Inside View from Ireland: Essential CreativeCamp Learnings

WHILE DRIVING BACK from Kilkenny after a day-long CreativeCamp, I mulled over a few things that I think ought to feature the next time the campers meet up in Kilkenny. I don't think the team of Ken, Tom, and Keith can take on any more workload to facilitate these ideas so I'm offering myself as a go-to guy to explore and then deliver on at least one of these learnings.

The first concerns the use of video. I've scraped some screens from a few videos that I did today and I put them here to lead off with the idea that some parts of the day--and not the sessions themselves--should be recorded to video. I think it's tedious to watch a small head on a screen at the front of a room babble on about really important things. If the video cannot be TED-quality, it should be killed when suggested. That said, it's much easier to produce high-quality four-minute conversations that will attract meaningful attention on the day and long after the event is finished. I tried two short hallway clips while in Creative Camp. I chose an area that was too lively so if video shorts are to feature in a Kilkenny camp, I think they should be made in a quiet space that includes some sound dampeners and a background that tells a story.

I have a few other thoughts after the jump.

Offer a creche or activities for kids. The barcamp movement in Ireland remains too single-oriented. It attracts single bums onto seats which ensures it's a little like an industry event, except it holds its meet-ups on weekends. During today's CreativeCamp, several articulate voices advocated a creche for attendees. This is a serious undertaking, one that could be delivered just like at Reboot. As the keeper of the Schoolworks syllabus, I have a day-long set of activities that pre-teens might enjoy doing while their parents attended CreativeCamp somewhere else in the city. I believe this is an essential service because it's the kind of thing the campers need to try if they really want to get moms out to these weekend events. You don't need to be a geek to be creative and CreativeCamp needs to keep a diverse audience.

Encourage qualified microbloggers to shadow the main events. I enjoy reading the summaries of Walter Higgins, Gabriela Avram and Tom Raftery when they tweet or add their commentary to Jaiku channels. You could actually stitch together an accurate after-action report of CreativeCamp if you got high-quality microblogged summaries of main points as they arose. If this happened on Jaiku or FriendFeed, you could thread comments. This social skill remains an important goal of my first year Media Writing class, where I notice that most students simply cannot listen and write succinctly. This suggests they cannot take effective notes during lectures.

Record sessions to help archive the messages. As Conn O Muineachain, Mike Kiely, and Brian Greene have proven for companies engaging their services, recorded audio clips help archive important events. I would like to have an hour-long podcast made from each CreativeCamp. Doing that would take some audio engineering and some post-production. We have third year students with the gear and the skills to do this kind of thing.

Get the photographers on site. People like Debbie Ryan, Claire Wilson, and Nicola Corboy can make ordinary people look very photogenic. We should help get these people photographers into the flow of things, perhaps overlapping their coverage since it's very likely that a single photographer will run out of storage space for their shots even before the day is halfway finished.

Ban computers at some sessions. I believe some of the most effective conversations that happen during meet-ups occur without the use of computers. We should have a room with comfortable seating--perhaps just with cushions on a floor--where we talk about compelling things. I don't think this needs to be encumbered with an internet connection nor does it need to have a data projector. Just good conversation and contributions from the floor.

Whether any of these things happen in the future depends largely upon the staff of Tipperary Institute, the Waterford Institute of Technology and IT Carlow deciding that they will row in and lend support. That collaborative effort alone would be a welcome side effect of the next CreativeCamp in Kilkenny.

Previously: "Engaging the conversation"
My CreativeCamp photos
Qik video with Gerry Flynn. There are several Qik videos from CreativeCamp at Qik.com/topgold.
Ken McGuire -- "Getting set for CreativeCamp"
Gabriela Avram -- "At CreativeCamp in Kilkenny"
CreativeCamp as seen by FriendFeed.