Tech Events in Vancouver: Sept 8 - 14

If you have a tech event that you would like listed, please feel free to submit it to the Techvibes event directory. Here's what we have going on around Vancouver this week:

Vancouver Ruby/Rails Meetup

  • Mon, September 8, 2008
  • 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
  • WorkSpace

Introduction to Blogging

  • Tue, September 9, 2008
  • 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
  • Ceili's Irish Pub

BCTIA: Benchmark for Success

  • Thu, September 11, 2008
  • 10:00 AM - Fri, November 14, 2008 4:00 PM
  • BCTIA Executive Boardroom

Impact Speaker Series

  • Thu, September 11, 2008
  • 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
  • Hyatt Regency

Techvibes is pleased to be a Media Sponsor of the following events:

CIRA AGM ft. Amber MacArthur

  • Wed, September 10, 2008
  • 11:30 AM - 4:00 PM
  • Pan Pacific Hotel

Internet Marketing Conference (IMC)

  • Thu, September 11, 2008 9:00 AM
  • Fri, September 12, 2008 5:00 PM
  • Coast Plaza Hotel

Tech Events in Vancouver: Sep. 1 - 7

With the long weekend behind us, the kids back in school and a busy month ahead, here are some of the events around Vancouver (and why not, Victoria too) at the top of September.

Open Everything Conference

  • Wed, September 3, 2008 6:30 PM - Sat, September 6, 2008 1:00 PM
  • Hollyhock Centre - Cortes Island, BC

Durpal Camp Victoria

  • Fri, September 5, 2008 8:30 AM - Sat, September 6, 2008 5:00 PM
  • Gateway Village - 771 Vernon Ave, Victoria, BC

MobileCamp Vancouver 2

  • Sat, September 6, 2008 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
  • WorkSpace - 21 Water St, Vancouver, BC

"MobileCamp will follow a BarCamp style, and take place Saturday, September 6th at WorkSpace. Discussion will span multiple platforms: iPhone, Blackberry, and Symbian, plus the others that are still catching up. If you think you have a topic to contribute, it looks like there's still room for presentations or demos" - [Techvibes]

If you have an upcoming tech event, please feel free to add it to the Techvibes Event listings.

WordCamp Vancouver This September

So far Vancouver has hosted two of its own WordCamps to discusss, share, educate and collaborate using WordPress and we've even seen this event reach out into the Fraser Valley. This fall, as a part of BarCamp, WordCamp will be taking up a hefty morning slot for all of those who need their fix.

Duane Storey (of Brave New Code) and I (of sixty4media) will be spearheading WordCamp and Duane's already got the call out on his blog this morning:

If you have a topic you’re potentially interested in presenting, or have something you’d like to have talked about, please leave a note in the appropriate section on the Wiki Page (the password is c4mp). The actual people who end up presenting will be decided the morning of the event, but we’re just interested in what people would like to hear. [DuaneStorey]

We're looking forward to another successful BarCamp and hope that WordCamp will be a nice complement in this environment of learning, participation, and sharing.

BarCamp, Tents Not Necessary

Almost on a weekly basis someone asks me what's up with all the "camps" us social media people have all the time. I mean, there aren't any tents involved (except at things like DrunkCamp or CampCamp) so what's the deal with the naming of these get-togethers?

Here's a quick glossary of terms as BarCamp, BarCampBankBC, PodCamp (Montreal), and MobileCamp are all coming up next month.

- "Camp": Suggest an unconference style of meetup - full day or otherwise. The camping portion of BarCamp is to emulate FooCamp, "the annual invitation only, no-structure, no plan, tent on the lawns, hacker event hosted by publisher Tim O'Reilly." Yes, sometimes tents can actually be involved... as well as spirited beverages... that isn't the focus of BarCamp - at least not on Saturday.

- "Unconference": "A facilitated, face-to-face, and participant-driven conference centered around a theme or purpose. The term "unconference" has been applied, or self-applied, to a wide range of gatherings that try to avoid one or more aspects of a conventional conference, such as high fees and sponsored presentations." [wiki]

Whether you're thinking of planning an unconference or camp from Demo to Vino, the underlying theme is to be social. Everyone has the chance to participate by way of offering up topics, being a speaker, volunteering or live blogging / podcasting / video streaming the day's events.

