InfoCamp Seattle Blog

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Why confine the awesomeness of InfoCamp to Seattle?

We would love to see InfoCamps in other cities, and we plan to support efforts to host InfoCamps elsewhere. (There’s already been an InfoCamp in Berlin!)

Aaron and Rachel led a session at InfoCamp Seattle 2009 about starting your own InfoCamp, and we plan to follow that up with an “InfoCamp Starter Kit.” The kit will include things like best practices, checklists, videos, artwork, resources, etc.

One of the resources in the starter kit will be this article from the ASIS&T Bulletin – it describes the origins of InfoCamp and gives a few tips for running one.

As we do this in our spare time on a volunteer basis, we can’t guarantee when we’ll be done with the starter kit – but rest assured, we’re working on it!

In the meantime, while we put our materials together, potential InfoCamp organizers can do three things:

1. Start looking for ways to plug into local professional organizations, because those are the places to find like-minded people. Start thinking about building a crack team of InfoCamp organizers. We suggest at minimum four people, with five as a best practice. Consider the skills and personalities you want to put together into a dream team. Don’t be afraid to approach people in your community – that’s how InfoCamp got started in Seattle!
2. Think about where your seed money is going to come from. We will provide example sponsorship documents in the kit. But for now, think about who you might approach, or what budget you might have access to through a professional, community, or academic organization. You’ll probably need a down payment on a venue to get the ball rolling.
3. Begin what might be a fairly long search for a venue. You’ll need a big auditorium space, a meal space with a staging area for catering, and at least five breakout rooms. Don’t forget to scope out space for a registration desk, coffee and snacks, and sponsor tables. See our blog post about how we chose Cleveland High School for inspiration. Remember: humans take cues about how to act from their surroundings. Therefore, the more humble and laid-back the atmosphere, the better. Skip hotels or fancy conference centers. Get creative and think schools, community centers, etc.

If you have ideas about what you would like to see in an InfoCamp Starter Kit, email info@infocamp.org or comment here and let us know!