It’s been awhile since I mentioned my desire to host a local BarCamp NewsInnovation in Miami, but it’s never been far from my mind.
It’s going to happen, for sure, and I’ve considered a number of options for when and where it should take place.
After much thought and discussion with a few people (special thanks to Alex de Carvalho), I see two good possibilities. I would greatly appreciate any feedback, particularly from locals who would like to attend.
Here’s the dilemma: To link with BarCamp Miami 2009 + WordCamp (RSVP) OR to link with Communication Week 2009 at the University of Miami’s School of Communication.
Pros of Feb. 21 (Comm Week)
- Three built-in cameras for Web streaming
- Mics in the ceiling so everyone in audience can be heard online
- Wireless lavs for session leaders
- Free Wi-Fi and outlets for everyone (~100 seats in the room I’ve tentatively reserved. We could go to a bigger room, but we’d lose outlets)
- Higher student and professor turnout likely*
- BCNI Portland will be on Feb. 21 and Daniel Bachhuber has proposed having the two hook up via the interwebs to discuss a topic
Pros of Feb. 22 (BarCamp Miami + WordCamp)
- People will already be there, including some news folks
- Non-journos will be there, allowing for different perspectives
- The Arsht Center is a bigger venue
- There’s already a ton of South Florida buzz about this, whereas Comm Week buzz is isolated to UM
Even though fewer pros are listed for Feb. 22, it seems to be a better option for BCNIM because of the type of people who already plan to attend and the fact that it’s already a well-known event. All that would be needed now is a push to get more news people to attend.
Also, I figure we could always do a follow-up version at UM if there’s enough interest.
*If it were at UM, there would be efforts to promote it local news organization and other schools.
WEIGH IN: What should we do? BCNI Miami during Comm Week or as part of BarCamp Miami?
For more info on BarCamp NewsInnovation, check out the wiki.
Whereas I think it would be pretty cool to do a link up on the 21st, it sounds like the 22nd might be a better location and scenario. On top of that, if you livestreamed it the people at NewsInnovationPDX could watch on Sunday + you could build upon the conversations we have on Saturday. In fact, we could livestream part of Saturday for you guys at Comm Week. Thoughts?
PS You should install subscribe to comments…
Subscribe to comments WP plugin:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/subscribe-to-comments/
That’s quite the dilemma Greg. Either day you plan it, I’ll plan to attend since I’ll be down that weekend for BarCamp and FOWA.
When we had a BarCamp in Orlando last year, the planners split the event into a “Media Day” and a “Dev Day.” Unfortunately, the media day wasn’t a success since the event didn’t draw too many media creators and only about three people from the news biz (all of whom were from the Orlando Sentinel).
Then again, Miami is probably a different crowd from Orlando, and it is interesting to hear perspectives from techies not specifically in the news business instead of having yet another echo chamber-like event.
By the way, I can’t find a thing online about Comm Week 2009.
@Daniel: Comm Week actually ends Feb. 19, but they would have unofficially extended it for BCNIM.
I had it installed, but not activated — it is now (I think I deactivated it because it broke something awhile back).
@Danny: Splitting it is a possibility, but I wouldn’t want to segregate the newsies and techies :)
Yeah, they don’t have anything online for Comm Week 2009 yet. This is last year’s site:
http://com.miami.edu/comweek