Audience
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

It’s been a long time since I’ve written about our local unconferences, but a neat one coming up is DemoCamp CUSEC 2. It’s attached to the Canadian Undergraduate Software Engineering Conference, which is being held in Montréal again.

Last year, I did a demonstration on how to cook an omelette, with it being a metaphor for software engineering. This year, I’m going to do something more prosaic and run a round of Powerpoint karaoke, under the guise of getting people to practise their presentation skills.

Or it will be a convincing argument against its use.

Show up if you can! Present something you’ve been working on! (There are still some slots left.) It’ll be exciting.

DemoCamp CUSEC 2
Thursday, 17 January 2008
19:00 – 21:00
Centre Mont-Royal
2200 rue Mansfield
Free admission

( Sign up | Google Maps )

The rest of the summer flew by quickly. I had less and less time to take photographs as more and more of it was consumed by, you know… I don't remember. But in any event, I was so busy I barely had time to sit down and edit photographs.

Plus, I started to feel more and more guilty about not writing. You know that feeling, where you haven't done something for so long that you put it off because you're too embarrassed to just pick it up again? Yeah, I knew you'd understand.

Facepainting
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

I stayed in Ottawa for the Canada Day long weekend. After lounging around the city, trying to avoid the crazed tourist mobs, I ended up on Parliament Hill with ostraya and her friends. We blew bubbles and painted people's faces, as we waited for the fireworks.

Spotlights
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

Through the grapevine, we heard that the organizers might cancel due to the weather, but in the end they launched them. Jas, who had tagged along, eloquently described the spectacle as “fucking awesome”.

Cappuccino
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

When I returned to Montréal, I discovered that the office had acquired one of those fancy Italian coffee machines. I tried my hand at grinding, tamping, and pulling a shot.

Not bad for an amateur, eh?

Pool
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

The bosses had been talking about the July offsite meeting for some time and I was beginning to dread it. For some inexplicable reason, I thought of suffering in a lousy hotel at the corner of Nowhere and Nothing.

Instead, we drove to a lovely cottage retreat, had a local restaurant provide us with gorgeous meals, and lounged around in a hot-tub every evening. I love working here!

Colgate
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

I soon discovered that my favourite abadoned store, Gillman's, was closing.

Binky Holleran, a local restaurateur, bought it. With the excess unsold inventory in hand, she asked various artists to make something out of it. Their exhibit was a fabulous tribute!

Counterclock
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

In my quest to make computer conferences more interesting, I did a cool tutorial at DemoCamp Montréal 3.

Instead of the overdone topic of “How to build a flashy, interactive ‘Web 2.0’ site that only geeks will use”, I opted for teaching people how to build a counterclock.

A counterclock, of course, runs counterclockwise. I ripped apart a clock I bought merely hours before, flipped its motion around, and got it working before the end of the conference. It went over pretty well.

Natasha Duchene
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

tashamonster and rubythirtythree held a little concert at Buddhi Lounge. That's a pretty nifty place that looks like a converted basement apartment. That's too depressing to actually live in, but makes a fun space for a club.

Whoever did their interior decoration is a genius! Colanders for lampshades and a bathtub-mounted television playing Disney movies complete the quirky atmosphere.

Peter Zion
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

Because Peter threw a party for his triumphant return to Montréal, we met our really cool neighbour Jen. Apparently, madamewoo and I made such a good impression on her that she invited us to a picnic in the park.

Or perhaps it's just because we live so gosh-darned close? In any event, whipping up a little spaghetti puttanesca never hurts for a picnic that's right outside my front door. And neither does a little bit of photography.

Christine and baby
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

Oooh, my friend Christine is having a baby. Doesn't she look beautiful? I got invited to their baby shower where I got to see kids running around like mad, a really happy dog, and three sane men stomping on a wasps' nest.

Sylvain and Daniel
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

DemoCamp Montréal 3 is happening tomorrow. We're going to be at the SAT from 18:30 to 20:30, holding demonstrations on a whole range of different topics.

Why DemoCamp? Well, Montrealers are some of the most creative people I know and they've got plenty of things to show and tell. DemoCamp is like a big gathering of creative minds who get to watch fifteen-minute presentations on anything. And since all you can do is demo: no slides, no gimmicks, then you actually get to see real stuff doing real things.

I'm going to be there to show you how to make a counterclock. You know, the opposite of a clock that goes clockwise. Along the way, I'll do a little explaining of electricity, timekeeping, and motors. I just have to remember to buy a clock today. :P

Come on, it'll be fun!

DmoCamp Montréal 3
Tuesday, 24 July 2007
18:30 – 20:30
Societé des arts technologiques
1195 boul. St-Laurent
Free admission

( Sign up | Facebook | Upcoming | Google Maps )

I'm proud to announce the next DemoCamp that we're holding in Montréal. DemoCamp Montreal 2 (Français) is a gathering of people, both in high-tech and not, to see demonstrations given by people doing cool stuff. Anyone is welcome to show up and we've got some interesting talks lined up.

I'll be there to take photographs again and to chat with people about the projects they've been tending. It should be an exciting and interesting evening.

How do you attend?

DemoCamp Montréal 2
Thursday, 29 March 2007
18:30 – 20:30
Societé des arts technologiques
1195 boul. St-Laurent
Free admission

( Sign up | Upcoming.org | Google Maps )

DemoCamp Montréal 1
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

It's been a week since DemoCamp Montréal 1. We held it last Tuesday at the SAT, which had generously donated a venue for this event. I arrived three minutes early, knocking on the door while juggling the supplies I had bought. A few power bars, some name tags, and various pieces of paper.

