It’s been a little over five months since BarCamp NewsInnovation, and that has given us plenty of time to mull over the event’s successes and failures. BCNI Godfather Jason Kristufek has already weighted in, and I have a similar question to ask the BCNI community: what should change from last year’s event?

Last year’s BarCamp in Philly was wonderful from a networking and the “Hey, I know you on Twitter!” angle. It was also fascinating to give attention to members of our community who don’t normally get to occupy center stage. CoPress presented to university chairs. Punks like me got to ask the Web Ninjas at the Washington Post questions about their new projects.

Industry giants like The Philadelphia Inquirer opened up their workflow to the world while startups like Publish2 gave us a peak at what they were up to.

BarCamp also fell short on several fronts. The conference was perhaps too open, and I did a poor job of explaining to people how the event worked. But BCNI’s biggest failure was the lack of a product. Some thing to point to and say “Hey, that came out of BCNI!”

So as next April creeps up and wheels are set in motion for next round of BCNI events, we are mulling over some changes and I’d like the feedback of attendees and the community. First, the proposed big changes:

• We need a hack day. I bemoaned the lack of a product, and we are considering making part or all of the event a hack day-like event where a challenge is given to team to come up with a specific product. And the end of the day we all present our ideas and awards are given out. For inspiration, check out what the Guardian did. There are, or course, a few hurdles here. Largely, that a Hack Day should really consist of a 24-hour period. Secondly, I would guess that less than five percent of last year’s attendees were computer programmers. Most hacks may be a bunch of similar looking mashups using tools like Google Maps that don’t require extensive programming knowledge.
• The pre-event board. Someone, and apologies for not remembering whom, suggested that we crowdsource the creation of the schedule before the event. That is, we have a period of time where people can submit topics they’d like to hear about and then a period of time where people volunteer to speak about that topic. We would still leave blocks of “free time” where people can sign up for a presentation the day of the event, but this might help better build buzz and attract some people that were scared by the “unconference” format while still preserving the openness.

Minor changes:

• List of attendees before the event. Last year we didnt reveal who was attending. This was a mistake and stopped some important pre-event networking from happening.
• A Shorter event. The day was about two hours too long. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. would have made more sense.

This is just a small subset of my ideas, but really I’d like to hear what you guys think. Did you attend last year? Did you want to? Are you interested in another event?

Please, comment below or weigh in on Twitter using #bcni.

Brian James Kirk, Christopher Wink and I presenting about TechnicallyPhilly.com. Picture taken by Adam Hemphill.

Before I comment at all about BCNIPhilly I’d like to thank the countless people involved. The people who manned the desk, floated around the floors, helped handle food, helped run the schedule and all of the hundred other tasks. You all rock. Thank You.

It was just as the event was closing down that I was approached by one of the participants.

“Sean, I just want to say that I’ve really enjoyed this event. And, most of this year, I have been feeling a little….” she hesitated for a beat, “f–ked.”

I nodded and began formulating a response to make her feel better when she jumped in.

“But after today … I feel a little less f–ked. There’s hope.”

And thus was BCNIPhilly.

Just like that attendee, I had an amazing time at the conference. Not only because I got to meet a ton of new people, both in the Philly community and those involved in cool journalism products all around the country, but mostly because the talk of doom-and-gloom was at a minimum. Finally, a bunch of optimistic, smart people got together and had some passionate and enlightening debates that focused positively on the future. There was no alarmism, no negativity, no people falling asleep in the sessions (that I saw, anyway). Instead, it was “What are new, cool ways we can make money?” or “This is the innovative project I have been working on to strengthen my company’s reporting.”

Real people on the ground floor were exchanging theories, ideas and concepts. The session “Journalism school in 2012″ was led by students. The kind folks at the Inquirer and Philly.com offered first-person accounts of how they manage the flow of copy in their newsroom. The Web Ninjas of the Washington Post laid out a clear blueprint for anyone who’d like to push innovative products in their newsroom and *gasp* have them make money.

