BrainJams, BarCamp, TagCamp, Gnomedex, etc. – one big happy family

We had a gathering at our house last night to discus the next BrainJams event scheduled for December 3rd. One of the action items was to determine what exactly we wanted ‘BrainJams’, the organization, to be. Are we a non-profit event management company helping others around the world put on their own events while ensuring the conversations are captured, shared and stored in an online library of some sorts – or – are we simply a workshop enabling people to get together to share ideas and then collaborating on building the software solutions?

What came out of it was finally realizing we should –or- need to be both. Cool. This shall be a fun ride.

I think the beauty of the BrainJams events is that we don’t compete with the Camps out there – we compliment them – and I look forward to working with the other lovecats running each one to see how we can funnel the user wish list created during the BrainJams into their Camp, and then watching the technical gurus build new or enhance existing technology to make the lives of the users much easier.

As for the event management company side of things, I am truly excited about what lies ahead. I see value in not only helping to make sure these type of events (BrainJams, BarCamps, TechCrunch, Gnomedex, Webzine, and TagCamps alike) happen around the globe, but in also educating people how to run an effective event. It is not rocket science to throw a bunch of people in the room and let them talk, but some events have a great following while others do not – so why not share the best practices from all who have done this successfully before, and will continue to do so after us, etc. to guarantee you and those attending your event obtain what they came in the front door for (if possible).

The goal is to spread the love. So, another key element will be the collection of the knowledge shared from each event, which will then be housed in a central ‘database’ which can be easily queried. This will enable people from around the world to benefit from the events even if they are not able to personally attend them. This will require the most work within the BrainJams organization, so I am putting the request out into the community to support the cause, make our lives a tad bit easier and share the notes from all the Jams and Camps around the globe. We will provide information on how to do this on the BrainJams wiki shortly, so stay tuned.

If we work together, we can change the world - one user at a time.



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