First “you copy and paste your blog post to other people’s blogs as a comment”: I posted a comment to Alex’s blog, waited three hours for the anti-spam email notification, and decided to try to edit the comment into something useful instead of leaving it trapped in Alex’s spam-trap. Eventually the confirmation email came through. I’d be happy to delete the copy, in hindsight.

But maybe what you’re assuming isn’t what’s actually happening here.

Second, let’s just ask a simple question: What could I do, who am not an “organizer” of ArbCamp — but as a geek and businessman and academic and consultant, who will be attending — what can I do to make you happy? Exactly what?

Because by accusing “us” (whoever “us” is) of stealing a name and doing other stuff you dislike, well you’re not communicating a whole pantload of constructive criticism. You’re bitching, and pissing, and moaning, and acting more or less like a child.

Which, in some abstract space where we all actually present stereotypic behavior all the time, would kind of explain a lot about the reaction so far.

So what can you tell me, who is just going to the damned thing, and who is arguably willing to do stuff to make you happy, what do you want me to do?

In almost every situation, there’s a way to create a solution that benefits everyone with almost zero hurdles to jump over. You’ll find that some sponsors don’t want to jump over this one hurdle (you’re not allowed to give a sales pitch). That’s OK, because there are thousands of potential sponsors.

I think BarCamp Orlando even had an “exclusive” staffing agency slot, so that only one staffing agency appeared on the t-shirt. Those businesses were not trying to get on the shirt and the website as direct advertisement, but as a bit of marketing that placed in the minds of the unconference participants “we support the community, and we’re showing this to you by buying your lunch and a t-shirt”.

It’s not hard. Really.

One would prefer it if the Code of BarCamp was more what you’d call “guidelines” than actual rules. And I have a strong sense that’s how the people here are willing to treat it.

Maybe what we’re doing with ArbCamp is not a revolution staged by technical geeks at the expense of marketers. Maybe it’s not a subversion of The Time-honored Ancient Rites of BarCamp by wingtips and wannabe carmakers. If you’d like to read some real ranty goodness, have a peek at the shit strewn by 67.159.44.138 at ArborWiki.

If we’re lucky, it’s not anything folks like that expect it to be. And nor are we.

To prescribe a method, you should understand the clients’ goals. At least that’s what I’ve heard.

BarCamp is a kind of hammer. blog* is a kind of hammer. OpenSpace is a kind of hammer. Best not to think that every one suits every nail, nor that they can’t be disassembled and repurposed into something better as contingencies call for it.

Best, at least, not to assume it. That’s the tactful way to live in the world, I think.

Josh Hallett’s blog* format (blogOrlando.com, for instance) is a great example of the unconference format modified for business folks and corporations. Instead of geeks/programmers/techies, you’ll find primarily PR reps, marketers and bloggers (more of the mainstream crowd). It’s still a free event (with sponsorships, there’s not much need to charge), but he’s found that its a lot easier to get bigger names when the format is predetermined and defined. The focus on conversation is still there, it still has a low barrier to entry (cheap/free), and it still kicks the crap out of the standard conference format. It’s been incredibly successful and has grown into a multi-city event.

If you’re looking to see the format modified for the mainstream folks, that’d be a successful example to check out.