Outside Look

It’s not what you think - not a bunch of people hanging around a bar, not is it going camping with lots of booze. BarCamps are informal conferences, without an agenda, loosely organized, and incredibly cool. For me, BarCamp Bank SF was my first BarCamp experience, and this is a little bit about that experience for those who haven’t attended one.

Since this was my first time, I didn’t know what to expect beyond what I’d read on the BarCamp wiki and some blogs. At first blush, it seems that it just can’t work - put 40 - 50 people in a room and try to get an agenda for a whole day - but it does. I think much of this is due to the fact that the sort of people who give up their Saturday for something like banking topics are highly motivated and smart. And throughout the day this proved to be true. Topics are posted up on the wall and the group quickly sorts through them, splitting them in to breakout sessions and spending an hour or so discussing the topic. It was just amazing how diverse the crowd the was, and how intelligent and engaged the folks who came out are.

There are many take aways from such an event, but a few for any newbies who may be interested in what BarCamps are all about:

• It is what you make of it - interact, question, speak up - the format of the event strongly favors interaction - there are no talking heads, no keynote speakers. You are the speaker, listener and critic.
• Understand the crowd - somewhat related to the point above, it isn’t about smart people talking to you, it is about smart people talking to each other, and recognizing that everyone has different strengths, background, expertise and experience - and those are valued.
• Get out the cards - bring plenty of cards, and if you don’t have your blog and Twitter URLs on your card, write them on the back ahead of time (I didn’t do this, but should have). Exchange cards liberally
• Follow up - send out some emails following up on conversations, hit LinkedIn for strong connections, subscribe to people’s blogs and follow people on Twitter. There is more to learn.
• Just Go - I’m extremely shy, and any conference is tough, especially one that is highly interactive, but go anyway. The crowd that shows up for this sort of event is really open, and you will likely have people coming up to you, or you can just walk up to a group and start listening. Good things happen either way.

Specifically related to this incarnation of BarCamp Bank, a few thoughts:

• Financial services doesn’t seem sexy and exciting, but there were a ton of ideas in a vast variety of areas. Financial services in the US (especially) are tired and boring. There are so many opportunities globally to do new things with financial services, I have the feeling the US will be a slow follower.
• Mobile payments are the way of the future. Mobile banking and payments will quickly be the norm in emerging economies where wireless, handheld internet access is the norm. Globally, mobile phone internet access is more common than computer based access.
• Crazy ideas are innovation - and by this I mean the difference between a wild and crazy idea and an innovation is that innovations catch on and make money. Just because an idea is crazy doesn’t mean it won’t succeed.
• For one day, set aside “the curse of knowledge” (explanation here of all places). Financial services is one of the industries that is most afflicted by this curse. It needs to be set aside by those who are in the business to open up to new ideas and find new ways of doing things.

OK, that’s it for me on BarCamp Bank SF for this year. If you have any questions or want to connect, send me a note at ben atsign oustidelook dot com or on Twitter.