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I’ve never been to Blackpool before, so when the excuse of BarCamp Blackpool came along, I jumped at the chance. And since it’s a long way away, and the BarCamp was only on for one day, we took the opportunity to make a weekend of it, arriving in Friday evening and staying until Monday afternoon.

On arrival, we took a walk along the prom to see the sites and stretch legs after a long journey. Yes, Blackpool is a little tacky, but it’s great fun if you take it at face value and appreciate its quirky English seaside charms! We were also there at the right time of year  for the illuminations [right], which were certainly a site to see.

The BarCamp itself was held in the conference suite at the Pleasure Beach Casino – a great venue right in the heart of the town. We had three big rooms to use and the views from the 1st floor balcony at lunchtime were fantastic!

Alistair brought BarCamp Wifi-In-A-Box™ along, aka some wifi routers, cable and power in a wheelie suitcase. Once set up, it worked impeccably all day. I had Mr Duck [left]  helping me on the registration table – and showing off one of the inspired bits of schwag we all got – BarCamp Blackpool branded rock!

Evening dinner was taken at a fish and chippy a good hike away (a few folks complained how far it was to walk), but we all re-convened for a few beers and a magic show back at the Pleasure Beach afterwards. The site of @ruby_gem getting her head chopped off made quite a few of us giggle! But she didn’t deserve it – full marks for organising a friendly, fun BarCamp, we had a blast!

The plan for Sunday was originally that we would meet up at the Pleasure Beach for a go on the rollercoasters, but after “a few beers” the night before, and looking at the weather forecast for the day, we decided cowardice was the better part of valour and gave it a miss.

Instead, Alistair & I hired some chunky yellow bikes and did a spot of geocaching (in the rain) along the seafront. I think we covered about 10 miles in all. Great fun, even though we did get pretty soggy in the process. According to Alistair, that’s an occupational hazard of caching with me. Hmph.

A visit to Blackpool would not be complete without a ride on the famous Trams, (and besides, my Dad would have killed me if I’d missed out). So on Monday we took a trip all the way to Fleetwood on the rickety old ladies. We might have been looking for more geocaches along the way, I’m not telling!

All in all a great weekend, and I would recommend attending the next BarCamp Blackpool when it comes along! See all my photos from the weekend.

I’m finding this a really difficult post to write. But I hope those involved will take it as an honest account of my experiences rather than any sort of flame. It’s certainly not intended as such.

I have just been to BarCampBrighton4, and I have to say I found some aspects of it quite disappointing. I know I’m not the only one, and so that is why I’m sticking my head above the parapet with this post.

Having been on the organising committee for BarCampLondon6 and now 7, I know how much hard work is involved in running a BarCamp. And I can appreciate how dispiriting it can be to have people complaining about things when you have put so much effort into getting the thing off the ground. I do not wish to detract in any way from the achievements of the Brighton organisers, not least because of the necessity for a last-minute change of venue – a BarCamp organiser’s worst nightmare!

But I’m afraid it’s the venue which really did take the shine off things for me this time around. As a daytime session space, I thought it worked pretty well with areas spread across three floors. Some adjacent pitches were a little noisy and hard to hear the speakers, but there’s not a lot you can do about that. Where it really fell down was as an overnight venue. With no permanent lights or toilets, I personally didn’t feel it was a suitable overnight space. And I’m not just being picky, there are plenty of practicalities to take into account.

At one point in the afternoon, I was seriously considering going home early. And that’s never happened to me at a BarCamp before. I really really did not feel comfortable about staying in that building for the night. Fortunately, @vickyjo came to the rescue and very kindly agreed to our late-afternoon appeal to let myself, @tnash and @carolynlyn have some floor space at her flat, even though she was already accommodating @NeilCrosby and @alistair. So huge thanks to her for putting up with us at the last minute!

As a veteran of numerous overnight BarCamps, I’m not averse to sleeping on the floor. But it was very noticeable how many BarCamp regulars did not stay at the venue but made alternative arrangements. I wonder how many of those who I heard saying the venue was “awesome” actually had to stay there overnight themselves? Quite a few did not, but went home to the comfort of their own beds and flushing loos. And some other regulars who did stay over told me the next day that I was very wise to have gone elsewhere!

I think the main point I’m making about the venue is that the lack of basic facilities weren’t made obvious to campers before they arrived. The 3rd Sept blog post certainly made no mention of the situation with lights and portaloos. If it had (or even earlier would have been preferable), it would have been much easier for us to make up our own minds and then make alternative arrangements in good time if we felt so inclined.

Having said all that, there were plenty of good things happening during the event, and I particularly enjoyed sessions by @tobestobs (CSS3 Browser Support), @edent (Star Wars Wedding on a Budget) and the one on High Altitude Balloons – which seemed to give rather a lot of those listening some worrying ideas!!

I liked the idea of using recycled bags as schwagbags – which lead to some rather amusing images of geeks wandering around with the most inappropriate hand luggage! [see Cristiano right] And the technology swaps table also attracted some interest throughout the event. I hope there wasn’t too much old tat left at the end which the organisers had to dispose of!
[Alistair checks out a "Crap Soldering Iron" below].

After last-minute sponsors came forward, the event was also fully catered and the food was plentiful and pretty tasty. I confess I wasn’t around for the pizza on Saturday evening, so I can’t comment on that. There was an urn to make tea and coffee and self-service cold drinks. Even a couple of days before the event it was looking like we might have to buy our own lunches – which actually would not have worried me too much. But it was nice not to have to do that.

There was a good mix of old and new faces in attendance. I hope the newbies enjoyed their first BarCamp experience. And I heard lots of the regulars did enjoy themselves and had a great time. Would I go to another one at this venue? Probably, but I would make sure I had alternative accommodation arranged well in advance!

The Saturday of the August Bank Holiday weekend saw a number of geeks descend on the North London Society of Model Engineers’ track at London Colney for the first @GeekSteamBBQ.

This was one of @alistair’s mad-cap ideas, and we had immense fun driving the trains around, noshing burgers (and other burnt offerings) and generally geeking out.

Here are some pics from the day:

The Hodge driving – be afraid! Tim does look rather worried.

Neil takes charge.

The lovely Sweet Pea, steaming up.

Me driving Sweet Pea, solo - thanks to the very trusting owner, Jim MacDonald – Alistair’s dad!

I hope we can do it again next year. Until then, here are the rest of my pictures from the day.