Photo Credit: John Bollwitt

Vancouver Tech Events August 25-31

With the Vancouver representatives back from Gnomedex this week we only have one event listed so far:

How Drupal Can Save the World

Tuesday August 26th @ 5:30pm

If you have an tech-related event, please feel free to add it to the Techvibes Event Listing. If you're in Calgary, Edmonton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Montreal, Ottawa, Portland, Seattle, Toronto and Victoria - your events are very much welcome on the Techvibes directory as well.

Gnomedex Opens with a Vancouver Flare

For years the local tech, blog and podcasting scene has migrated south to Seattle (previously Iowa) for Gnomedex. This morning the conference opened up with a welcome from founder Chris Pirillo and was followed by a presentation from Vancouver's own Kris Krug.

You can read a recap of Krug's session on Raincity's blog as Dave Olson keeps us all up to speed. You can also find information, recaps and comments in the following places:

  • Sessions are streaming live on Chris Pirillo's Ustream
  • Flickr photos are being tagged Gnomedex08 and there is a Flickr photo pool
  • There's a Gnomedex Twitter account and Tweme
  • The Gnomedex Facebook group

    • Giant Ant Media Goes Global

    The local video studio that has brought us gems like How to Shower Like a Man or Woman, Ultimate Fighting: Home Edition, and those saucy and very friendly chocolates will soon be taking their feature-making efforts across the globe.

    Giant Ant Media will be heading to Tanzania this fall as a part of Urban Project:

    Bongo is a 12-part web series that follows 3 Canadian filmmakers as they facilitate the creation of an album with a group of young street-based artists who aspire to make it big in the East African hip-hop scene, and are trying to create a better future for themselves.

    In order to raise funds for the production, Giant Ant held a fundraiser and will host another benefit at the Anza Club on September 10th featuring the band Headwater. They are also giving all those interested the chance to "Be a Producer" by donating to their production budget.

    Urban Mixer Has All the Right Ingredients

    Raj Taneja of Urban Mixer worked his way up from being "that computer guy" in the office to running his own company across the globe in cities like Kiev and Bogota, to Hong Kong and Tokyo. After career moves and changes brought him back to Vancouver and from 2001 onward made all the right moves to acquire a unique party company. Think of "a house party with house party rules... only in a new restaurant. Invite people you would only trust coming to your home," said Raj about the exclusive nature of his first local venture to be involved with called Social Empire.

     

    read more

    Making Waves with BuddyPress

    Just last spring BuddyPress became a part of Automattic thus partnering with the creators world's number one blogging platform. [Techvibes]

    Last weekend San Francisco hosted another successful WordCamp which saw BuddyPress creator Andy Peatling of Vancouver present the social netoworking site to this large group of WordPress enthusiasts. I had the chance to touch base with Andy, who is currently still down in California, in order to learn more about BuddyPress:

     

    What is your involvement with BuddyPress? I'm a lead developer on the project, but BuddyPress is open source, so anyone is more than welcome to help out. We've had a lot of people help with testing, code donations and bug fixes so far.

    I was fortunate enough to be supported by Automattic back in March, so I'm able to work on BuddyPress 100% of the time.

    read more

    Vancouver Tech Events August 18-24

    With the hot sun beating down on Vancouver I'm somewhat thankful that in the event realm, things are a little slower leading up to the weeks ahead that will be full of networking, socials, education and knowledge sharing. However, there still are a handful of meetups around town this week that are definitely worth checking out.

    The Vancouver Django Meetup

    Tuesday August 19th @ 7:00pm

    Web Analytics Association - Money, Jobs and Opportunity

    Wednesday August 20th @ 5:00pm

    Third Tuesday Vancouver - Informal Meetup

    Wednesday August 20th @ 6:30pm (Yes, on Wednesday)

    There's also a Vancouver contingency heading south to Seattle for Gnomedex, including Derek and Airdrie Miller, as other local folks like Duane Storey and Andy Peatling will be retuning from WordCamp. It's been a busy summer and with National Digital Media Day featuring BarCamp Vancouver approaching in September, it looks as though August is simply a warm up.