Comments on: Entrepreneurship, Sharing and DemoCamp http://davidcrow.ca/article/1061/entrepreneurship-sharing-and-democamp Commentary about high tech happenings in hogtown Tue, 15 May 2012 16:26:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Jay Goldman http://davidcrow.ca/article/1061/entrepreneurship-sharing-and-democamp/comment-page-1#comment-327 Jay Goldman Tue, 04 Apr 2006 16:27:20 +0000 http://blog.davidcrow.ca/?p=572#comment-327 <p>I like where Mark is taking this & limit the number of demos (maybe four instead of six?) and have the presenters up in front of the room. Randy's probably right that 10 people lead to fewer questions than 50, so we get the benefit of the full crowd (though keep in mind that some people are too apprehensive to ask a question in front of 50 might might voice it in front of 10). We reserve the last half hour of the Camp to split into groups clustered around each presenter so that they can meet/greet/respond to other Campers. The after Camp 'receptions' have been sort of working that way anyway, but this would encourage networking prior to the more casual open floor of the bar.</p> <p>My intent, incidentally, in suggesting simultaneous demos is that the presenters wouldn't give the same demo over and over, but rather that they would seize the opportunity to get feedback on different parts of their project depending on who was in that particular audience group. At any rate, Mark's suggestion is certainly more practical in that it reduces the need for multiple rooms (as Patrick pointed out), and allows for everyone to see the same presentations.</p> <p>I also really like the idea of some kind of X-Prize to encourage bigger thought. The X-Prize (and the original aviation prizes it was based on) was intended to provoke a rabid response in a specific area of R&D and it succeeded pretty admirably. The challenge is (at least) two-fold: finding a deep-pocketed sponsor and finding an activity with a reasonable chance of success (i.e.: something that is out of reach & but only by a reasonable margin). VCs (and I include all potential sources of funding in there, not just traditional Venture Capital) are one of the groups who have been sorely underrepresented at DemoCamp. I think that's generally true for the tech sector in Canada though & a solid venture with a real business plan in the Valley has to practically step over the offers lying at their doorstep. Granted we have a smaller population here which means a smaller number of deep pockets, but we should also therefore have fewer startups looking for funding. I'm getting off topic (and not a little bit ranty), but Mark's last line about not thinking in a typically 'Canadian' sense is absolutely true. What do we need to do to provoke that rabid response in both the venture and tech communities? The Camps and the Mesh conferences are an amazing, inspiring, uplifting start for the former, but what about the latter?</p> <p>(And, as a final aside: this is becoming an awfully long thread of pretty intense posts & maybe an offline lunch/dinner/drinks session for anyone interested?)</p> I like where Mark is taking this & limit the number of demos (maybe four instead of six?) and have the presenters up in front of the room. Randy's probably right that 10 people lead to fewer questions than 50, so we get the benefit of the full crowd (though keep in mind that some people are too apprehensive to ask a question in front of 50 might might voice it in front of 10). We reserve the last half hour of the Camp to split into groups clustered around each presenter so that they can meet/greet/respond to other Campers. The after Camp 'receptions' have been sort of working that way anyway, but this would encourage networking prior to the more casual open floor of the bar.

My intent, incidentally, in suggesting simultaneous demos is that the presenters wouldn't give the same demo over and over, but rather that they would seize the opportunity to get feedback on different parts of their project depending on who was in that particular audience group. At any rate, Mark's suggestion is certainly more practical in that it reduces the need for multiple rooms (as Patrick pointed out), and allows for everyone to see the same presentations.

