Camp is the presenters. While a person may put themselves forward to present on a topic, it's not a normal presentation but a conversation.
The floor is encouraged to engage and question. Presenters are ‘found' in the following way: the organizers stick up a google docs spread sheet with four or five categories and time slots through the day.
Participants then decide if they want to present their subject and when. It's simple. People were still deciding to present at the last minute and it did not devalue their delivery in any way. Topics included usability, design, business, iPhone development, data base tools, social media and more.
What you end up with is a bunch of smart people sharing knowledge and helping each other.
The whole event was sponsored by some kind people who supplied us with a venue and lunch.
Why am I writing about this?
Because Tauranga also has smart people who could get together and share in this way.
Imagine, for example, if a polytechnic-sponsored such an event and attracted lots of our local talent to mix with students who, in turn, hear about the real world and discussion on subjects from business startups to html5. Yes, the web is changing again soon.
The companies whose people are represented benefit from their staff connecting with other people and ideas to learn new things. It's also a great way to show those students just what work, companies and opportunities exist here in the Bay.
The Bay needs to attract and keep talent, which I will write about in my next post on this topic. And that is part of the fun of Bar Camp – 100-200 people in one place all coming up with ideas.
So if you are interested, get in touch.