A Myriad of Helpers

Community Project

The Barcamp community is a varied mix of people who all share a passion for technology. The summer Hackathon is a fun loving, good natured competition, setting teams the challenge of building a hack and (possibly) winning a prize.

The Barcamp in the autumn is a participatory unconference with a mix of serious and amusing sessions.

Plans are already underway for Barcamp London XIII in late autumn 2024. We need to see the football fixtures first (and avoid certain dates) before we can announce anything. We should know the football dates by mid June, hopefully just in time for an announcement at BCL Hack 24.

The people on the team who stage these events are unpaid volunteers who give their time freely, just for the joy of immersing themselves in tech activities, and for the craic of meeting like minded people.

The respective venues, The University of East London (in the summer), and The Academy of Excellence (in the autumn) know that we’re an informal not-for-profit organisation, and they moderate their fees as best they can to help accommodate us.

We rely on you, the community, and the sponsors to make all this happen! Yes, we still pay for quite a few things!

Jamie + Lion

Jamie Knight and his plushie sidekick Lion are well known faces in the tech community. They have been on the London tech scene for about 20 years, with a pedigree covering the BBC, Apple, HSBC and a variety of international conferences.

The business Jamie + Lion has stepped up as our first Bronze sponsor, and this web site is functional thanks to them. They build digital products for the web, for mobile, for game platforms and beyond, with an approach that centres on understanding and removing barriers. Digital accessibility, inclusive design and neurodiversity need support in all organisations and getting the right advice helps you build better products and services.

Thank you Jamie + Lion for being active members of the community.

Volunteers

The current team will need some help during the hackathon weekend on 15 and 16 June, and four or five volunteers would be welcome. Nothing arduous, just helping people with guidance. The Saturday morning will see some teams turn up ready formed, and others coalescing naturally. Newcomers may want a hand joining or forming teams, or may simply want guidance on the extra challenge of preparing a solo entry. A facilitator or two would be an asset.

At other times, volunteers may simply need to guide people around the venue, maybe move some boxes or chairs, help the venue’s security team or catering team with crowd management, and generally be all round good eggs.

If you’re able to spare a little time, let us know in advance, and we’ll gladly add you to the volunteer list.

Publicity

The current attendee list, and the current sponsor list is healthy, and it could be bigger! More than 66% of the tickets have been taken, and the sponsors have made big inroads helping us with the budget. We need some more though.

• More attendees.
• More sponsors.

And we particularly need two more challenges. At least two! So, please share news of the event with everybody you know. Use the two metre rule. If anybody comes within two metres of you tell them about BCLH24.

There are discussions underway already, with more potential sponsors. However, you might have a perfect match in mind, and if you do please point them at the Packages page.

Sponsors

To date, we are delighted to have these resilient organisations on board already!

Proactive is the “go to” solution for Devs and Designers who need proper help with their accounts and tax returns.

dxw is an independent digital agency improving lives by working in partnership to design, build, and operate inclusive public services.

Infobip is a global leader in the field of omnichannel communication helping to overcome the complexity of consumer communications.

Jamie + Lion provide workshops, mentoring and support to help organisations build inclusive products and services.