I also really like the idea of some kind of X-Prize to encourage bigger thought. The X-Prize (and the original aviation prizes it was based on) was intended to provoke a rabid response in a specific area of R&D and it succeeded pretty admirably. The challenge is (at least) two-fold: finding a deep-pocketed sponsor and finding an activity with a reasonable chance of success (i.e.: something that is out of reach & but only by a reasonable margin). VCs (and I include all potential sources of funding in there, not just traditional Venture Capital) are one of the groups who have been sorely underrepresented at DemoCamp. I think that's generally true for the tech sector in Canada though & a solid venture with a real business plan in the Valley has to practically step over the offers lying at their doorstep. Granted we have a smaller population here which means a smaller number of deep pockets, but we should also therefore have fewer startups looking for funding. I'm getting off topic (and not a little bit ranty), but Mark's last line about not thinking in a typically 'Canadian' sense is absolutely true. What do we need to do to provoke that rabid response in both the venture and tech communities? The Camps and the Mesh conferences are an amazing, inspiring, uplifting start for the former, but what about the latter?

(And, as a final aside: this is becoming an awfully long thread of pretty intense posts & maybe an offline lunch/dinner/drinks session for anyone interested?)

]]> By: Patrick Dinnen http://davidcrow.ca/article/1061/entrepreneurship-sharing-and-democamp/comment-page-1#comment-326 Patrick Dinnen Tue, 04 Apr 2006 15:38:49 +0000 http://blog.davidcrow.ca/?p=572#comment-326 <p>Randy's points about parallel presentations not being fair on presenters is a good one. The risk of echo chamber effects in any by-topic or by-type streaming is important too.</p> <p>I like Mark's proposal for main event presentation session as is with a break out to get into greater depth in smaller groups.</p> <p>I actually really like the 'DemoCamp: Monster Island' idea too. I'm sure there's something similar in the new media area in Toronto, can't remember the name though.</p> Randy's points about parallel presentations not being fair on presenters is a good one. The risk of echo chamber effects in any by-topic or by-type streaming is important too.

I like Mark's proposal for main event presentation session as is with a break out to get into greater depth in smaller groups.

I actually really like the 'DemoCamp: Monster Island' idea too. I'm sure there's something similar in the new media area in Toronto, can't remember the name though.

]]> By: Mark Kuznicki http://davidcrow.ca/article/1061/entrepreneurship-sharing-and-democamp/comment-page-1#comment-325 Mark Kuznicki Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:11:56 +0000 http://blog.davidcrow.ca/?p=572#comment-325 <p>I argue for the DemoCamp 'main event' to stay pretty much as-is with breakout sesssions added. The main event should be a limited number of demos delivered to the whole room, with clear direction from Demoers on why they're there and only clarification questions from the audience for about the content of the Demo or what the Demoer is looking for.</p> <p>Then, I would add Jay's idea of 'speed-dating' with smaller groups into a breakout session immediately following Demo. I like the idea that after everyone gets a flavour for the thing, whether hack or investment-worthy product, the audience self-selects based on their interest level and clusters around the 3 or 4 or however-many Demoer tables to probe deeper, match interests, aptitudes and expertise. If there's something worth pursuing, people exchange business cards and then take it outside or continue over beer. (The Drake Underground would be great for this, because you don't have to leave to get a drink.) I like the common experience with the big audience & it brings great energy.</p> <p>If we really want to do something remarkable, I've got a reality show concept called 'DemoCamp: Monster Island', which I'm pretty sure we can get some interesting funding partners for. More of an iterative bus/dev <a href="http://www.xpcup.com/index.cfm?goto=about_us.aboutansarixprizechallenge">X-Prize</a> challenge with one winner taking a purse large enough to fund development to take them to the next stage. If we really want to see the startup scene in T-Dot take off, we need to start thinking bigger than Canadians usually do. ;-)</p> I argue for the DemoCamp 'main event' to stay pretty much as-is with breakout sesssions added. The main event should be a limited number of demos delivered to the whole room, with clear direction from Demoers on why they're there and only clarification questions from the audience for about the content of the Demo or what the Demoer is looking for.

Then, I would add Jay's idea of 'speed-dating' with smaller groups into a breakout session immediately following Demo. I like the idea that after everyone gets a flavour for the thing, whether hack or investment-worthy product, the audience self-selects based on their interest level and clusters around the 3 or 4 or however-many Demoer tables to probe deeper, match interests, aptitudes and expertise. If there's something worth pursuing, people exchange business cards and then take it outside or continue over beer. (The Drake Underground would be great for this, because you don't have to leave to get a drink.) I like the common experience with the big audience & it brings great energy.

