UPDATE 20111023: Barcamp has been rescheduled, so there is no longer a conflict with SWBKK! We’ll have information up on SWBKK soon- stay tuned for details.
We’ve been asked about the timing of this event …
It’s on the same date as Barcamp Bangkok!
Yes, it is most unfortunate that two great events are happening the same weekend.
Can’t you hold the Startup Weekend on a different date?
We tried to reschedule, but after many attempts, Nov 25–27 is still the best date. And for every other weekend in November, the JFDI team will be running Startup Weekends in India, Indonesia, and Australia!
Didn’t you talk to the Barcamp Bangkok organizers?
We did!
So, what happened?
We originally wanted to hold the two events on separate weekends, so that people could go to both.
In August, we were told that Barcamp Bangkok was hoping to schedule for Sripatum University on Nov 26–27.
Then, in September, Sripatum University announced that it would be holding its graduation that weekend, so BarCamp Bangkok would not be able to happen that weekend.
Since we were told that Barcamp would definitely not happen then, we scheduled StartupWeekend for that weekend, and booked the venue, and got everyone to agree. And we chose the dates for the five other StartupWeekends that we are running around the region.
In October, right after we settled on Nov 25–27, Sripatum suddenly offered a different building to the Barcamp organizers, on the same date. Since no other dates and no other buildings would be available, that was the only choice if we wanted to hold BarCamp Bangkok in 2011, and so the Barcamp organizers accepted.
So, that is the story of how, working together, and with the best will in the world, we managed to end up with two events on the same date.
There is a quote that begins, “the best-laid plans of mice and men…”
We made a special trip to Bangkok to try to sort this out. On the 5th of October the JFDI team went for dinner with the organizers of Mobile Monday and of Barcamp Bangkok. Two pizzas and five beers later we concluded that there was no other way to arrange things, and it was all very unfortunate.
What about rescheduling StartupWeekend to later in December?
We would like to, but the winner of the StartupWeekend will be invited to join the Bootcamp in Singapore. It begins in January, and the winner needs enough time (at least one month) to deal with visas and travel arrangements.