So was it a success?

The final attendee count for BCNIPhilly was 126 journalists, students, educators editors, and executives. There were 12 boxes of pizza, 2 crates of water, 4 crates of juice, 15 boxes of coffee, 166 cupcakes, and a lot of donuts.  But there were also business people, interested members of the Philadelphia technology community and other people who were excited to talk media.

Before the event started I wrote down the following goals to gauge its success:

1. To trend on Twitter. Don’t ask me why, I just thought it would be cool to have a journalism conference in Philadelphia get noticed by outsiders who wouldn’t normally know about an event like this. I wanted a 35 year old in Nevada to visit Twitter and ask himself “What the heck is BCNIPhilly?”
2. To have everyone participate. I wanted the presentation board to be 80 percent full and have the sessions featuring people partaking in friendly but vigorous debate. I didn’t want it to just be a series of people talking to a bunch of blank stares.
3. To finally get together this online community that has been building around journalism innovation. I wanted the names and avatars in my Google Reader to be sitting in front of me, arguing with each other without the filter of the Web.
4. To promote Philadelphia. I love this city and did not want it to be overlooked for the conference. Once it was decided that it was here, I wanted to promote all of the great stuff Philly has to offer.
5. To have new ideas, conversations or products come out of the meeting.

How’d we do? Well:

1. Were were #3 on Twitter behind a global, panic-inducing illness and the biggest offseason event in the country’s most popular sport.
2. The board was slightly less than 50 percent filled, so good but not great. However the level of discussions in every session I managed to peak my head in was excellent.
3. I heard the following statement several times: “Oh, your *insert name here* on Twitter!” While there were some people I wished could of made it, I was satisfied with putting names to avatars.
4. We got the GPTMC to contribute bags, rocked Phillies hats and had the afterparty in beautiful Old City. I even managed to sucker one attendee into grabbing a steak at Pats.
5. It’s too soon to tell, but something tells me the Web Ninjas presentation alone is sure to spur some new products.

All in all, I think it went swimmingly, however I could not attend every session and speak to every attendee. But before people say words like “year” and “again” and “next,” I’m interested in what those who made it to Temple think. What was awesome? What stunk? If you don’t want to comment publicly, drop me a line on my contact form.

And I’m currently sorting out my notes for anyone who would like to throw a similar event in the future. More to come!

BCNI Philly is a little over a month away and planning has been kicking into high gear. My friend and programming whiz Major Highfield has been on the look out for sponsors (know somebody? drop him a line), I’ve been all around Philadelphia passing out flyers, and the planned attendance is nearly over 100.

I thank everyone who has shown support or offered to volunteer so far, but as I have been trolling the Web I’ve come across a few names I don’t see on my registered attendees list. Below are 6 people I’d like to see attend who haven’t registered. If you know them, known someone that knows them, or saw them in the street once, drop them a line and encourage them to attend!

Jeff Jarvis

Who? Jarvis recently wrote the book “What Would Google Do” and has been a vocal media critic.

Why? Jarvis is likely to find a very receptive audience at BarCamp. The cross of media and technology focused people would allow him to skip over the basic tenants of his media theory and skip right to the good stuff. The Barcamp format would allow for an engaged debate that cable news camera does not offer. Jarvis teaches in New York, and could be in Philadelphia in a little more than an hour.

Kiyoshi Martinez

Who? Founder of AngryJournalist.net , Journalism.me

Why? A former Web editor, Kiyoshi could offer a lot with a session about his time managing a handful of community newspaper. A presentation about his experience in building a few of his side projects would be an inspiration to news people everywhere. Or, he could bring a dose of humor presenting on postings on AngryJournalist.net.

Tim O’Reilly

Who? Found of O’Reilly Media, coined “Web 2.0″

Why? O’Reilly seems deadly accurate at predicting Web and technology trends. To view his thought process through the prism of journalism would make for an excellent presentation. Where many prognosticators come from the media end, O’Reilly would offer a unique perspective of someone who has been actively involved with the Internet for over a decade. He is also an advocate the Open Source software that a large number of news startups rely on to keep costs low.

