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DemoCamp – TorCampDemoCamp5 Toronto – A Virgin Deflowered

You would think with all of my blah blah blah on this Blog that I would be traveling all over the world and experiencing the new meet-up community known as BarCamp or DemoCamp. Not true. Not until today.
En route to Toronto for Search Engine Strategies, I got an email from Ken over at One Degree who invited me to DemoCamp Toronto – aka TorCampDemoCamp5, which took place tonight.
I was a BarCamp and DemoCamp virgin. I’m not ashamed to admit it.
Here’s how the BarCamp wiki describes the whole BarCamp DemoCamp:
“BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees.”
So, someone starts a wiki and invites people to show up, demo their wares and tell the world about it. It’s chill. There’s water for all. People are calm, cool, collected and connected (there was no wireless access last night – the only flaw). Unless a discussion breaks out about the virtues of Java versus Ruby On Rails (oh! snap! no you did not).
There were a lot of people at DemoCamp Toronto – TorCampDemoCamp5 and I love the strict rules: you get fifteen minutes (on the clock) – ten to present, five for questions. No PowerPoint – you have to demo.
All of the presentations were impressive and you can check out who signed up at the wiki: DemoCamp Toronto – TorCampDemoCamp5.
The biggest surprise: no HR people. You would think at a time when great resources were so scarce that head hunters would be flocking in droves to DemoCamp.
It was an amazing eye-opener, and here’s my big question: who would like to set up BarCamp Montreal and DemoCamp Montreal with me?
Let’s grow this type of community and create a long tail riot.
Thanks to Ken for making this evening “eyes wide open.”

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.