Going Solo Leeds canceled, SoloCamp instead, interview by Krishna De, Going Solo Together, the Future
Stephanie Booth
As you might have heard by now, last week I had to take the difficult
decision to cancel Going Solo Leeds due to lack of participants.
Attendees, sponsors and speakers have been informed personally, and I
have published an official announcement on the blog with answers to
some expected questions.
Questions answered in the blog post (with short answers here):
- Will there ever be another Going Solo conference? Yes, there will.
- Why did you cancel? There were not enough attendees 2 weeks before
the conference date.
- Are you doing anything instead of Going Solo Leeds? Yes, SoloCamp
Leeds will take place on the same date (see below).
- What about the people who had paid a registration fee? They are
being refunded and get a 50% discount if they sign up for one of the
next Going Solo conferences.
- Why didn't people register this time around? Good question! Some
hypotheses are explored in the blog post and the comments.
<http://going-solo.net/2008/08/27/not-enough-attendees-for-going-solo-leeds/>
I would like to thank everybody who showed their support to this event
though registering, sponsoring, encouraging others to register or
sponsor, blogging or talking about it, displaying a badge on their
site, or helping me with the organisation. I have learnt a lot and am
looking forward to organising the next Going Solo conference.
As some of us will be in Leeds anyway (sometimes it's not worth
canceling travel arrangements), we will be putting together the first
SoloCamp -- a barcamp-like unconference focused on the same areas of
interest as Going Solo. It will take place at Old Broadcasting House
in Leeds on September 12th. Attendance is free and open to anyone (you
just need to sign up), and the programme of the day will be run by the
attendees.
<http://going-solo.net/2008/09/01/solocamp-unconference-in-leeds-on-september-12th/>
- announcement
<http://barcamp.pbwiki.com/SoloCampLeeds> - event wiki page
<http://goingfar.eventwax.com/solocamp-leeds/register> - register to attend
A few weeks ago I was interviewed by Krishna De, who asked me lots of
questions about organizing Going Solo. It was a really interesting
interview and I heartily recommend that you listen to it.
<http://going-solo.net/2008/09/01/interview-by-krishna-de-for-bizgrowthlive/>
As I mentioned, I have learnt a huge amount over the last six months,
both businesswise and about organizing events. One certain thing is
that I will not be embarking on the next event I organize alone -- I'm
starting to keep my eyes open for business partners. Get in touch if
you're interested or if you know somebody you think I should be
introduced to.
A couple of weeks back, I also officially kicked off the Going Solo
Together discussion group. I mentioned it here before: it's a
discussion list for freelancers who are looking to share experiences
and get peer support. However, despite the 70+ members on the list, it
is at a standstill. Is this really a bad time for freelancers? When I
announced the discussion list the feedback was very positive. Maybe I
need to learn that intensity of feedback is not an indicator of future
success ;-)
<http://groups.google.com/group/going-solo-together/msg/e4727d2f8eebd06b>
- kick off message
<http://going-solo.net/2008/05/23/going-solo-together/> - announcement
back in May
Speaking of newsletters, I'd love your feedback on the Going Solo
newsletter. Just hit reply and answer this e-mail -- your message will
reach me directly. Is the news I communicate via this newsletter
useful to you? Is it frequent enough? too frequent? Do you follow the
links for more information, or just skim through it?
I'm all the more interested that I've just launched my own personal
newsletter, and my experience with this one was a decisive factor. If
you want to stay updated on what's going on in my professional life
(mainly), do sign up. If you read my blog, you'll have noticed I don't
really talk much about what I'm doing in it, and I know that many
people who know me have a hard time figuring out what it is exactly
that I do for a living. The newsletter should answer that :-)
<http://groups.google.com/group/sbooth> or e-mail
sbooth-s...@googlegroups.com
And while I'm off-topic, I'd like to jump on the occasion to inform
you that I am co-heading the Web2.0Expo Berlin Blogger Outreach
programme, with Suw Charman-Anderson and Nicole Simon. Bloggers who
participate in the programme will be granted access to the conference
for free (and a bunch of other nice things) in exchange for blogging
and promoting the conference during the next month. The programme will
be kicked off this week -- if you're a European blogger and want info
on the programme, keep an eye on my blog or send me an e-mail.
<http://en.oreilly.com/webexberlin2008/public/content/home> -
Web2.0Expo conference in Berlin
Looking forward to hearing from you
Stephanie
--
Sept 12th: http://barcamp.pbwiki.com/SoloCampLeeds
Going Solo newsletter: http://groups.google.com/group/going-solo-news
My personal newsletter: http://groups.google.com/group/sbooth
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