Barcamp Cork

I was at Barcamp Cork in the Webworks this weekend. This is a free conference for all and sundry, generally covering small business and the web.

Having never been to a Barcamp (or any conference) before I hadn’t a clue what to expect. It was a great debut for me, not at all scary and really informal. Unsurprisingly I was the only silversmith there!

I signed up for Barcamp to get some info on how best to set myself up online and also to met other people who are in the process of doing the same thing. Well it definitely ticked all the boxes, I got loads of handy hints for start ups and my brain was buzzing with ideas.

Some of the talks were a bit techie for me so I just opted for the less scary ones! I started out the morning with Tom Connolly’s talk on time management. It confirmed what I already knew but there’s nothing like seeing it up on a big screen to make you believe it! I’ve made my list for today and it’s working beautifully!

Ciara Crossen from Wedding dates.ie spoke about guerrilla marketing and viral advertising. Ciara’s tales of wife carrying in Finland would inspire anyone to get out there and do what it takes to promote your business. I also went to Sabrina Dent website boot camp where she ripped apart websites from willing volunteers. It was a real education for someone like me who never really looked at web sites from an analytical perspective.

Cathal Garvey gave a really interesting talk on synthetic biology which didn’t have anything to do with my business but I was completely sucked in. All I need now is to set up the lab at home, much easier than you’d think apparently!

There was a great talk on social media and how to use it to promote your business. Conor Lynch from Connector.ie talked about how to create a social media strategy which has my brain working overtime on how and who to target online.

It was a real social outing and not the networking nightmare I had imagined. The fact that it was informal made it easy to chat away to lots of new people throughout the day.

I’d encourage anyone in the creative industry that wants to set up online to go along to a Barcamp, it’s a great day out! If it’s anything like my experience you’ll come away with lots of great contacts and ideas.

I met lots of interesting people, all equally enthusiastic about doing business in Ireland. It makes me believe the country isn’t that bad after all!