I still have very fuzzy memories about the morning this happened. It was September 2009, and I had been wrangled into speaking at something called Barcamp at the Tampa USF campus by my friend Julia Gorzka. She'd signed me up for a panel to talk about media, marketing, changes in the industry, whatever. Another day, another panel. I was assured it was no big deal, "in and out."
Was I ever in for a goddamn shock.
My chauffer (Ms. Gorzka) and I arrived at the lobby of the Business building around 8:45 a.m. (a good 15 minutes before we were supposed to "go on") only to find there were no session names listed anywhere at eye level. No speakers' photos on display on flimsy wooden easels. No moderators assembling their notes and tending to their panelists. No sense of order whatsoever. Worse yet, my name and photo was not on any programs, collateral materials, table-top placards or imprinted plastic lanyards that I could take home and hang on my bookshelf. There was no catered breakfast or VIP area for the scheduled speakers. There were no speakers, there wasn't even a schedule. I was in a tailspin. Julia had lied to me!
"What is this place? And what the hell is going on?," I thought.
The unwashed masses – the public, for God's sake – were simply being allowed to sign up (first come, first served) and create topics of discussion on the spot, organizing panels on subjects ranging from iPhone development to e-commerce to online publishing with whomever happened to be hanging around. It was a fucking uprising! I'm not even going to talk about the "hula hoop thing."
This article appears in Sep 2-8, 2010.