If we really want to do something remarkable, I've got a reality show concept called 'DemoCamp: Monster Island', which I'm pretty sure we can get some interesting funding partners for. More of an iterative bus/dev X-Prize challenge with one winner taking a purse large enough to fund development to take them to the next stage. If we really want to see the startup scene in T-Dot take off, we need to start thinking bigger than Canadians usually do. ;-)

]]> By: Jay Goldman http://davidcrow.ca/article/1061/entrepreneurship-sharing-and-democamp/comment-page-1#comment-10234 Jay Goldman Tue, 04 Apr 2006 09:27:00 +0000 http://blog.davidcrow.ca/?p=572#comment-10234 <p>I like where Mark is taking this & limit the number of demos (maybe four instead of six?) and have the presenters up in front of the room. Randy's probably right that 10 people lead to fewer questions than 50, so we get the benefit of the full crowd (though keep in mind that some people are too apprehensive to ask a question in front of 50 might might voice it in front of 10). We reserve the last half hour of the Camp to split into groups clustered around each presenter so that they can meet/greet/respond to other Campers. The after Camp 'receptions' have been sort of working that way anyway, but this would encourage networking prior to the more casual open floor of the bar.</p><br /> <br /> <p>My intent, incidentally, in suggesting simultaneous demos is that the presenters wouldn't give the same demo over and over, but rather that they would seize the opportunity to get feedback on different parts of their project depending on who was in that particular audience group. At any rate, Mark's suggestion is certainly more practical in that it reduces the need for multiple rooms (as Patrick pointed out), and allows for everyone to see the same presentations.</p><br /> <br /> <p>I also really like the idea of some kind of X-Prize to encourage bigger thought. The X-Prize (and the original aviation prizes it was based on) was intended to provoke a rabid response in a specific area of R&D and it succeeded pretty admirably. The challenge is (at least) two-fold: finding a deep-pocketed sponsor and finding an activity with a reasonable chance of success (i.e.: something that is out of reach & but only by a reasonable margin). VCs (and I include all potential sources of funding in there, not just traditional Venture Capital) are one of the groups who have been sorely underrepresented at DemoCamp. I think that's generally true for the tech sector in Canada though & a solid venture with a real business plan in the Valley has to practically step over the offers lying at their doorstep. Granted we have a smaller population here which means a smaller number of deep pockets, but we should also therefore have fewer startups looking for funding. I'm getting off topic (and not a little bit ranty), but Mark's last line about not thinking in a typically 'Canadian' sense is absolutely true. What do we need to do to provoke that rabid response in both the venture and tech communities? The Camps and the Mesh conferences are an amazing, inspiring, uplifting start for the former, but what about the latter?</p><br /> <br /> <p>(And, as a final aside: this is becoming an awfully long thread of pretty intense posts & maybe an offline lunch/dinner/drinks session for anyone interested?)</p> <p>I like where Mark is taking this & limit the number of demos (maybe four instead of six?) and have the presenters up in front of the room. Randy's probably right that 10 people lead to fewer questions than 50, so we get the benefit of the full crowd (though keep in mind that some people are too apprehensive to ask a question in front of 50 might might voice it in front of 10). We reserve the last half hour of the Camp to split into groups clustered around each presenter so that they can meet/greet/respond to other Campers. The after Camp 'receptions' have been sort of working that way anyway, but this would encourage networking prior to the more casual open floor of the bar.</p><br />
<br />
<p>My intent, incidentally, in suggesting simultaneous demos is that the presenters wouldn't give the same demo over and over, but rather that they would seize the opportunity to get feedback on different parts of their project depending on who was in that particular audience group. At any rate, Mark's suggestion is certainly more practical in that it reduces the need for multiple rooms (as Patrick pointed out), and allows for everyone to see the same presentations.</p><br />
<br />
<p>I also really like the idea of some kind of X-Prize to encourage bigger thought. The X-Prize (and the original aviation prizes it was based on) was intended to provoke a rabid response in a specific area of R&D and it succeeded pretty admirably. The challenge is (at least) two-fold: finding a deep-pocketed sponsor and finding an activity with a reasonable chance of success (i.e.: something that is out of reach & but only by a reasonable margin). VCs (and I include all potential sources of funding in there, not just traditional Venture Capital) are one of the groups who have been sorely underrepresented at DemoCamp. I think that's generally true for the tech sector in Canada though & a solid venture with a real business plan in the Valley has to practically step over the offers lying at their doorstep. Granted we have a smaller population here which means a smaller number of deep pockets, but we should also therefore have fewer startups looking for funding. I'm getting off topic (and not a little bit ranty), but Mark's last line about not thinking in a typically 'Canadian' sense is absolutely true. What do we need to do to provoke that rabid response in both the venture and tech communities? The Camps and the Mesh conferences are an amazing, inspiring, uplifting start for the former, but what about the latter?</p><br />
<br />
<p>(And, as a final aside: this is becoming an awfully long thread of pretty intense posts & maybe an offline lunch/dinner/drinks session for anyone interested?)</p>

