Thanks Mike. On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 7:21 PM, Michael Amy <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi guys, > > I've got some great feedback from Thaung Su Nyein who was the organising > team leader at BarCamp Yangon 2011. This guy is calm, collected and > super-sharp. > > The summary below is the plan for the most successful BarCamp so far, in > arguably one of the most difficult countries ever to have a BarCamp. > > Some of these steps may be obvious, but note the high level of planning and > effort that they put into marketing and PR, and also into organising > volunteers. > > My notes: > > There were, as I recall, 30 organisers total and ~100 volunteers. 8 rooms > (not quite enough). Sessions were 45 mins + 15 min overrun/break. No need > for lunch break, people just left a session 15 mins early. Sessions were > smooth. At no sessions I went to did speakers need to be told they were out > of time. Schedule was topic papers on a single board, with copies on the > doors of rooms. It was easy to schedule/reschedule and easy for participants > to understand. > > Note that participants bought their own food at the canteen! Worked great! > No headache! No big rush! No left-over food! No mess to clean up. No worries > about food sponsors. No hungry participants. Everybody got food they liked. > Venue's canteen must have been happy. Only the volunteers got free food > (and, after it was all done, beer. Boy, was that bit fun :D). > > Ceremonies: > > There were opening and closing ceremonies. The closing ceremony was > grandiose but light-hearted and fun, with lots of handing out of > appreciation certificates (making volunteers proud and thus likely to help > in future), and a lucky draw with top prize of a netbook (smart move - > another reason for people to stay until the end). Some participants were > invited to talk about how the event could be improved, or their feelings of > the event. The closing ceremony was great as it looked impressive for the TV > and newspaper cameras there. It said "we were successful" in a way that the > media could easily carry. It sent forward a lot of good will and rounded the > event off tidily. > > Problems: > > Some rooms were a bit too far away from the others. BarCamp Bangkok was > better in this regard somewhat, as all the rooms were in close proximity, on > two floors. > Didn't realise where one of the rooms was until near the end. A map would > have helped. > On the first day, some people's topics, meant for day two, were put up too > early (day 1) and this caused problems. On the second day they changed > policy: sessions had to be confirmed at least 30 mins before otherwise > they'd be rescheduled. I'll need to ask them again how well this actually > worked in the end. > There was a girl there pretending to be an organiser > and deliberately trying to disrupt the event by sending people to the wrong > places. People were warned to ignore her. > > Anyway, I recommend people to have a read through this prior to the > meeting. > > Mike > > > Dear Mike, > > I'd like to thank you also for helping to organize more international > barcampers to be able to participate at this year's BarCamps in Yangon and > Mandalay. > > We value these international barcampers not just because they are > foreigners, but because they (you) live in places where there's a lot more > exposure to trends, new technologies, open technologies, youtube, new > experiences, new kinds of services, etc. > > Our network here doesn't permit us to view YouTube (the greatest learning > tool that we don't have access to now) or join WebEx conferences - due to > bandwidth and/or access policies. > > So, we can read the online articles and e-books, but without seeing a video > of something in action, we are left guessing how that goes. So, having > international barcampers come and show things to us in person, really speak > a thousand words. > > I just wanted to reiterate this to you, it's what I basically told EJ. > > Now about the organization and operation prior to BarCamp Yangon 2011, the > following is a gist of what we did. > > 1. Start announcing on Facebook that we will be re-forming a new organizing > team for the next BarCamp. Convene a meeting to form that new organizing > team 6 months before the expected date. Organize the team into clearly > defined groups with duties and responsibilities. > > 2. Choose the date for the BarCamp event. Set 2 days of weekend which does > not run into conflict with any major holidays or travel periods or final > examination dates, etc. > > 3. Book the venue after the second or third meeting once the date and venue > are confirmed. In Myanmar, a place like Myanmar Info-Tech is hard to find. > > 4. Start publicizing the event, asking for sponsors. Keep updating Facebook > pages and official website regularly. Issue press releases. Keep ourselves > in the news by coming up with new activities (e.g. Logo competition!, > T-Shirt design contributions requested, etc.). > > 5. Hold a couple of press conferences. Time the first one so that your > marketing group can start going around to potential sponsors as the first > major wave of publicity hits the news papers. Time the second one so that > any remaining sponsor slots can be filled and potential volunteers are made > aware that BarCamp is xx weeks away. > > 6. Post notices at nearby universities or large training centers, about a > month or so before BarCamp. > > 7. Hold a Pre-BarCamp a week before BarCamp. This is basically the first > time when volunteers are open invited and asked to come in and register. > Make sure Pre-BarCamp date, time and place are announced as widely as > possible. We had about 140 volunteers show up for BCY11. > > 8. At Pre-BarCamp, explain to volunteers about upcoming event, the > organizer team's preparations, the roles the volunteers are expected to help > out in. Define clearly each volunteer type's duties and responsibilities. > > 9. Hire a video documentary team to document both PreBC and BarCamp. > > 10. Friday before BarCamp, all organizers and volunteers are asked to come > in at 8am and work throughout the day. Most volunteers do not have to stay > the whole day. But they should come in and pick up their badges, get > briefings from their leaders, etc. > > 11. The organizer team setup: > Team Leader > Coordinator > - Assistant Coordinator > Group Leaders > - Admin Group (arrange productions of t-shirts, vinyl banners, venue, food, > etc.) > - Marketing Group (get sponsors and raise funds) > - PR & Web Group (publicity, website, press releases) > - Tech Support Group (network setup) > - Finance Group (keep accounts) > > 12. Volunteers roles: > - Medical (doctors on standby for medical emergencies) > - Planners (decoration, arrangements) > - Room Coordinators (2 volunteers assigned to each room, make sure speakers > arrive and leave on time) > - Tech Support (projectors, network, laptops) > - Translators (translate for international barcampers) > - Media (handle media requests, press interviews) > - Registration desk (accept registration forms, hand out delegate packages) > > 13. Raise enough money to pay for venue, food for volunteers (participants > buy their own food), arrange outside food sellers to come in and sell (with > 3000 participants, the regular restaurants at the venue can't handle the > crowd!). > > 14. Invite IT persons from other cities and countries to join. > > 15. Have point/contact persons for everything. > > 16. Make cool delegate packages to attract participants. > > 17. Days before BarCamp, start promoting heavily on online and offline > media, about all the cool things that are going to happen at BarCamp. > > 18. Hold monthly organizer team meetings where everyone attends. Also hold > irregular impromptu meetings with key persons for urgent matters. > > 19. Setup a group email in Google Groups. All communications can be > searched later in this one place. > > > I've CC'ed the group leaders and key persons here, so you can ask them > directly for more information. > > > - Coordinator "Mr Tin Htoo Khaing" <[email protected]> > - Assistant Coordinator "Mr Wayne Wai Lin Tun" < > [email protected]> > - Admin Group Leader "Mr Aung Myo Lwin (Agga) " <[email protected]> > - Marketing G Leader "Mr ZawZaw myolwin" <[email protected]> > - PR G Co-Leader "Ms Htaike" <[email protected]> > - PR G Leader "Mr Nyi Lynn Seck" <[email protected]> > - Tech G Leader "Mr Ravi Chhabra" <[email protected]> > - Finance G Leader "Ms Myint Myint Nwe" <[email protected]> > > > thanks and hope to see you again at next year's BCY, > tsn > > > > On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 2:50 PM, Michael Amy <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Dear Thaung Su Nyein, >> >> Thanks for organising BarCamp Yangon 2011, it was a great success and the >> international participants were honoured and grateful to be part of it. >> >> As you know, John Berns was the main organiser of BarCamps in Bangkok so >> far, but has now moved to Singapore. Jordan is starting to think about >> organising the next BarCamp in Bangkok. >> >> I believe we have a lot to learn from how BarCamp Yangon was organised. I >> think that part of the success of BarCamp in Yangon comes from a massive >> demand for such an event, but also from having effective marketing and PR >> teams. BarCamp Bangkok 4 had, as far as I know, minimal marketing effort, >> and faced many problems in organisation. >> >> Can you share with us any of your experience to help us to create a better >> event in Bangkok? >> >> In particular I'd like to know what teams there were, how those teams were >> structured and how they communicated at and before the event. What meetings >> were held, how long did the planning take and what problems needed to be >> solved? Who were the marketing people so I ask them questions directly? >> >> Thanks for your time, >> >> Best regards, >> >> Mike Amy >> >> > On 24 Feb 2011, at 2:06, j0rd wrote: > > I just came back from Barcamp Yangon 2011. It was attended by many > organizers of Barcamp Bangkok. The topic came up "what the heck are we going > to do for Barcamp Bangkok", so I figured we'd schedule a *Barcamp Bangkok > 2010 - Wrap up* meeting to start the ball rolling. > > To try and keep this meeting brief and focused, this meeting is *only open > to those who have helped organize Barcamp Bangkok in the past*. Even if > you're not planning on assisting with Barcamp 2011, please show up. > > *To keep things on topic, I'd like people to prepare a list of items on:* > ** * What issues we faced at Barcamp Bangkok 2010 and how can we resolve > them for 2011. > > I'm not interested in seeing issues brought up, which you do not have > creative and feasible solutions for. > > > At the end of the meeting, I'd like the group to decide on what > organizational groups we will need (marketing, accounting, web) and what > their duties will be. > > Following the wrap up meeting, we will plan a real Barcamp Bangkok 2011 > organizers meeting, which will be open to all those who would like to assist > with Barcamp Bangkok 2011. > > The meeting will be held on *Wednesday, March 2nd (7pm) at Bug and Bee > coffee shop* in Silom (Sala Daeng BTS Station), Top Floor. If you can not > make the meeting, please prepare your list of issues and solutions and email > them to me on March 1st and I'll present them on your behalf to the group. > > For more information about the venue please visit this link: > http://www.bugandbee.com/02ourshopSilom.htm > > PLEASE RSVP by responding "+1" as soon as possible so I can reserve some > space at Bug and Bee. > > Cheers, > Jordan > > -- > Barcamp Bangkok 4: October 23-24, 2010 > More details at http://www.barcampbangkok.com/ > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Barcamp Thailand" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/barcamp-thailand?hl=en > > > -- > Barcamp Bangkok 4: October 23-24, 2010 > More details at http://www.barcampbangkok.com/ > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Barcamp Thailand" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/barcamp-thailand?hl=en > -- Barcamp Bangkok 4: October 23-24, 2010 More details at http://www.barcampbangkok.com/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Barcamp Thailand" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/barcamp-thailand?hl=en
