Barcamp Debut

After a over a year of expounding on BarCamps and unconferences, I finally attended one — BarCamp MU3. Well, I got there very late, 11.52 am. It took a bit of searching and a dusty road ride to find the venue…KJ Somaiya Institute of Engineering and Information Technology at Sion. “BarCamp?” I asked a bunch of students who were busy preparing for some kind of concert in the evening as part of the college fest, Surge. “Fifth floor,” came the reply. Couldn’t find the elevator, so sprinted (huffed and puffed) all the way up. And I was inside a BarCamp.

So what does a BarCamp at the university level look like? A bunch of maybe forty guys and girls, not all of them students, sitting at their desks and taking in the presentation going on up front. I felt I was back in college and late for class. Couldn’t figure out much of what was being said — Linkin Park drifted in from the fest below — and besides, I don’t really understand technology. But, the mood was nice. Speakers took questions or opinions from other participants at regular intervals, some became extended conversations and I finally saw first hand how an unconference actually works. Will not miss the big one — BarCamp Mumbai3 — on the 29th of March at IIT Powai.

Chatted a bit with the guys who put the show together — Saumil Parekh and gang (in photo). Saumil himself is a final year student and alongwith friend Maulik Shah, has set up a web design company, Cafe Infotech, which he says is an interim thing before he joins his family business. I hope he considers entrepreneurship as a longer term option. This was Mumbai’s third university-level BarCamp and next time I hope to spend more time and catch some students who could turn into future startup entrepreneurs.

Also got a glimpse of what the ‘One Laptop One Child’ machine looks like and I missed talking to the dude using it but will track him down. The machine is too cute for words, looks like a child’s lunch box. I want. Check out details of the project here.