]]> By: Patrick Dinnen http://davidcrow.ca/article/1061/entrepreneurship-sharing-and-democamp/comment-page-1#comment-10235 Patrick Dinnen Tue, 04 Apr 2006 08:38:00 +0000 http://blog.davidcrow.ca/?p=572#comment-10235 <p>Randy's points about parallel presentations not being fair on presenters is a good one. The risk of echo chamber effects in any by-topic or by-type streaming is important too.</p><br /> <br /> <p>I like Mark's proposal for main event presentation session as is with a break out to get into greater depth in smaller groups.</p><br /> <br /> <p>I actually really like the 'DemoCamp: Monster Island' idea too. I'm sure there's something similar in the new media area in Toronto, can't remember the name though.</p> <p>Randy's points about parallel presentations not being fair on presenters is a good one. The risk of echo chamber effects in any by-topic or by-type streaming is important too.</p><br />
<br />
<p>I like Mark's proposal for main event presentation session as is with a break out to get into greater depth in smaller groups.</p><br />
<br />
<p>I actually really like the 'DemoCamp: Monster Island' idea too. I'm sure there's something similar in the new media area in Toronto, can't remember the name though.</p>

]]> By: Mark Kuznicki http://davidcrow.ca/article/1061/entrepreneurship-sharing-and-democamp/comment-page-1#comment-10236 Mark Kuznicki Tue, 04 Apr 2006 04:11:00 +0000 http://blog.davidcrow.ca/?p=572#comment-10236 <p>I argue for the DemoCamp 'main event' to stay pretty much as-is with breakout sesssions added. The main event should be a limited number of demos delivered to the whole room, with clear direction from Demoers on why they're there and only clarification questions from the audience for about the content of the Demo or what the Demoer is looking for.</p><br /> <br /> <p>Then, I would add Jay's idea of 'speed-dating' with smaller groups into a breakout session immediately following Demo. I like the idea that after everyone gets a flavour for the thing, whether hack or investment-worthy product, the audience self-selects based on their interest level and clusters around the 3 or 4 or however-many Demoer tables to probe deeper, match interests, aptitudes and expertise. If there's something worth pursuing, people exchange business cards and then take it outside or continue over beer. (The Drake Underground would be great for this, because you don't have to leave to get a drink.) I like the common experience with the big audience & it brings great energy.</p><br /> <br /> <p>If we really want to do something remarkable, I've got a reality show concept called 'DemoCamp: Monster Island', which I'm pretty sure we can get some interesting funding partners for. More of an iterative bus/dev <a href="http://www.xpcup.com/index.cfm?goto=about_us.aboutansarixprizechallenge" target="_blank">X-Prize</a> challenge with one winner taking a purse large enough to fund development to take them to the next stage. If we really want to see the startup scene in T-Dot take off, we need to start thinking bigger than Canadians usually do. ;-)</p> <p>I argue for the DemoCamp 'main event' to stay pretty much as-is with breakout sesssions added. The main event should be a limited number of demos delivered to the whole room, with clear direction from Demoers on why they're there and only clarification questions from the audience for about the content of the Demo or what the Demoer is looking for.</p><br />
<br />
<p>Then, I would add Jay's idea of 'speed-dating' with smaller groups into a breakout session immediately following Demo. I like the idea that after everyone gets a flavour for the thing, whether hack or investment-worthy product, the audience self-selects based on their interest level and clusters around the 3 or 4 or however-many Demoer tables to probe deeper, match interests, aptitudes and expertise. If there's something worth pursuing, people exchange business cards and then take it outside or continue over beer. (The Drake Underground would be great for this, because you don't have to leave to get a drink.) I like the common experience with the big audience & it brings great energy.</p><br />
<br />
<p>If we really want to do something remarkable, I've got a reality show concept called 'DemoCamp: Monster Island', which I'm pretty sure we can get some interesting funding partners for. More of an iterative bus/dev <a href="http://www.xpcup.com/index.cfm?goto=about_us.aboutansarixprizechallenge&quot; target="_blank">X-Prize</a> challenge with one winner taking a purse large enough to fund development to take them to the next stage. If we really want to see the startup scene in T-Dot take off, we need to start thinking bigger than Canadians usually do. ;-) </p>

