Camping was Fun
Creative Camp Belfast was held in the Blick Shared Studios on the Malone Road last Saturday. It is called ‘an un-conference’ event. An un-conference is a gathering of like minded people given a date, time and venue for the Camp to take place. The success of the day depends on a good number of attendees adopting a 20-30 minute slot to talk or share a favourite topic or new system or idea. Some people prefer to sit and listen to talks, ask questions, and further discuss the ideas over coffee or tea. There is always time to catch up with old friends and as a friend of mine would say, “There are no strangers at these camps, only friends we haven’t met yet!” Everyone has the opportunity to pitch in with what they know, volunteer a session or physically help on the day, and the agenda isn’t finalised until everyone has arrived.
Andy opened proceedings with a word of welcome before handing over to David Braziel for the first talk of the day on Employing Creativity and how to encourage creativity at work yet still keeping to guidelines and time limits.
Second up was a very enlightening tale of the ‘Brick Wall’ alas the name of the presenter escapes me at the moment. It dealt with the frustrations encountered in trying to gain funding in Northern Ireland, the problem of developing ideas and taking them to the world outside.
Getting Things Done with Davy Mac was a talk based on David Allen’s book GTD GTD is based on making it easy to store, track and retrieve all information related to the things that need to get done.
Duncan Neill’s topic Plastic is Precious did not sound appealing to me at first. The fact that I was sitting on the inside of a row next to a wall and didn’t want to cause disruption once the talk started, I stayed put and was very soon fascinated by the Wonderland project by Interface, University of Ulster & University of Sheffield.
We entered the Wonderland world of plastic bottles that would disappear when empty and thrown out. Bottles that were designed to disintegrate and decay into something life-giving rather then into toxic waste, plastic turned into lacy fabric that was used to make dresses that dissolve in water (not really suitable for wearing in this years torrential rain!). Thankfully I will have the opportunity to check this out in greater detail at the exhibition (Q&A and workshops) at the Ormeau Baths Gallery Belfast, between 8 October and 8 November 2008.
In the final session of the morning, Jamie Neely from Front took a look at Pitch Visuals & Winning Work the Right Way.
Lunch gave us a welcome chance to stretch our legs, mingle and chat.
Talks for the afternoon were organised and listed. We had sessions on Music, Life Coaching, Press Releases/ Journalism and a round table discussion on blogging.
I was delighted to meet Sharon who blogs at The Voyage an amazing journey through Autism, home schooling and blogging. If you haven’t already, I recommend you go visit.
Already CCB is having its effect with A Proposal for a Northern Ireland Creatives Website.
A great big thank you to Andy, Mairin and the other un-organisers who did such a good job in rounding up a venue with good Wifi, sponsors, projectors, food, coffee and the chairs!
David Braziel
Grace Smith
Richard Dale.
steph said,
September 9, 2008 at 9:10 am
Grannymar
I presume you were made very un-welcome at this un-successful camp?
I’m very un-impressed, I am
d@\/e said,
September 9, 2008 at 10:57 am
Here’s some missing links for you Grannymar http://davidsims.blogsome.com , http://www.simsdigitalmedia.com/blog/ , http://www.teamsolutionz.com/ , http://www.postscript5.co.uk/ and http://www.craftydevil.co.uk/
Neil said,
September 9, 2008 at 11:14 am
Sounds brilliant. I really, really have to get myself along to one of these events soon….
Andy said,
September 9, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Great to see you there Grannymar, its a shame we didnt get talking more than we did but it was good to know that the bag went to a good home!
jen said,
September 9, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Sounds like a fascinating time. As with Neil, I must sign up for one of these un-events one day!
Grannymar said,
September 9, 2008 at 12:50 pm
@Steph - Are you jealous by any chance?
@Dave - Thanks for the links. Most of the above are linked, but for some reason it only shows if you hover over them.
@Neil - You would enjoy the day.
@Andy - Next time let someone else do the running and you just sit, listen and chat… you earned it.
@Jen - PodCamp is on at the end of the Month!
Darragh said,
September 9, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Brilliant summation GM, thanks! I really missed not going - definitely wanted to but also looking forward to the end of the month in Kilkenny.
Muze said,
September 9, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Another missing link
http://www.digmo.co.uk/hotnews/creativecamp-belfast/
Grannymar said,
September 9, 2008 at 7:46 pm
@ Darragh - We missed you too. Heres to the next one.
@Muze - Come in and welcome. Thanks for the link.
I didn’t meet everyone on the day, that would have been impossible, so my list is not complete. I included those I know or met for the first time on Saturday.
David McDonald said,
September 9, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Good write-up. Enjoyed seeing you at the event, didn’t get the chance to chat as much as I would have liked (always the way at these things). Now I’m being embarrassed into writing my own blog post on this!
I better Get It Done
Cheers.
Grannymar said,
September 9, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Thanks Davy, I look forward to reading your version.
Grace Smith said,
September 9, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Hi Grannymar
I didnt get a chance to talk with you but i really enjoyed sitting in your blogging panel, yep im the one that doesnt blog (yet).
Grannymar said,
September 9, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Hi Grace,
You were not alone in being a non blogger Hopefully that will change very soon. How about coming to PodCamp in Kilkenny on Sat 27th September. I know tha blogging will be mentioned there.
Davy Sims said,
September 9, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Sorry to hear you are having problems with the podcast
try this:
http://www.simsdigitalmedia.com/podcasts/digitalcircle/dcpodcast.xml
Grannymar said,
September 9, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Hi Davy and welcome.
I tried that link - 3 times- it took me to the subscribe page forGoogle!
Grannymar said,
September 9, 2008 at 9:29 pm
At last- I got the Podcast… listening now.
Baino said,
September 9, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Ah a meeting of minds. Having worked in a ‘creative’ studio for most of my adult life, I value the ability to surround yourself with ‘creative’ people. Now that I work in basically accounting/financial planning there is little ‘creativity’ to feed from so I feel a bit stale. I’d love something like this . .really! So many links. I’ll pray for a rainy Saturday so I can go visit.
Grannymar said,
September 9, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Baino you would have had a ball on Saturday.
I went to the pub afterwards with more than 21 people I met via the internet!
Maryrose Lyons said,
September 9, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Hey Grannymar, it was great to see you again and shoot the breeze on un tech things!
Grannymar said,
September 9, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Maryrose
It was great catching up on the last six months.
Darren Greene said,
September 9, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Grannymar, it was great meeting you at last. It was my first time to anything like this and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. Till the next time!
Grannymar said,
September 9, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Darren G
’till the next time.
stwidgie said,
September 12, 2008 at 9:30 am
The un-conference sounds really great, Grannymar. I’ll have to check and see if anything like that is doing in our neck of the woods.
Grannymar said,
September 12, 2008 at 10:08 am
stwidgie
Most of these events have filtered over here from your side of the pond. Go find and enjoy!
CreativeCamp Belfast Memories : PodCamp Ireland: Social Media Strategies, Social Networking, Online Marketing said,
September 17, 2008 at 8:38 am
[...] And Granny Mar talks about how camping was fun here. [...]