So I attended last nights DemoCamp put on by Ian Graham and Peter Childs. And I believe it was a very full house; as in no seats left.
I’m going to be a bit disagreeable on the event, I enjoy them and will continue to go but they’re getting a bit silly.
I think there were three to four issues with the LCD-projector through out the night. The wifi connection was blamed for problems with a demo (I don’t buy it.) And the MODASolutions presenter had half a screen of toolbars installed on her Internet explorer (f11 is your friend. )
And on that subject – I don’t agree with Scott Annan that letting MODASolutions present was essentially “allowing established companies to use DemoCamp as a pure sales and marketing platform.” if so…. Devshop commercials are much worse. MODASolutions wasn’t selling anyone in that room a product/service, Devshop was. Plus, I doubt more than 20% of people there had a clue a bill payment engine company was located in Ottawa – which is pretty cool.
But I digress.
It was a bit disappointing that Alec Saunders didn’t get to present. I was looking forward to it.
Trailpeak‘s Kurt Turchan has a good thing going. I was impressed with the business butthink they might have trouble breaking into the U.S. market without a US Anchor company (Ala MEC.) But it still shows some of the exciting social/wiki sites being launched (and/or run successfully) in Canada.
In that line of thinking CitySales has got to become a bit more embracing of user generated content and willing to let users grab the sales info as needed. I think RSS feeds into the sub categories would make the site useful, its current email blast method is a barrier I don’t think many will jump to get the info. Monetizing the advertisers will be a huge challenge. But its still early days there.
The other companies are not really anything I’ll comment on here. They were either not interesting to me or just didn’t make enough of an impression to be included in the list. No one was a waste of time time and I enjoyed a relaxed demo of new technologies. I’ll of course be attending the next one.
Ian Graham
September 25, 2007
Hi Matt,
I read your post regarding democamp6 and wanted to take a minute to add a coment.
Admitedly, the projector was a disaster. It was the first time we have used this one and it was very temperamental. A friendlier projector would make for better demos, stuff happens. I will shoulder the responsibility for this item. Yes the router was also a disaster. We will be purchasing some new kit with the remnants of the Democamp fund. Technically (projector and other kit)the next democamp will be better than this one.
I enjoyed Modasoltuions presentation and it is great to see them show an interest in democamp. In my books they are a great Ottawa start-up success story and it is cool to get a bit of diversity at democamp.
I found alec’s no show disappointing, but the fact he never bothered to let anyone know before or apologize afterwards more concerning. Obaid the other camper who couldn’t make it had some issues and made a real effort to let us know. A big thank you to Justin from City Sales for helping out.
Your suggestions (and your readers) on how to make democamp better a better experience would be appreciated. Our goal is to put the fun back in technology and have democampers enjoy the experience. I received a lot of positive feedback afterwards and if we can improve we will work toward that goal.
Cheers,
Ian Graham
mattroberts
September 25, 2007
Hey Ian,
I agree with your comments about MODASolutions. I think i should have been more clear about how I enjoyed them. I wasn’t aware Alec left it that last minute… and good on Justin for stepping into the breech (and my crosshairs.)
I’ll give some thought on improvements and possibly post it or email it to you in the next little while. Thanks again for organizing the event!
Mitch Brisebois
September 25, 2007
Mostly agree with you, Matt. As for Moda – at least they gave a more polished presentation. Most of the others were pretty raw – maybe they can use Moda as inspiration! Craig’s video was an entertaining diversion! OK – it was a commercial!! (maybe it’s time for another CaseCamp)
It was great to see a packed room nevertheless. Considering everything that CAN go wrong – it wasn’t bad. One suggestion would be to try to move the screen further from the projector… the projected image wasn’t much bigger than the laptop screen. As a bonus there were more people hanging out afterwards for some old fashion networking! And as usual great service from the Clock Tower!
mattroberts
September 27, 2007
Agreed Mitch, the staff over there always are good about us opening a tab and kicking back there. Plus, you can’ knock the community aspect to all this.
My Comments on the Devshop video have gotten alot of banter over on the Startup Ottawa Blog. I think it is time for another casecamp!