]]> By: Randy Glenn http://davidcrow.ca/article/1061/entrepreneurship-sharing-and-democamp/comment-page-1#comment-324 Randy Glenn Tue, 04 Apr 2006 03:47:09 +0000 http://blog.davidcrow.ca/?p=572#comment-324 <p>I don't think that the parallel demos are particularly fair to the presenters & giving the same demo over and over again may get boring, and you'll miss out on any other demos that night that you may have wanted to see. Further, I think any discussion would benefit from having more participants in it & using the questions of others to launch into still deeper, and more interesting, questions. 10 people may not result in the same depth of questions as, say, 50.<br /> </p> <p>I also tend to think that theme nights may not be the best way either. Attendees may be interested by topics they wouldn't have otherwise pursued under the current format, whereas having theme nights may lead to the dreaded 'echo chamber'.<br /> </p> <p>I could probably go on, but I'm likely at the breaking point for sanity / coherence. Overall, I think the concept is still a bit too new to be splitting it off like this. I think it would be prudent to see how much more it grows before messing with the formula too drastically.</p> I don't think that the parallel demos are particularly fair to the presenters & giving the same demo over and over again may get boring, and you'll miss out on any other demos that night that you may have wanted to see. Further, I think any discussion would benefit from having more participants in it & using the questions of others to launch into still deeper, and more interesting, questions. 10 people may not result in the same depth of questions as, say, 50.

I also tend to think that theme nights may not be the best way either. Attendees may be interested by topics they wouldn't have otherwise pursued under the current format, whereas having theme nights may lead to the dreaded 'echo chamber'.

I could probably go on, but I'm likely at the breaking point for sanity / coherence. Overall, I think the concept is still a bit too new to be splitting it off like this. I think it would be prudent to see how much more it grows before messing with the formula too drastically.

