SocialDevCamp East: Your To Do List

Hey folks,

I can't tell you how excited we are about SocialDevCamp East on Saturday. We've heard from so many of you saying that this is exactly the event you wanted, and we have high hopes that we'll have an engaging event that we'll want to repeat in the fall.

We've been busy doing all kinds of things in preparation. As this is a user-powered un-conference, here's your to-do list:

1) Visit the wiki page at http://barcamp.pbwiki.com/SocialDevCampEast

2) Be sure you're signed up as an attendee (or volunteer or sponsor) on the Wiki page (password is c4mp); if you do not list yourself there, there *will not* be enough food for everyone.

2) Know where you're going. Study the map and photos on the Wiki page.

3) Bug your friends. If there are people who *should* be at this event that are not listed, please reach out to them. We want smart people with interesting perspectives. Be sure they are there.

4) If you're not coming, please use Facebook to indicate that now; we need as accurate a picture as possible so we have room for everyone who wants to be there.

5) *Think* about the sessions you want to propose and/or lead. Remember, this is an unconference. Everybody should be prepared to lead and share. Lurking is strongly discouraged.

6) Be prepared to make a monetary contribution of at least $10-$20 (if you are not already a sponsor). While a contribution is not mandatory, we are over $1000 in the red right now. If everyone pitches in $10-$20, we can cover all of our costs and have some funds to cover some more food and beer at the afterparty.

7) Bring your brain. Seriously, don't leave home without it. Everyone is expected to contribute.

SDCE will be featured on WYPR 88.1FM Baltimore this afternoon at 5:30pm, on the Digital Café with Mario Armstrong. We'll have some other press at the event as well. This is a great opportunity to showcase all the activity in our region! It's not all about the valley!

We are at over 160 people now and this should allow us to have some great conversations.

Looking forward to seeing ALL of you on Saturday!

Sincerely,

Dave, Ann, Keith, and Jennifer

Tip: Be with People who Love what You Love

This morning, I attended another of Jeff Pulver's Social Media Breakfasts.

Every time I go, I end up risking a parking ticket. The metered spots are invariably for 2 hours, and 10AM comes almost instantaneously. I can't tear myself away to go mind the meter; been lucky, so far.

At these events, I'm continuously engaged with friends new and old; like-minded people who love ideas like I do, and who can bat them around like tennis pros.

If you're like me, you find this kind of intense interaction to be exhilarating and stimulating.

This is what we want to facilitate at SocialDevCamp East -- a thoughtful conversation about new ideas and how to realize them. We want to discuss the future in an informed way, synthesizing the lessons of the past with today's emerging trends. We want to include economics, psychology, and design in this discussion. And iPhone and Rails and Twitter.

Anyway, if this sounds like a conversation you want to have, we guarantee that SocialDevCamp is going to be a blast, and that the day (and the party afterwards) will be a blur. A good blur; a blur you can leverage in the form of new ideas, relationships, and opportunities.

We want to thank our two newest sponsors: AwayFind.com and WebConnection.com. Also thanks to David Kirkpatrick, Senior Technology Editor at Fortune magazine, for attending.

Looking forward to seeing you and your ideas in Baltimore on May 10th!

Sincerely,
Dave, Ann, Keith, and Jennifer

SocialDevCamp East, May 10 in Baltimore

The last few weeks have been really busy. So much has been going on I haven't had time to blog.

Since last time, I've launched a new company called Roundhouse Technologies and helped to organize an unconference here in Baltimore called SocialDevCamp East.

I'll be talking about Roundhouse Technologies in more detail in the coming weeks. In the meantime, it's important to get the word out about SocialDevCamp, as it's coming up fast -- on May 10.

SocialDevCamp will be held in Baltimore and is an unconference focused on the future of the social web. We're looking for developers and thought leaders who are interested in imagining the future of the web, not just where it is today.

While "monetizing Facebook applications" might have been a good topic for six months ago, we're after a little deeper reflection than that. What are the long term implications of platforms like Facebook? What effect will Google's Application Engine have on creativity? What direction is the ideation, funding, and liquidity process going in? Do we need to create new paths to liquidity, as some have suggested?

SocialDevCamp is an unconference, so the agenda is not cast in stone; we'll form the agenda based on the interests of the attendees. It's also free to participants. Our costs will be covered by some sponsors; we need sponsors. My new company is one, but we could use more. Please email me at dave at roundhousetech dot com.

Why is SocialDevCamp East in Baltimore? It's central to DC, Philly and pretty accessible to NY and Boston. Our hope is to draw deep thinkers from each of these markets. This kind of conversation is happening much more frequently on the west coast, but as a friend of mine recently said with tongue firmly in cheek, "the people in San Francisco are all smoking the same air." There's something to that. We have an opportunity to have a thoughtful, realistic conversation that's influenced by reflection and not so much by what might be happening on Sand Hill Road.

We expect to have about 100 people. Please spread the word. We're planning to have four separate break out session periods, plus lunch and an after party. We hope you can make it to what should be a great event!

Sign up to attend with the event page on Facebook and the Barcamp PBWiki event page.

And if you know someone who would be a great fit for the event, please pass on the word. We're really looking forward to meeting all of the fantastic thinkers in our midst here on the east coast.

And yes, the venue has not yet been confirmed, but we're working that now. We'll update as soon as we have more specific details.