Anyone from Politico

Who? The news start up about politics that is actually making money.

Why? Read those last two words carefully. Politico is a rare example of a lean print and Web operation catering to a very specific niche that is profitable. Anything from reporting methods to business practices of this success story would be valuable to attendees.

Jim Louderback

Who? CEO of Revision 3.

Why? Revision 3 doesn’t do much in the realm of news, but the company is damn good at presenting video content in a variety of formats and is working on innovative ways to monetize that content. A presentation on building a successful Internet video podcast such as Diggnation can be applied to news in numerous regards. The company has been at the forefront in every form of video distribution from mobile to set top box downloads.

Brian Tierney

Who? CEO of Philadelphia Media Holdings.

Why? For one, his offices are up the street. But Tierney is a topic of hot debate among newspaper people. To some he is doing all he can to keep Philadelphia a two newspaper town, while other see him as a shewed businessman. Whatever your thoughts, Tierney has a large impact of the future of Journalism in the forth largest media market in the country. The recent bankruptcy of his company would make for a fascinating session, or at the very least he could present on what its like to be on the management side of the operation.

Logo by Brian James Kirk

Some 250 years ago, Ben Franklin had a problem.  He suspected “electrical fluid”  was contained in lightning, an uncommon belief at the time.  As legend has it, near Philadelphia’s own Christ Church, Franklin reasoned a kite would be the easiest way to get close to a thunder storm.  As the kite flew close to the storm, he witnessed the fibers standing erect.  After touching a key to the string and his knuckle, his discovery was complete and the rest is history.  Or folklore, depending on who you ask.

The news industry needs its own kite moment.  It’s time to throw conventional wisdom to the wind and try something different.  That’s why in the very city that Franklin conducted his kite experiment, the industry’s forward thinkers will have a meeting of the minds.

After going on a meeting bonanza, I can tell you the following:  The event will by hosted by Temple University’s School of Journalism on Saturday, April 25th, which means we will be taking over the Annenberg building.  These facilities are top notch, a we have access to wi-fi, half a dozen smart classrooms, a bigger “smart” lecture hall, a public atrium, 2 computer labs, and even a TV studio.  All told, this venue can hold between 250-300 people comfortably.  I ask that anyone planning on attending register for free (it takes 10 seconds), so we can gauge numbers.  If the number attending creeps close to 300, we will switch to a bigger venue down the street.

Barring any sponsorship that provides food, there is no plan to cater the event as there are roughly 323,233,767 places to eat within 5 minutes of the building.  I, personally, look forward to patronizing Temple’s famous crepe truck.

The event is also in need of a few volunteers such as someone to handle tech/wi-fi stuff, someone to wrangle sponsors, etc.  If this sounds like something you’d like to help out with, drop a line on the wiki or sign up for the Google Group. And a thanks to everyone who has stepped up already.

Maybe we’ll come up with an idea that is as radical as Franklin’s hypothesis.  Excited?  Register below.

Cosby thinks this is a good idea, and you should too.

The last post on this blog outlined reasons I think Barcamp: News Innovation should be in Philadelphia.  A few people agreed with me, a few did not.  However, people agreeing with me does not magically bring the event to Philadelphia.

After shooting a few emails around I can tell everyone this:

• Temple University’s School of Communications has agreed in principle to host the event.  This is good news as projectors, wifi, and other technology would be readily available.  Temple University is also located right off of the Broad Street subway line, so it is highly accesable from anywhere in the city.  If it was held at Temple, it would most likely be on the weekend as to not interfere with classes.
• Chris Krewson at the Philadelphia Inquirer, offered the facilities there as well, and offered to do his best to provide speakers from the Inky.  The Inquirer building is so close to Temple that you can see it, so it is possible to have a few events at each.
• Philly tech event planner experts at P’unk Ave have agreed at the very least to lend general support with more specifics available as details emerge.

