It's over, the first ever Seattle Code Camp in officially over. I spent Saturday and Sunday down in Federal Way Washington participating in sessions and workshops, meeting people and presenting several talks about programming. There were nearly 70 sessions scheduled in eight separate rooms. There were LOTS of sessions that I wanted to attend. Like any good conference there was always 2-3 talks that I wanted to see but couldn't because they were scheduled at the same time.
One of the benefits of speaking at national conferences is that I can attend any of the other sessions. Trouble is, I'm often very busy working on presentation stuff during the conference. So I end up not seeing much. Code Camp and some of the local community events are more casual and more participatory. Like the upcoming Seattle Mind Camp. That's what Jeff Barr (Amazon) was telling me this weekend. I learned a lot this weekend, saw software that made me think, listened to experts in every field imaginable and saw enthusiasm everywhere I looked.
I had a good time during my talks. I also had a good time watching the other sessions and throughly enjoyed the conversations in the cafeteria and hallways. Networking with other attendees is one of the best aspects of conferences; don't you think?
We had nearly 450 people sign up for the event. Since there is usually a 25-30% no-show rate I'd guess that we had ~350 show up. Jason Mauer hasn't posted the numbers yet, but that's my first guess for the number of folks attending Code Camp.
We will have more Code Camps so keep your eyes open. You won't want to miss the next one.