Barcamp Vientiane coming - gathering of tech experts, nerds and geeks

There was a break, mainly because of some international conferences in Vientiane, but the Barcamp Vientiane is back. It will be held on March 23rd at the National University of Laos, Campus Sokpaluang, Department of Science and Technology ('opposute Korean Embassy, just follow the signs). A Barcamp is a gathering of people interested in technology. You don't need to be a programmer or developer, but you need to be interested (or even passionate) about technology. There is no pre-agenda, a barcamp organize itself. So if there is a topic you want to talk about, just show up in the morning, grab a pen and write down your topic on the time table. Registration is open already, and its free! For some more information (maps etc) go the the website http://barcampvientiane.org/ and/or watch this video

Barcamp Vientiane 2010: What a huge success

I am organizing Barcamps since three years now, and people always asking me, how to measure the success. I usually answer: "If anyone is happy, it's a success". An I mean it. It is not so much about the numbers of participants (Barcamp Bangkok and Yangon looking now for ways to actually reduce the number), or how many sessions.



I would call Barcamp Vientiane a huge success: First of all, we proved that this concept works in Laos. Even if it took a while when the participants started to write the topics on the agenda, finally we had around 36 session. Half of them were in Lao language. Then, from the member of the organizing teams point of view, it went incredible smooth. I can't say what went wrong. People helped cleaning up in the end, Internet connection was working (thanks to TIGO again for the backup line). The food was awesome (thanks to Nin and his family). What surprised me a lot was the enthusiasm and the engagement of our volunteers. They usually have a bad job sitting on the reception desk or pointing directions for newcomers and don't have so much time to listen to the sessions. A big applause and Kudo to the volunteers! It's by the way interesting to see that after Barcamp particpants started to connect each other on Facebook in a large scale. We also had people form Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore and Hongkong - that shows that we are now part of the SE Asia Barcamp community.

What about the quality of sessions?
First of all, I think quality isn't the right term. More important and correct is the learning and sharing level, and this was high. From Business development (thanks to Chris Brown) to Lao translation in Google, Iphone App development, How to setup Android Dev on MAC, win, LINUX , to IT for investment and Finance, BarcampVTE, how BarcampVTE begin?, "My hotel sucks! how to plan travel online THE right way", Mindmap (that's only some of the English sessions). Rooms were crowded and that means people were quite interested. The complete schedule on Barcampvientiane.org
We had some money left for a nice After-Barcamp-Dinner were we invited the organizers, the volunteers and our guests from the neighboring countries.



What's next?
Personally I think we will have a next Barcamp in 2011. People already talking about another Barcamp in Pakse and/or Luang Prabang. Why not?

For Vientiane I would like to establish a ICT-Community gathering, like the tweet ups in Vietnam or the Meeting at T&C-Coffee in Cambodia or Beercamp in Thailand. I think it is important to meet at the same place, something like a coffeeshop or restaurant, that is affordable for Lao people. Casablanca on Rue Asian could be such a place.

This gatherings should enable the community to stay connected in real life, not just through Facebook or Twitter. It is always better to meet face to face. A quick survey with our volunteers showed me that Saturday late afternoon (5pm) might be a good time. We should eye two hours, if someone want's to stay longer, no problem.


If your are interested in participating in these gathering, leave me a message in the comments or on my facebook page!

Barcamp Vientiane 2010 Trailer

Barcamp Vientiane here we go - first Lao Barcamp

Thanks to John Berns and the guys from Meking ICT we managed to have a meeting in Vientiane talking about a Barcamp yesterday. We met at Lao garden, and beside John and me 8 guys (and one girl) from the Lao community showed up. Good news for a possible Barcamp, everyone is excited and interested, Thanks to Instead, we already have a sponsor.

You can follow us on barcampvientiane.org (content will be created in the next days). We are now looking for venues and we have to check government regulations for this kind of events.

Possible date is August or September, we want to check first with our Cambodia friends to avoid any collision with the Barcamp Phnom Penh 3.

Stay tuned for more info.