BarCamp Kerala 11 at IIM-K – A Memoir

The 11th edition of BarCamp was announced with just 20 days of notice, unlike other editions. Hence the registered sessions and attendees was lower than the norm. And this time it was at Indian Institute of Management, Calicut. I don’t know why, but people find travelling to the north a bit more hectic than travelling to Trivandrum.

The day started as early as 4 in the morning for me with @theAnand, @BinnyVA and @jluSujith travelling in Anand’s car, cruising at speeds close to 90 kmph, thanks to the empty early morning roads. We had breakfast on the way and reached the campus at 9:30. As expected, @praseed3point14 was already at the venue.

Its my second time at IIM-K for a barcamp. The campus is spread over around 265 acres (I think) and its awesome!

View From IIM K
View From the Venue

The turn out was really low, and we were told that a train from Cochin reaches at 10:45, so we waited for them, but in the meantime the real essence of barcamp happened. We started discussing random things starting with career advice, dating advice, then went to technology and other interests.

I took a break and took the opportunity to explore the campus a bit with Binny and Sujith. When we returned, the hall was full. magic. Praseed Pai was already talking. His session titled “IITs & IIMs – Are they (still) Socially Relevant ?” spurred discussions. He pointed out that students who miss admission to IIT or IIM are also equally or even more capable than the ones that get it, but still the society gives undue importance to IIT and IIM passouts.

Praseed was followed by Hari K T, with his session on “Integrating FB”. He explained how to connect with FB using its Graph API.

I was the next in line. After fixing some technical issues with the projector and fixing a crashed presentation (thanks to my Technical team lead @BinnyVA) I started off with my Presentation – “How to Print Dollars with Your PC”. When I was in college I have spent so many hours trying to make a buck online but it took me 3 years to succeed. I wanted to give them some easy quick ways to make money online. I wasn’t teaching them fishing, I gave them some fishes.

The presentation went well, it was taken well too! Here are my slides:

View more presentations from Arun Basil Lal

 

After lunch, Shwetank from Opera took his session, “HTML 5 and Beyond”. What interested me was the beyond part of the presentation where he gave demo of stuffs that Opera is working on. Like using the device orientation and the gyroscope to control variables on screen. He gave a sneak peak into the future of what the internet experience will look like. Future is waiting!

Shwetank on Stage
Shwetank on Stage

Now it was time for extempore sessions. Binny gave a talk on his latest project MADapp. And Praseed recommened some of the books he have read.

When it was time, we took the group shot and said our good byes. In total it was an elegant clean event. Nothing was wrong.

My day was no where near over. On our way back to Cochin, we spotted a carnival (somewhere on the way) and went in. We went on rides and had a crazy evening before I slept off like a dead man in the car.

CarnivalView From Up In The Air - On The Giant WheelMe and Anand after a Ride. Kinda Dizzy! ;)

Next thing I know, I am home and dinner was there. I think Anand paid for it. Danks!


Comments

16 responses to “BarCamp Kerala 11 at IIM-K – A Memoir”

  1. Looks like everything went well ๐Ÿ˜‰ missed it.

    1. Yeah, nothing to complain as such. i was expecting more people from IIM-K. That wasnt there.

  2. Hi,
    Only one thing I can notice from your photos ,you have grown up man ! .Cheers !

    1. yeah! am a complan boy ๐Ÿ˜€

  3. Yes, awesome post mate .

    1. mostly because we are in it ๐Ÿ˜‰

  4. Rishikesh Bkz Avatar
    Rishikesh Bkz

    It was always nice to read anything from here ๐Ÿ™‚
    Seems like the attendees were less, but I have no past experience to compare ! We did enjoyed our first shot xD

    1. Thanks man! The turn out was a bit low since the barcamp was announced really late.. but not too bad.. usually we have around 100 people… See you at the next one I hope ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. that was my second. The first one was Ed.10 at scms. Gonna make it a habbit.

    1. you will never regret it ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. Sure thing ! From now on I will be regular..

  7. Nice post… thanks Arun.

  8. And the 4 time too. Missed it badly. And these days the bck’s are scheduled just a day before the university exams. huh!
    i’ll be coming eklm probably dec 1st week, hope to see you soon.. ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. he he, happens! Luckily when I was in college i missed only one barcamp because of exams.. ๐Ÿ™‚

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