I entered, drew a few signs, and left the "Hello / Bonjour" stickers by the door. Then I ran around for a while until I realized that there was really nothing to do. Those SAT people were really efficient.

I pulled out the camera that diluvienne lent me and fired off a few test shots. Not being used to this camera in low light, I think things were a little overexposed. But a little photo-editing brought out the details, so I'm pretty pleased.

Audience
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

There were five demonstrations, lasting less than fifteen minutes each. The presenters took a few questions and then got shooed off the stage for the next bunch of people. John Kopanas did an excellent job playing MC, which helped things along smoothly. I spent some of the time talking to people, taking photographs, and heckling.

In the end, we had a big group of people just meeting other people. A sizable number went with John to Le Sainte-Elizabeth for some post-conference drinking. It was getting late, so a bunch of us broke off from the splintering islands of conversation and headed for dinner. All and all, I'm very happy with the results.

Reports about the event are all over the Internet now: Montreal Tech Watch, Evan Prodromou, YashLabs (parts 1 and 2), Silicon Island, Growwwing (parts 1 and 2), and Midnight poutine.

I'm going to put on my organizer hat now and talk about the things that didn't go so well. This is not to say that I'm think we did poorly, but there is room for improvement. It was the first DemoCamp we had with only people from in town, so it seems to be pretty representative of the crowd we'd draw.

First off, the biggest complaint among people was that the presentations weren't very interesting. I know that sounds a bit harsh, but it's not that far off the mark. Technical people don't get a lot of practise at public speaking and I think we need to address this.

One of the first things I'm going to propose is to contact speakers before their talk and offer them tips on how to give a good demonstration. You know, stuff like "get to the good stuff quickly", "engage your audience", and "speak to their interests". Not having slides is one way of preventing people from losing the audience. But also showing something that your audience finds sexy is a good technique.

Many of the presentations were pitched as if they were technologies looking for funding. Although there were a couple of investors in the crowd, the vast majority of attendees were technologists, artists, and people interested in seeing cool stuff. There's no way you can please everyone, but getting people excited about what you're demonstrating is a good start. And even if you are pitching a technology for investment, isn't it good to be able to get people interested in your product?

One last thing, before I forget, is that sexism is probably not a good idea. One of the presentations showed a potential advertisement that was in questionable taste. When a woman in the crowd brought up the fact that it could be rather alienating, the discussion did not go to addressing the faults of the ad, but rather into humour. Although jokes can diffuse a tense situation, in this case it seemed to make things quite worse.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on DemoCamp and how to get you to attend, or to return to another event. Please feel free to comment in this entry or to e-mail me privately.

Dear Lazyweb,

I'm working on the logos for DemoCamp Montréal and I want to be able to make them open content. Unfortunately, the original logos were done in Adobe Illustrator CS2 and I don't have a copy of that.

Would someone with a copy be able to take those files and export them as SVG? If so, I'd be most grateful.

Many thanks!
Simon

DemoCamp Montréal 1
Tuesday 27 February 2007
18:30 – 20:30
Societé des arts technologiques
1195 boul. St-Laurent
Free admission

( Sign up | Upcoming.org | Google Maps )

Playing
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

There's less than a week before Montréal's next little technology un-conference. DemoCamp Montreal 1 (Français) follows in the footsteps of Toronto's DemoCamp, bringing neat demonstrations to the spotlight.

What is DemoCamp? It's a mini-conference where you show up and get to see people present the cool things that they're doing. Be it some software they wrote, a robot they built, or even a live tutorial, there's always something interesting happening. And you need to know. All you have to do is show up.

We'll be at the Societé des arts technologiques which has been cool enough to donate their space for us. Just show up on Tuesday 27 February 2007 at 18:30, after putting your name down on the registration list. Don't be shy, it's free!

Demonstrations are short, sweet, and PowerPoint slides are forbidden. You get to actually see something happen, which is a much more exciting than your usual conference lecture. In addition, we'll hang out afterwards to shoot the breeze and discuss what we saw.

I'll be there with my camera, helping my friends gorbash_dragon and peaceful_dragon run the show. Jonathan Kopanas, who went to Concordia, is coming up to introduce the presenters and Austin Hill is drumming up publicity.

DemoCamp Montréal 1
Tuesday 27 February 2007
18:30 – 20:30
Societé des arts technologiques
1195 boul. St-Laurent
Free admission

( Sign up | Upcoming.org | Google Maps )

Sun Day Brunch
Originally uploaded by darkmatter.

What's interesting about Montréal, as a hub city, is that it doesn't have a lot of geeks in it. Yes, we do have people working in tech, and yes there are people with geeky interests. But compared to other large cities that are full of universities, there really aren't that many. And worse, there aren't many jobs for these people, so geeks aren't even encouraged to stay.

Since I'm not one to complain about things, I'd like to point out that interesting things are afoot.

This evening, the Canadian Undergraduate Software Engineering Conference will be hosting DemoCamp CUSEC 1. A bunch of techie friends of mine will attend and I hope you do too.

What's a DemoCamp? It's an evening of presentations where you're encouraged to show projects that you're working on and discuss the things you're shown. Everybody has a great time since it's all about participating in a community of peers who are active.

To sweeten the deal, I'll even be presenting a talk. It's entitled:

The stupidity of crowds
— or —
You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette

Don't worry if you don't know anything about software engineering. After all, I'm not even an undergraduate so why should I follow convention? Rest assured, though, I'm going to be pretty geeky.

The relevant details