This past Saturday I attended, after about 5 months of planning & work, BarCamp Nashville 2011, my first-ever BarCamp and my 3rd Nashville camp. I must now admit to being absolutely, delightfully exhausted. 6 hours of camp, after 6 weeks of active email-wrangling, after 16 weeks of planning and positioning… and I’m looking for someone to stick a fork in me.
I have held my tongue on commentary though the whole experience because I find, like with so much else in my life, that I usually need at least one time to sit back and observe quietly before I’m ready to commit to an opinion. I’m glad to find myself, now, on the other end of my first BarCamp, so that I finally feel like I have a confident grasp of the whole affair.
Conclusion?
AWESOME.
The whole experience – planning, volunteering, attending – was challenging and satisfying on both a social and a professional level. Not only was I surrounded by people who are just my speed – geeks for marketing, tech, apple products, Nashville and beer – but I got the chance to work with them on projects where I could experiment with new tools (MailChimp… which I’m planning to use for my own corporate emailing), build my experience with familiar tools (O! Emma, how I adore you!) and discover even more things to explore (Exact Target & CoTweet, I’m lookin’ at you!
My day at BarCamp consisted of set-up (where my feet actually stuck to the floor in Karma Lounge as I unfolded & arranged chairs), room monitoring in Karma and then a quick lunch before bowing out to attend the Vandy tailgate.
I got to listen to Marcus Whitney, of Moontoast, tell the story of his start-up (inspiring. Flat-out inspiring! From a personal and professional perspective) and Brad McCarty tell me how to pitch myself
I can’t wait for PodCamp 2012!
