On Saturday 16 April 2016, the third Plzen Barcamp took place. I was glad to come again, meet familiar and new faces, and enjoy the whole day. I even finally made time for the afterparty. If you are interested in my impressions from the day, read on.
Plzen Barcamp had already become a traditional spring event. From the moment it was announced, I had the date reserved in my calendar and had tentatively agreed with Endis Wagnerova that I would contribute my own session: a machine-learning workshop.
That defined my programme for the previous week: invent the workshop content, prepare materials, put together slides, and handle many small details. On Friday before the Barcamp I finished the slides for the sample machine-learning task and could head to the Science and Technology Park in Plzen’s West End the next morning with a good feeling.
Registration was fine, ordering lunch was fine too, and then I headed for coffee with Franta Kohout from Galosoft. For me it had become something of a tradition: world-class coffee from a certified barista at a Barcamp has style. I quickly checked the workshops and saw that I would have an audience, which was good news.
The first talk I attended was Martina Macakova’s From Idea to Realisation. Neither Martina nor I started particularly well. I spilled coffee on the woman sitting behind me, and Martina struggled with the presentation setup. I did not have enough patience, which was my mistake, and went to look at drones in the lobby.
At eleven, Franta Kohout spoke about coffee non-culture in the Czech Republic. It was a very good talk: strong slides and fine storytelling. If you like coffee and missed it, you missed a lot.
At noon, without changing rooms, I met Marketa Jedlickova and her NAO robot. The talk was excellent. The robot sat opposite me the whole time and watched me mischievously. I was glad that such things are available to children and adults, can be programmed nicely, including in my favourite Python, and that Marketa does good work with children at the Digital Skills House.
Lunch followed in VTP style: a little chaotic and with limited space. The schnitzel was eaten, which was the goal. After lunch I had a short break and tried the new relaxation room. A great idea. I vote for a relaxation room at every conference.
My own workshop became a little tangled because of a room change. Due to a larger audience and a missing projector, we moved into another empty room. The audience was great: you interacted, asked questions, and paid attention. At three o’clock Kolda looked in and told us we were occupying a room needed for another workshop. We therefore moved, in a slightly punk manner, into the relaxation room. I lost part of the audience on the way, but the important parts were covered and the slides with examples are on GitHub, including the Jupyter Notebook with formatted text. Thanks again for attending and paying attention, and sorry for the confusion.
After the workshop I went to see Endis talk about organising Barcamp-style events. In the questions, Endis described that year’s Budejovice Barcamp as her most successful event, and I could only agree.
Petr Ferschmann followed with a talk on intelligent electrical installations. It was showman-like, practical, and instructive. The production stories were very good. The lesson: do not lose the source code for your own house.
After the talks I got rid of the car and backpack and went to the afterparty by public transport. Here I want to praise another novelty: shuttle buses connected Borska pole with the city centre. Without the workshop I would have come light, without a laptop, and definitely used the shuttle.
The afterparty was at The P.U.B. in Plzen. The surprise of the evening came right at the beginning: a performance by twerking dancers. I admired the dancers for standing in front of such a crowd. Later, a very heated debate broke out about whether this belonged at a Barcamp afterparty. My reaction then was simple: it was an afterparty. If we continued like that, next time we might ban alcohol and animal products as well, and what would be left?
Several Plzen beers washed away the sad reactions, and I went home with the feeling: Barcamp was good, come again.
Thanks to Jirka, Endis, Veronika, Jakub, Petr, and everyone else who had the courage to organise it. See you again next year, for the fourth time.
Positives
- A packed programme of talks and workshops
- Good atmosphere
- Good organisation
- Shuttle buses
- Relaxation room
- Baguettes, Tesla, stands, people, afterparty, and many other small things
Negatives
- Some people do not value the Barcamp enough: many register and then do not come
- Minor confusion around lunch
- It is genuinely impossible to see everything, although maybe that is a positive