Barcamp LA is an event that happens once a year usually and involves attendees to be the ones who give sessions. Topics can range greatly but usually are tied into technology, the Internet or social media in some way. There are many “Barcamps” such as Barcamp DC, Barcamp Chicago, Barcamp San Diego, and others around the world. If you want to read more about what a “Barcamp” usually entails, you can read it’s Wikipedia page here.

Barcamp usually lasts 2 days straight, however this year the venue aquired cannot accommodate this, so it begins around 9am-5pm Saturday and then Sunday again. Each session/demo is usually about 30 minutes – 60 minutes long with smaller ones in between.

Breakfast will be served in the morning, and beverages/snacks will be on hand throughout the day. Barcamp LA also plans to have a couple of food trucks during lunch time that will be arriving for a no-host choice of food!

If you decide to come, keep in mind this is an un-confrence, which is a volunteer-organized type of confrence. Myself, and a few other people all collaborated since November of last year. The team has been incredibely passionate and resource-helpful to make this happen. We promoted it though Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Groups and other social media online sites over the past few months. This year we’ve received sponsorships/donations from:

Guidance
Fortis
Microsoft
PickAnExcuse.com
BlogDowntown.com
CorporateEspionage.com
and others

Although this is the 8th Barcamp LA, it has not happened in the past 2 years because of the bad economy and lack of sponsorship so its been a challenge for sure to get it off its feet again.

Attendees who come are encouraged to bring something that might help such as:
Powerstrips
Extra Snacks/Soda
Your own water bottle
Internet Hotspot ability

Tickets are still available and can be purchased in advance on Eventbrite:
http://barcampla8.eventbrite.com/event/1234980861
Prices are now $55 for a normal ticket & $20 for a students.

If you enter in the promo code “ILOVEBARCAMP” you will get 50% off the normal ticket price

If you absolutely cannot pay the full amount PLEASE contact Barcamp LA to work something out for you, we really want everyone who wants to come to do so, as this is an open event.

Experiencing Barcamp LA is a unique and educational experience. People you meet there are always the most helpful and passionate with the topic they represent. I love to learn about technology, so to have an unconfrence right here in Los Angeles of people with the same like-minded passion for it is amazing to support. Past Barcamp session favorites of mine include Mac OSX, WordPress, Lucid Dreaming, Social Engineering, Hacking, Geocaching and iPhone Jailbreaking sessions. The tech oriented community is one of the most fascinating/interesting types of people and when they all come together, great things happen. I look forward to seeing you there!

Going to Barcamp was awesome. It was hosted at the Mahalo HQ in Santa Monica from Oct. 25-26. Lots of people showed up and the talks that they gave were very informative and educational. It was my first time at one, I missed it last year because I heard about it too late. So what is Barcamp LA? Its a social gathering of technology oriented people that want to share their knowledge and understanding with each other. I felt right at home.

Some of the panels I joined in on were the “Programmers vs. Managers”, “Social 3D Enviroments”, “Lucid Dreaming Techniques” as well as many others. I also met a few familiar faces (twitters) as well as made some new acquaintances. It seemed that everyone there had a different shape/size/type of portable computing device; from laptops, to palmtops, to iphones, to touchscreen tablets, to OQO’s. The generous hosts also were able to supply free food to the entire group – salads, pizzas, sandwich wraps, and drinks drinks drinks.

I can’t wait for next years meeting, as I’m sure its going to be just as if not more fun. I initially wanted to give a talk about iPhone application/webapps but got there a bit too late. Oh well, theres always next time.

And one last note before I close. I was convinced at Barcamp that I should probobly switch over from Blogger to WordPress. I’ve been wanting to for quite a while but was unaware of the tools that wordpress introduced to import Blogger posts in easily. I also hear they have a WordPress app for the iPhone

Oh, and … HACK THE PLANET!
lol, ok just had to get at least one “Hack the Planet” shout in this Barcamp post.