UPDATE: A Calgary DemoCamp and a BarCamp have been scheduled. Read this for more info.
It's obvious why we have to pay thousands of dollars to attend tech conferences in the Bay Area - The Web 2.0 Summit, Adaptive Path, Community Next, and The Future of Web Apps, to name a few. The Churchill Club also puts on a great show. The Valley is where all the money is, where all your big partnership deals are going to happen, where Stanford is, and where a lot of the talent lives.
Could we hold a viable tech conference in Canada? Sure, we have Banff Venture Forum, Canadian Venture Forum and the like, but they lack Internet-based tech. My answer is leaning towards "no", but after a conversation with Zero Knowledge (now Radialpoint) founder Austin Hill, I started looking into this. There's some really interesting stuff happening in the east, and I have also heard some buzz from TechVibes in Vancouver.
Here's what I've been able find for tech events in Canada so far;
- Mesh
- Canadian University Software Engineering Conference (CUSEC)
- Startup Camp Toronto 2007
- DemoCamp Montreal (courtesy Fred Ngo)
- Open Cities
The last few are organized as "unconferences" - maybe that's a good starting point for Calgary.
Hi Patrick, thanks for stopping by and good luck with *CampCalgary!
ReplyDeleteHi Patrick,
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great idea. I owe you a call - and would be happy to share our experience in Montreal with you.
-Austin
I am flattered you listed Community Next with those other great conference. Let me know if I can help you with anything!
ReplyDeleteThis past weekend saw a PodCamp in Toronto (http://podcamptoronto.pbwiki.com/), and Northern Voice (http://2006.northernvoice.ca/) wrapped up earlier this month.
ReplyDeleteI think you're onto something with the notion of starting with an unconference. The loose structure and lower fees associated with events like that should pull in a broader cross-section of participants, and possibly generate a critical mass of interest and awareness that could be used to pull together a more structured conference at a later date.
Hey Pat,
ReplyDeleteThis is a really late comment but have you checked out the www2007 conference in Banff (www.www2007.org)?
Tim
Patrick,
ReplyDeleteBanff plays host to one of the preeminent events for digital content producers in North America -- nextMEDIA: The Future of Digital Content (June 8 - 10, 2007, Banff, AB).
Confirmed speakers include:
Joanna Drake Earl, President, New Media, Current TV; Dale Herigstad, Chief Creative Officer of Schematic; and Stacey Seltzer, Senior Vice President of Content Strategy, Acquisition & Operations, Joost ... to name just a few.
For more information, go to http://www.futureofdigitalcontent.com.