So a BarCamp Philly has general support from the three pillars of Journalism innovation: the education community, the online journalist community, and the tech community.  Various students, reporters, tech people, and educators have contacted me in private to offer a show of support.

So, the next step would be to have a degree of certainty that this event is happening. This is something I can’t accomplish on my own so I have set up the offical Philadelphia wiki page.  It is bare bones now, but if you have any interest in this happening, even if it is a casual “I’d go” please drop by and leave a comment.

Hopefully this can fill out over the weekend, and thank you everyone who has offered support.

Above: Sean's new job

I’ll admit it, I have been out of the loop lately.  That’s why I missed the recent conversation spreading across the Web about the proposed BarCamp: News Innovation.  That is, until my buddy Christopher Wink clued me into the tragedy that was occurring.

If you missed it, a bunch of people way smarter than myself are looking to organize a forum for getting forward thinking media-people together to discuss the future of news.  I agree with the concept, but what I disagree with are the proposed locations.  There is only one place this could possibly go down: Philadelphia.

Why?

Location Location Location. Whenever any group proposes any kind of big event, there is usually a tug of war between New York City and Washington D.C. This never made any sense to me, as Philadelphia is right in between these two locations.

On the Barcamp Wiki, DC and Boston area is proposed as one location.  This is lunacy.  Philadelphia is in the center of the corridor of Northeastern cities being less than a two hour drive from every major city except Boston.  Having the event in DC and Miami, totally alienates everyone north of the capital.  Having the event Boston increases the travel time for those coming from D.C.

Media Market. Aside from the central location, Philadelphia is the forth largest media market in the country, and second largest on the East Coast.  The other proposed locations?  Miami is 6th, D.C. is 7th, and Boston is 11th.  Philadelphia is the 6th largest city in the country (and it would be ranked higher if Phoenix and Houston didn’t have FOUR TIMES the square mileage Philadelphia does).  Miami and Boston don’t even crack the top 20.

Burgeoning tech scene. We’ve all heard ad nauseum how “with it” Silicon Valley and New York City are.  We don’t need another insidery gathering in cities known for their insidery gatherings.  This event is about fresh faces and fresh ideas.  And, as luck would have it, Philadelphia is currently in the midst of a tech explosion.  As Indy Hall co-founder Alex Hillman put it, a few years ago there were hardly any tech related events in the City of Brotherly Love.  Now?  Ignites, Barcamps, and Juntos are fostering a tech community like no where else.  Groups such as the Hacktory, Make: Philly, P’unk Ave, and Indy Hall are leading the way, featuring the wonderful technology related events and people that live here.  And these communities aren’t just Web 2.0. Or design. Or journalism.  They’re cross-genre.  Junto is even having a dialog with local nerds on health care this Thursday.  Health care! A similar dialog on Journalism would get a wonderful turnout full of fresh faces.

Philly has talent. Philadelphia is one of the few remaining two paper towns.  However, both the Philadelphia Daily News and the Philadelphia Inquirer have been shrinking rapidly.  This means there is still a large amount of very qualified journalists floating around (maybe in the old Pen and Pencil club?), many of whom might be interested in this conference. And these ex-deadtree reporters are up to some wonderful things.  For example, TreeHouse Media was started by an ex-Inquirer staffer.  The Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab at Temple University was founded by an Philly ex-broadcaster.

The availability of venues.  Temple University, The University of the Sciences, LaSalle University, Drexel University and The University of Pennslyvania are just a few of the colleges all located within blocks of Center City.  Plus, The Pennsylvania Convention Center is being expanded … again.

Anyone who disagrees with me is welcome to drop me a line here or on Twitter, but I can not think of a more convenient and better equipped location that Philadelphia.  Miami (sorry Mr. Linch), Boston, and New York all lack the essential aspects of an event like this: a central location, an underserved community, and the facilities to handle this.

And if you live in Philly and would like this to happen, drop a note on the BarCamp wiki.  Cmon, Why Cant Us?