In true BarCamp style, the actual schedule will be determined by attendees on the day of the event, but if the list of suggested topics is any indication, FreelanceCamp PRO should be of interest to regular WWD readers. Suggested topics include:

• Transitioning from freelance to agency
• Balancing products with services
• Running 100 percent remotely
• Coworking
• The art of subcontracting
• Advanced toolkits: PM systems, finance and communication
• Beyond the basic services
• Long-term clients

FreelanceCamp PRO is aimed at experienced freelancers who have been in business for a year or more. Tickets to the day-long event cost $50 (plus a $2.24 fee). It’s suggested that attendees bring laptops (Wi-Fi will be provided), their own coffee mugs, lots of business cards and “a head full of ideas.”

Still not sure if BarCamp-style events are for you? To get an idea of why FreelanceCamp PRO might be useful (and fun!), check out this post from Pamela about her experiences of a similar event in Paris.

Running a similar event? Tell everyone about it in the comments.

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Enabling the Web Work Revolution

If you don’t know what a barcamp (or unconference) is, don’t feel bad. The name certainly doesn’t provide any clues if you don’t know the history. Barcamps are like structured brainstorming sessions with crowd-sourced agendas and organic, bottom-up organization. It’s a great format for generating ideas, energy and momentum that can be used by any special interest group, professional or otherwise. I’ll explain.

Somebody decides to have a barcamp. Anyone interested in the subject of the barcamp can sign up. Some participants offer to talk to the group about a topic in which they have expertise. Others indicate what topics they’re interested in hearing about/discussing.

I went to an e-reputation barcamp a few weeks ago, because online identity is one of the topics I speak about. In this picture I took that day, you can see that people wrote proposed discussion topics — like Personal Branding — on a chalkboard in the available discussion slots for the day.

Everybody made a mark in the square of the topic they were going to attend during that hour. Repeat the process for every hour, with a few topics going on at a time. The chalkboard part was quite manic, a bit like being on the floor of the NYSE, but once it was over everybody dispersed in an orderly fashion into their groups and the real fun began.

If you go to the TDWCamp wiki page, and scroll down past the sponsor logos, you’ll see that the first section (in French) is for people who are offering to talk about certain subjects. For this web worker barcamp, topics include GTD, creating a web worker co-op, and the pros and cons of being your own boss. In the Fans column of that section, participants have indicated their interest in these topics.

Below this section, people who are planning to attend have signed up and indicated in the right column the topics in which they’re interested. The first participant has made his topic wishlist: GTD, project management, boosting productivity, inspiration and exchange. He’s also said he wants a big t-shirt.

Can you feel the love? If you can, and you’d like to look into this further, you’re in luck. Barcamp.org has put together a handy how-to page to get you started, with everything you need to know: from creating your barcamp wiki page to getting sponsors on board. After all, somebody’s got to pay for the t-shirts, munchies and location!

So if you have access to a coworking center or network of web workers, you might want to consider organizing a barcamp of your own. It’s fun, it’s stimulating and it’s a nice change from the usual happy hour-type get-together, which can sometimes end up being more about the Packers than work. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but you know what I mean.

Please let us know if you’ve done a web worker barcamp or if you’re planning to. And if you’re in the Paris area, I hope to see you at TDWCamp!

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Previously on WebWorkerDaily, I talked about the differences in they way that the community conferences are organized and posted an interview with Audrey Eschright, a BarCamp and unconference organizer. This time I was interested in differences in content between traditional conferences and community-organized events.

Since anyone can propose a session at BarCamp, you tend to get more crazy ideas and niche sessions with great information that would never have an audience broad enough to justify a session at most traditional commercial conferences. You also get some terrible sessions and ideas that just don’t make much sense, but the beauty of BarCamp is that you can wander in and out of sessions pretty easily.

Some examples of interesting sessions at BarCampAustin included: How to start an online bacon business in a month, half-baked entrepreneurial theater (where people come up with crazy business ideas), air ships and more.

I wanted to get a second opinion on the content, so I asked Selena Deckelmann, an unconference organizer currently working on a community-organized, open-source event in Portland, about the future of community-organized events vs. more traditional conferences. Here’s her take on the differences:

“I think community-organized/grassroots events are the only way effective conferences focused on learning and getting work done will be organized in the future. I don’t think companies dedicated to conference management can keep up with and offer the technical depth and 1:1 networking opportunities that a focused, community-driven event can.

Photo by Kirrily Robert

The smaller, more focused and more local you can make events, the better educational, personal and professional development opportunities people get.

There’s a point of diminishing returns when it comes to a 10k-person event. Sure, it’s exciting to be with that many people, and interesting to see what kinds of entertaining spectacles companies come up with to draw in a crowd in an expo. But, for me, I get way more out of a 1:1, a 10-15 person group discussion. If the goal is education and learning, you need smaller, focused groups.”

Many people underestimate the value of small group discussions as an opportunity to learn about new ideas. Being able to participate in a small group discussion where each person can ask more questions and interact on a personal basis, rather than the traditional presentation and panel model at most commercial conferences, can be a great learning experience.

What types of conferences do you prefer? What are your experiences with the content differences between traditional conferences and community-organized events?

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Photo by Selena Marie

In previous posts, I’ve talked about attending local events and meetups or scheduling new ones if you can’t find any that meet your needs. In this post, I wanted to talk about something bigger than the typical meetup: community-organized events. BarCamps, unconferences, and similar events have been popping up all over the world in increasing frequency. I’m an organizer for the local BarCamp in Portland, and I have attended many of these types of events. I’m planning to attend BarCampAustin this weekend, which is running in parallel with SXSW.

The organization of these events is very different from typical commercial events. While commercial events tend to be organized by professional organizers who are being paid to produce the conference, community organized events are often organized by unpaid volunteers from the community who are passionate about the topic. Both types of events have their strengths and weaknesses and their place in the industry, but both are also very different in both organization and attendance.

Attendance

I have noticed that many organizers and a high percentage of attendees of BarCamps tend to be web workers. Maybe web workers tend to enjoy the self-organizing format and are passionate enough about their work to attend these events, many of which are held on weekends. Since many of us are self-employed, the free or very low cost nature of unconferences may appeal to those of us who don’t have a big company’s training budget to pay for the more expensive events.

Organization

Community organized events come with a special set of challenges for organizers, including:

• Putting together a really solid team of people who can meet deliverables and commit the time to organize the event without getting paid.
• Dealing with sponsorships and other monetary contributions by partnering with or forming a legal entity to handle the money.
• Finding sponsors or other contributions to fund event expenses.
• Budgeting for the event and dealing with unexpected costs.
• Estimating attendance and finding an affordable venue with a space that works well for your needs (unconferences have different needs than traditional conferences).
• Promoting the event to make sure that the right people know about it.

I frequently attend both “traditional” commercial conferences and community events, and my preference is starting to drift toward community events. I feel like I get a broader perspective, and I seem to learn more at community events. I would love to hear more about your experiences with community events, including advantages and disadvantages, and challenges and opportunities.

What is your experience with attending or organizing community organized events?

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