Planning

[Andrew]

Tommie and I want to organise a chat over on Irish Comics News to grow
the camp or to cut it.
Thread here http://www.irishcomicnews.com/comics-barcamp-chat-events-icn/
or say something here.

[Patrick Brown]

Okay, well, I don't really take naturally to chat, and I'd also suggest that changing the medium probably won't increase participation any. I don't like saying this because I know you (Andy) are really invested in this and it means a lot to you, but I don't see a great upswelling of communal enthusiasm for it, and I'd have to include myself in that. 

I can see the merits of the barcamp format, but it seems to me that a successful barcamp would have to have a more specific objective, and an already existing group of people who shared that objective. If a bunch of people were already seriously discussing, say, setting up a publishing company or a distribution network, a barcamp would be a good way of pooling experiences and thrashing out the practicalities. Without a specific objective it's just a talking shop.

Unless there's a major upsurge in participation, I think we probably need to step back and rethink. What is it for, what can it do that people want or need but existing events aren't doing? You've done some good groundwork, not least by identifying an excellent and friendly venue, and that should serve us well for future events.

> Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:19:15 -0700
> Subject: Planning
> From: drew...@gmail.com
> To: comicsbarc...@googlegroups.com

[Andrew]

Given the developments in Irish comics in the last few months it's
difficult to understand a lack of group objective. Alternatively
you're quite right Paddy. All the evidence points to your conclusions.
You know through your experiences with the Wiki and Black Panel, that
a lot of people are happy to default to the lone voice setting.

A good meta-objective would be the publication of a comic
representative of Irish creators run at a profit and available as
accessibly as possible.

A few concepts on how this could break down in terms of workshops:

Sales Outlets
Alternatives to Diamond (Print)
Selling Online
Access to Funding
Pitching for Writers (or studying pitches)
Guide to Affordable Print Outlets
Using the Comics Press and Blogosphere as Facilitators
Working with other publishers

Each of those could be broken down again (eg. Alternatives to Diamond
- Working with Easons), and probably again to sessions on individual
experiences (How I developed Absence - and how you can get 10,000
comics printed). If people want to run the more common tutorials (eg.
on photoshop, making comics, merchandising, pitching for artists),
there's likely to be those interested in those too and something new
to come from the seminars.

[Andrew]

And of course going through Business Enterprise seminar subjects and
applying it to the matter..

[Patrick Brown]

Okay, if that's to be the objective, it needs to be promoted on that basis. People are more likely to participate if they know what they're participating in. An objective generates possibilities, but you can't expect the objective to generate itself.

Be more proactive about inviting people. Who do we know who has experience we could learn from? John Farrelly comes to mind - I'm sure his experience with DNA Swamp would help us avoid a lot of pitfalls. John from Forbidden Planet could talk about the business side, or maybe someone from Easons or Waterstones or the Northern Ireland Publications Resource.

Format. Do we want to follow the magazine model, or do we want a squarebound volume that can be sold in bookshops as well as comic shops? I'd lean towards the latter.

Legalities. If it's to make a profit, how is the profit to be shared? What's the best way of making it fair? Can we find anyone who's published, say, an anthology of short stories who could talk about that?

Funding - what about using Kickstarter?

[Andrew]

I've decided to run a series of emergency chats on Barcamp at
http://www.irishcomicnews.com on Friday afternoon 4:30 – 6pm and
Saturday 2:30 – 4:30pm, 6:30pm – 8pm
Wait and See is much too unappealing. People are online at any time.

TBH Paddy on Pro-activity: I emailed everyone on Tommie's ICN mailing
list, and thirty others culled from the Wiki and my own sources. Joe
Gordon FPI Blog Chief said he'd run a piece. My guess is it got lost
in the SDCC palaver or at the back of the pile because I'm too
overworked to do adapt a press release. I've put out about ten each FB
links and tweets.

John McMahon of FPI Belfast was invited a few weeks ago. I gave him a
few pages on the barcamp and intimated the importance in seeing him or
some FPI staff there. So much so that I would reserve places. Stephen
from Reads/Easons is keen and I will email him shortly.

Format is certainly a good consideration but would most likely be
decided from a bit of research into what Easons want. Maybe one for an
end of the day session and a selection of talking point examples. Oh,
and then there's content.

Legalities AND profit-sharing. I would imagine any attendees consider
creator work freedoms important, so far as a consensus. A proper pay
stucture based on page count and properties (eg. black and white)

Funding - There are people monitoring it. Also bigger things like the
Wellcome Trust Arts Award which had I run Absence through them could
have gotten up to thirty grand.

Also, Bob Curran has some interesting things to say about how certain
members of the government in Northern Ireland and dinosaurs look upon
the medium.

[Andrew]

As to the hundred invites I sent out, I'm beginning to suspect there's
been a malfunction in the Google groups invite. It's either that or
I'm the most despised man in comics. (I've more sense than that, but
paranoia slips in through absences) I've since re-invited emailing the
hundred names in batches of ten.

[Ger Hankey]

Hey Andy,
Just wanted to say sorry for not being too much help on the barcamp front. I'm in the middle of moving house this week so Internet access is patchy at best (I'm sending this from the phone). I can't make the event itself either as it's the week the kids are back to school unfortunately. It's a shame cause the event seems like a good idea. If I can think of any suggestions or the like I'll give you a shout.

All the best, hope it all works out

Ger

> Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 19:21:01 -0700
> Subject: Re: Planning
> From: drew...@gmail.com
> To: comicsbarc...@googlegroups.com
>

[Andrew]

Aye Ger I had figured you'd have your hands full. Feel free to join in
the discussions were you are able, as if you were attending. If we
make it happen you may get to watch Barcamp from your new home.