Grand Rapids

BarCamp

Technology / Design / Entrepreneurship

Friday, Aug 23 5pm - 10pm
Saturday, Aug 24 9am - 4pm

Registration is open now!

Watch Presentations from 2020:

BarcampGR YouTube Channel

Sponsors

Since 2006,

the Grand Rapids community

has gathered to share their passion.

Technology

Entertainment

Design

Development

Entrepreneurship

Health & Wellness

Share Your Passion.

Sign Up.

Speak.

BarCamp is an “unconference” where everyone who attends is encouraged to present!  You’ll meet interesting people, learn totally new things, and hopefully sign up to talk about your own passions. Subjects of discussion have ranged from web programming to digital photography to horticulture to turkey basting.

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About

Although BarCamp started in Palo Alto, California, in 2005, the event has spread like wildfire across six continents and dozens of BarCamp events are held each year.

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Who

Anyone can attend BarCamp GR. This event focuses on technology and design, so having an interest in one or more of these topics is strongly encouraged.

When

August 23 & 24

Where

Calvin University School of Business
1810 E Beltline Ave SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546

Cost

Free! But everyone is encouraged to present something or get involved, even if this is your first time at BarCamp. We’re very friendly people.

Bringing together the community since 2006

17

Years we've been hosting BarCamp gatherings

150

Average attendees each year participate

1000

Talks presented at BarCamp GR since 2006

One of BarCamp's pivotal tenets is participation.

One of BarCamp’s pivotal tenets is participation. We ask that all of our attendees participate in one way or another, even if you’re a first timer. Read below to find out how you can take part in this year’s event. Note, despite the ‘bar’ in Barcamp, the event doesn’t take place in a bar or with drinks.

Register

Schedule

You’re free to come and leave as you want. No obligations to stay the whole time, of course

The specific sessions will be determined during BarCamp, all based on who wants to give talks on topics of their interest.

Friday, August 23, 2024

  • 5:00-6:00 PM – Check-in and Dinner
  • 6:00-6:30 PM – Opening session
  • 6:30-9:30 PM – Sessions every 1/2 hour
  • 9:30-10:00 PM – Ice cream

Saturday, August 24, 2024

  • 9:00-10:00 AM – Continental Breakfast
  • 10:00 AM-12:00 PM – Sessions every 1/2 hour
  • 12:00-1:00 PM – Lunch
  • 1:00-4:00 PM – Sessions every 1/2 hour
  • 4:00-4:30 PM – Closing session

Participate

BarCamp is about meeting interesting people, talking about your passions, and listening to what you’re interested in. Subjects of discussion have ranged from web programming to digital photography to horticulture to turkey basting.  The session schedule is filled out by participants during BarCamp!

One of BarCamp’s pivotal tenets is *participation*. We ask that all of our attendees participate in one way or another, even if you’re a first timer. Read below to find out how you can take part in this year’s event. Note, despite the ‘bar’ in BarCamp, the event doesn’t take place in a bar or with drinks.

What's the format?

Presentations are 25 minutes long, with 5 minutes in between. You’re welcome to sit in on a presentation or hang around in the lounge and talk; it’s all the same with us. If you run a presentation, we don’t care how you run it–so long as you don’t get us in trouble! Give a monologue, a Q&A or a round table; it’s your topic, your presentation, your audience. If people didn’t want to spend 25 minutes on your topic, they wouldn’t be there.

Don't know what to talk about?

Certainly you have some relatively unique experiences. What do you do for a hobby? What’s something you managed to fix that you’re proud of? It doesn’t matter if the height of your accomplishment is changing your car’s oil or if you’ve biked half of the Grand Rapids area; people will be interested, curious, and encouraging.

But I'm not an expert!

Sure you are! If you know the first thing about a subject, you know more than people who don’t. And, yes, people who know more than you will probably attend your presentation. Interact with them; you both have something to learn from each other. Chances are, if you’re both really interested in a subject, you’ll find yourselves looking for each other in the lounge, later.

But perhaps you’re…

Shy?

That’s fine. Come on in, get a look around and a feel for things. It’s a two-day event; come by on Friday, sit in on presentations which interest you or hang around in the lounge and network with other people. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to talk about something later, or on Saturday. You never really know.

If you’d like to be able to listen, but don’t know if you’ll have anything to say, you can still…

Help Out

Spread the word with our marketing materials. If you want to help plan the event, join the BarCampGR Organizers mailing list.

On the days of the event itself, we typically need people to help at check-in, setup and clean up, to keep the food lines flowing, people to respond to technical issues such as “why won’t the projector work with my laptop” and “could someone turn down the lights so we could see the screen?”

Share Your Passion.

Sign Up.

Speak.

Register Today

Sponsors

Without support from the companies below, this year’s BarCamp GR event just wouldn’t be the same.  Please join us in thanking each and every one of them for such a great event!

If your company is interested in sponsoring BarCamp, please contact us for more information, we’d love to have you!

Contact SponsorshipSponsorship Prospectus

Contact Us

Don’t be shy now! If you’ve got a question, comment, or anything you’d like us to know, don’t hesitate to contact us.