RE BarCamp 2009 and a new focus for rebarcamp.com

I talked to Andy Kaufman today about 2009. We’re fully committed to bringing REBarCamp back to San Fransisco. SF is my favorite town to visit, and this year’s event was such a roaring success that it was a no brainer for me to commit my time to it again.

But I also REALLY like the idea of bringing these events to locals across the country. I willing to help do that.

There’s considerable effort involved in putting something like this together. At the end of REBarCamp SF, at least a dozen folks were hoping to do something in their local markets. Only Mike Price has actually made it happen to date. Mike’s been involved with this project from the beginning. Heck, he even designed our logo. We need more Mike Price’s to make this work. We need more people to OWN a local event.

Possible REBarCamps on the horizon.

Los Angeles – Ricardo Bueno is volunteering to organize an RE BarCamp some time in the later half of February. I told him I would help, and plan on attending. As much as I’d like to do a Denver event, I’d rather be visiting LA in February. More Details are coming in the next couple weeks. We’re looking for people to help though. Let us know ASAP!

Chicago – I’ve never been to Chicago. Yet, I know this is perfect place for an event like this. The Mid-West is full of real estate bloggers. They need an event like this badly. I’m not sure how much time I can volunteer myself, but if you want to get involved, let’s talk. Late April would work well from a weather standpoint. If you’re local to Chicago, I’ll be speaking at R.E. Connect Tech Talk on Dec 10th. Let’s get a cup of coffee or something.

San Diego/NAR – Seems to me that the annual NAR convention is the perfect place for such a conference. This is a ways out, but think about it while you’re in Orlando this year.

? – This is a free form project. We won’t stop you from holding an REBarCamp on the moon.

The future of rebarcamp.com

I purchased this domain to market the original SF event. We really didn’t envision this spreading throughout the country. To better organize at a national level, the focus of this site is changing. rebarcamp.com needs to be a clearing house for all of the other events, and a resource center for those who want to plan them.

In addition, I’ll be happy to host event blogs as well. So for instance, we will probably use something like www.rebarcamp.com/sf09 for next year’s San Fransisco event. If you want to create and host your own blog/site for your own event (like Mike did), that’s cool to. We’ll still work with you to promote it on the main rebarcamp.com site.

Moving Forward

Leave a comment, or shoot me an email if you want to get involved. In the mean time, I could use some advice on how you think this site should be structured. I’m looking at magazine style WordPress themes. Do you have suggestions? Want to help? Give me some input.