How to Organize a Barcamp

It Is Simpler Than You Think

Organizing a barcamp requires less content planning and more logistics preparation. You do not need to hunt down keynote speakers or review presentation proposals. What you need is a venue with flexible rooms, a visible session grid, and people willing to show up and participate.

The first BarCamp in 2005 was planned in six days. That does not mean you should cut it that close. Crystal Williams, who organized BarCamp Vancouver, BarCamp Shanghai, and BarCamp Los Angeles, recommended setting a target date about six to eight weeks out and working backward from there.

Find a Venue

You need a space with multiple rooms running sessions in parallel. Rule 5 from the BarCamp wiki says: “As many presentations at a time as facilities allow for.” The more rooms available, the more choice participants have.

Crystal Williams noted that “office spaces seem to be the most popular venues” and recommended finding a venue sponsor who “gets it about Barcamp and who recognizes what they have to gain from exposure to the Barcamp audience.” She emphasized getting the space for free whenever possible.

The first BarCamp was hosted at the offices of Socialtext in Palo Alto. Co-founder Eris Stassi recalled about 200 participants, with people actually camping in tents on the sidewalks and in the backyards of the building.

The Session Grid

The session grid is the centerpiece of every barcamp. Co-founder Chris Messina described it as “like a spreadsheet”: a grid of time slots and rooms where “people would just kind of come up with their topics and have conversations.”

Traditionally, this means a whiteboard or a wall covered with sticky notes, with rows for time slots and columns for rooms. Each sticky note is a session, placed by the person who proposed it. The grid needs to be large enough for everyone to read and centrally located so participants can check it throughout the day.

Digital tools can make this easier. A session planning tool like barcamp.io provides the same grid on every participant’s device, updating in real time as sessions are added or moved.

The Opening

Most barcamps begin with a short opening where participants introduce themselves and pitch session ideas. Rule 4 from the BarCamp wiki keeps this brief: “Only three word intros.” No job titles, no company pitches. Three words and move on.

After introductions, participants pitch their session topics. Rule 3: “If you want to present, you must write your topic and name in a presentation slot.” Pitches are typically one or two sentences. Some barcamps use a show of hands to gauge interest and match popular topics with larger rooms.

Roles and Tasks

Crystal Williams recommended assigning four key roles among the organizing team:

• Sponsor wrangler: Drafts messages to potential sponsors, follows up leads, collects logos and money, and handles receipts.
• Food czar: Manages catering for the event. Williams noted: “Keep the meals simple (but good), have some veggie options, and try to keep costs down. This will be your biggest expenditure.”
• T-shirt master: Coordinates logo artwork with a print vendor. Barcamp logo on the front, sponsor logos on the back. Williams recommended ordering shirts at least two weeks before the event.
• Wi-Fi guru: Sets up and maintains internet access. “People are going to want wi-fi, and may even need it for their presentation.”

Sponsors and Money

The BarCamp wiki’s organizing page noted that cash donations for the original BarCamp were limited to $200, and went into a PayPal account. Chris Messina suggested that donations of things rather than cash were easier to deal with.

Crystal Williams advised: “Don’t get anyone’s company books involved. Too messy. Either deal in all cash or get a special PayPal account. At the end of the day, you don’t want to be holding extra money. Best to get people to sponsor things like chair rentals, a meal, etc, and never touch the money yourself.”

Running the Day

Once sessions are on the grid and the first time slot begins, the format largely runs itself. The Open Space Technology principles and barcamp rules set the expectations.

Rule 7: sessions go on as long as they need to, but do not run into the next slot. The no-sales-pitches guideline keeps the content participant-focused. And the law of two feet ensures people move naturally to where they learn or contribute the most.

Williams added: “Don’t get too slack about the ‘everyone must participate’ rule. It’s not just about attendance, it’s about knowledge transfer.”

The Small Things

Crystal Williams’s checklist of minor things to round up: projectors, paper, markers, pens, name tags, paper towels, garbage bags, surface cleaners, ice chests, and garbage cans. She recommended putting the list on a wiki and getting people to bring or donate as many of these as possible.

Her final piece of advice: “Remember: this is supposed to be fun. Keep it that way.”

Sources

The claims on this page are based on the following primary sources.

1. Crystal Williams, “Ten Steps to Organizing a Barcamp”, October 2006. Written by the organizer of BarCamp Vancouver, BarCamp Shanghai, and BarCamp LA. Featured on the BarCamp wiki and translated into six languages. cleverclevergirl.com (archived)
2. BarCamp Wiki, “OrganizeALocalBarCamp”, last edited by Chris Messina. Organizing guide and links to community resources. barcamp.org/OrganizeALocalBarCamp (archived)
3. BarCamp Wiki, “TheRulesOfBarCamp”, by Tantek Çelik. barcamp.org/TheRulesOfBarCamp (archived)
4. Chris Messina, interview with Amit Panchal, January 31, 2020. “Like a spreadsheet” description of the session grid. amitpanchal.com/interview-with-hashtag-inventor-chris-messina
5. Tantek Çelik, “Remembering the idea of BarCamp”, July 10, 2006. First-person account of the six-day planning timeline. tantek.com/log/2006/07.html
6. Eris Stassi, podcast interview, December 5, 2019. First-person account of first BarCamp logistics (~200 attendees, tents). joeran.de/eris-stassi-barcamp