We attended Freelance Camp San Francisco over the weekend. It's part of a broader Freelance Camp effort aimed at providing "accurate information and community support that empowers people to run a successful independent business."
Freelance Camp is modeled on BarCamps, which are open, participatory workshop-events. Content is provided by participants and the day consists of sessions proposed by attendees with the schedule created on site the morning of the event.
Basically you show up, help pick the sessions and break into small groups and exchange information. Space is generally limited and costs low. Freelance Camp SF cost $30 and sold out. There were about 80 attendees.
Yes, it sounds chaotic. But if the organizers do their job, these events are usually outstanding. Kudos to NextSpace Coworking, who organized and hosted this camp. They did a great job.
We've attended a lot of camp events, and overall we like them better than traditional conferences. They are highly interactive, leading to more opportunities to meet and interact with the other participants. And we are always impressed by the content.
In addition to exchanging information, there's also a social side to camps. Like many of the camps, Freelance Camp SF had an after party, and an after, after party.
There is a Chicago Freelance Camp planned for June 29th and Santa Cruz camp in October. Visit the Freelance.org site for details. You can also host your own Freelance Camp - click here for details.
We'll post some of our learnings from Freelance Camp later this week.
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