StartupCamp Switzerland in Basel

Yesterday I attended the first StartupCamp Switzerland in Basel. Since it was my first Barcamp-Style conference, I was not only looking forward to catch up with many interesting people, I was also curious what the world-famous Barcamp experience would be like.

First of all, I really liked the location (I knew it from past activities) and the excellent food. I also liked how smooth the registration worked for those who were a little bit late :) Furthermore I liked the mix of people that was brought together and I think the StartupCamp Switzerland has laid the best foundations to become a great success in the future. Another plus was Poken's attendance. They made it easier for people to break the ice and connect.

Despite the excellent organization I was disappointed by the contents. My look backwards indicates that I very much prefer well-prepared substantial speeches over spontaneous, general shoot-outs like they were performed in Basel yesterday. It can make sense to spontaneously add one speaker or two to a panel or to hold spontaneous brainstorming sessions with good moderators. Spontaneous speeches seem not to be good for the transportion of a valuable core message or valuable insights. Although I might have made the wrong choice of sessions due to the lack of Barcamp-experience, my conclusion for the first Barcamp attendance is that I might just not be the Barcamp person.

Thanks to the good organization and the great bunch of people, I'm glad I went to Basel yesterday and I'll certainly give Barcamps another chance to see if the overall-experience is better if I attend more interactive sessions.

P.S.: Pictures and presentations are accesible at http://www.wuala.com/StartupCamp