I few months ago, I had a bar-b-cue at my house and invited the Internet to come over. It was the afternoon before GnomeDex and I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. I didn’t write about it much then, but the results were incredible and I hope others will do similar events.
It all stated with the guys at Bryght, who planned to come over that afternoon. I offered a BBQ and someone mentioned that I should have something for other folks coming into town. I accepted the offer and, on a whim, put an invitation on my blog, open to everyone. It was called “Pre-GnomeDex BBQ- You’re Invited�?. Word quickly spread to the GnomeDex wiki.
One the first times I felt a hint of panic was this comment from Carrick:
“You just invited the whole Interweb to your house for free beer? You are a brave man.�?
My response was:
“Yeah that's pretty much what it looks like Carrick, we'll see how this goes. :) If nothing else, it will be interesting."
As it turned out, I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people. For people who know Open Space Technology, this was great example of the first principle: Whoever comes are the right people. I was impressed and excited by the folks that came. Here’s a somewhat complete list:
- The Bryght Crew (Kris, Roland, Richard, Boris, Colin)
- Will Pate of Rain City Studios
- Scott Beale of Laughing Squid
- Gerry Caballero of AAA California
- Andy Smith of Reoriginalize
- Matt Mullenweg of Wordpress
- Josh Petersen of the Robot Coop
- Chris Pirillo of Lockergnome
- Nick Finck of Digital Web Magazine
- Pete Grondel of Microsoft
- Jay Fienberg of icite.net
- Dan Gillmor of Bayosphere
- The PubSub Group (B6b Wyman, Salim Ismail, Richard Treadway)
- Lee Hammond Geffen Records
- Marc Pincus formerly of Tribe.net
- Mike Buckbee of Feedmail
- Tom Conrad of Pandora
- Jeremy Hubert of http://www.jeremyhubert.com/
- Dylan Greene of DylanGreene.com
- Greg Narain of SparkCast
- Jordan Rule of Jordanrule.com
(I’m sorry if I missed others here)
Despite all the things that could have happened, the best things did. We had enough beer and food. The caliber of folks was high and I think we had a good time. I would surely do it again, if I was going to be around for GnomeDex 2006 that is. Not that this was anything like Bar Camp, but I think there is something about planning for spontaneity that makes things like this work.
Here are some photos, more can be found here:
Andy Face and the Crowd
Boris Mann, Grill Master
Chris Pirillo and Marc Pincus
PhotoMatt
Zinga (Mark Pincus’ Dog)
Dan Gillmor with Nick Dylan and Kris
I really appreicate everyone coming, helping out and being well-behaved. ;-) A BIG thanks for Boris Mann for manning the grill. I hope we can do it again sometime.