]]> By: Randy Glenn http://davidcrow.ca/article/1061/entrepreneurship-sharing-and-democamp/comment-page-1#comment-10237 Randy Glenn Mon, 03 Apr 2006 20:47:00 +0000 http://blog.davidcrow.ca/?p=572#comment-10237 <p>I don't think that the parallel demos are particularly fair to the presenters & giving the same demo over and over again may get boring, and you'll miss out on any other demos that night that you may have wanted to see. Further, I think any discussion would benefit from having more participants in it & using the questions of others to launch into still deeper, and more interesting, questions. 10 people may not result in the same depth of questions as, say, 50.<br /> </p><br /> <br /> <p>I also tend to think that theme nights may not be the best way either. Attendees may be interested by topics they wouldn't have otherwise pursued under the current format, whereas having theme nights may lead to the dreaded 'echo chamber'.<br /> </p><br /> <br /> <p>I could probably go on, but I'm likely at the breaking point for sanity / coherence. Overall, I think the concept is still a bit too new to be splitting it off like this. I think it would be prudent to see how much more it grows before messing with the formula too drastically.</p> <p>I don't think that the parallel demos are particularly fair to the presenters & giving the same demo over and over again may get boring, and you'll miss out on any other demos that night that you may have wanted to see. Further, I think any discussion would benefit from having more participants in it & using the questions of others to launch into still deeper, and more interesting, questions. 10 people may not result in the same depth of questions as, say, 50.<br /> </p><br />
<br />
<p>I also tend to think that theme nights may not be the best way either. Attendees may be interested by topics they wouldn't have otherwise pursued under the current format, whereas having theme nights may lead to the dreaded 'echo chamber'.<br /> </p><br />
<br />
<p>I could probably go on, but I'm likely at the breaking point for sanity / coherence. Overall, I think the concept is still a bit too new to be splitting it off like this. I think it would be prudent to see how much more it grows before messing with the formula too drastically.</p>

]]> By: Brent Ashley http://davidcrow.ca/article/1061/entrepreneurship-sharing-and-democamp/comment-page-1#comment-323 Brent Ashley Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:29:23 +0000 http://blog.davidcrow.ca/?p=572#comment-323 <p>If movement builds towards a split between the two flavours, I would suggest VentureCamp would be a good name to differentiate the business part from the technical. The DemoCamp name still conjures up tech demos to me. </p> <p>I think that the two themes pull in different directions to some extent so each might gain better momentum on their own without that potential friction. People who wish to present to both groups can focus on each aspect separately and get more focused feedback.</p> If movement builds towards a split between the two flavours, I would suggest VentureCamp would be a good name to differentiate the business part from the technical. The DemoCamp name still conjures up tech demos to me.

I think that the two themes pull in different directions to some extent so each might gain better momentum on their own without that potential friction. People who wish to present to both groups can focus on each aspect separately and get more focused feedback.

]]> By: Patrick Dinnen http://davidcrow.ca/article/1061/entrepreneurship-sharing-and-democamp/comment-page-1#comment-322 Patrick Dinnen Mon, 03 Apr 2006 13:18:12 +0000 http://blog.davidcrow.ca/?p=572#comment-322 <p>I'll jump in so you don't look totally nuts Jay. I like the idea of running multiple demos in parallel, to allow for smaller more involved groups.</p> <p>I wonder about space though. I'd guess that finding a space where multiple demos can run simultaneously and successfully with a total group of 100 plus might be a big challenge.</p> <p>How about this as a twist, run MiniDemoCamps more frequently (twice a month?). Each MiniDemoCamp would have 2-3 demos and be organised around a general theme (photo tools one fortnight, Ruby apps the next and hardware hacks the next). The combination of greater frequency and topic focus would probably reduce the numbers attending each get together I'm guessing. Smaller numbers make it possible to have a more intimate discussion, perhaps using the rotating audience/parallel demos idea.</p> <p>Just a thought, and not a terribly well thought thought either. But I'll throw it into the pot.</p> I'll jump in so you don't look totally nuts Jay. I like the idea of running multiple demos in parallel, to allow for smaller more involved groups.

I wonder about space though. I'd guess that finding a space where multiple demos can run simultaneously and successfully with a total group of 100 plus might be a big challenge.

How about this as a twist, run MiniDemoCamps more frequently (twice a month?). Each MiniDemoCamp would have 2-3 demos and be organised around a general theme (photo tools one fortnight, Ruby apps the next and hardware hacks the next). The combination of greater frequency and topic focus would probably reduce the numbers attending each get together I'm guessing. Smaller numbers make it possible to have a more intimate discussion, perhaps using the rotating audience/parallel demos idea.

Just a thought, and not a terribly well thought thought either. But I'll throw it into the pot.

]]>