Countdown to BarCamp Houston 2008!!!

In 2008, Houston’s finally seemed to break through the public relations barrier on the national stage with some major dap provided but such notables as Forbes, Newsweek, and Kiplingers. The tech community is thriving, entrepreneurs are coming out of the woodworks and we seem to be getting some traction on the venture capital front (more on this at a later date.) So what could make things get any better?

BarCamp baby!!!

For those of you not familiar with the BarCamp concept, think of it as an open-source conference where subject matter and presentations are determined by the conference attendees the day of the event. The day can start on one path and end somewhere left of Tibet. It is a fantastic place to network, get to know your fellow community members and take the opportunity to present an idea or conept that you feel is ripe for discussion. Before you get too excited, let me tell you what else we have in store for the weekend.

Friday night, August 8, kicks the weekend off with the Startup Houston Happy Hour on a Friday instead of the usual first Thursday. The event will be at Caroline Collective and will include drinks provided by us through BarCamp’s sponsors. We’re still working on the details but plan to show up around 6PM and we’ll go to until we get kicked out. Alongside of us will be the Houston Business Meetup Group and AIR Houston who’s members have been invited to join us for the event. Should be an awesome party!

Saturday morning, BarCamp begins at the Houston Technology Center. A debt of thanks go out to Walter Ulrich and Marc Nathan for making this happen with little notice (our other site choices didn’t pan out.) Marc has assured us that this year we will have free range of the building to use multiple conference rooms and not be confined to the downstairs like we were last year. Parking might still be tight but since the event is free, suck it up!

Thanks to our sponsors this year, we have raised enough money to also bring lunch in for the event. Check out the wiki for updates but I am ordering BBQ for everyone so the more accurate count I can get before the event, the more likely there will be enough food for everyone. You can still saunter out for your own fare, but you may miss the craziness so go at your own risk.

After the day simmers down, we will then kick things back up and head over to Caroline Collective again to wrap up the festivities. Hopefully, we will not go through all the drinks we squared away for the weekend but if we do, we’ll figure things out.

Bottom line here, folks: miss this event at your own peril. Last year’s BarCamp was a seminal event and this one will exceed expectations…but only if you come!

‘Nuff said.