Saturday I went to OSSBarCamp and apparently Girl Geek Day was in the same building. I didn’t stay for a long though, but I got insight of both of them.

I would argue that OSSBarCamp was really bar camp. In real Bar Camp sessions are proposed and scheduled by attendees, mostly on-site, typically using white boards or paper taped to the wall. Most of the talks was scheduled beforehand and there wasn’t much discussions what people want to hear. If we say it was conference then it was presented marvellous. Thanks to Jaime and Laura for organising it.

I heard 2 great talks in OSSBarCamp. First talk was about introduction to Ubuntu. I’m not really familiar with it so it was interesting to listen to it. Second talk I went to (there was 3 parallel talks all the time) was about green party’s IT policy. We got to the few suggestions on how make people use it and implement it in practise. Great way to actually impact what will be going on in IT world in future. Can’t wait to see real policy, which will be created in next few months.

Girl Geek Day was organised by Laura and supported by Martha Rotter from Microsoft. We got really nice dinner from Celtic kitchen and talked about different difficulties what women get working in IT. Girl geeks are minority in IT so we work harder and it’s difficult to achieve things. And sometimes we do feel lonely because people don’t take us serious.

I had to run away so I didn’t stay for the rest (drinks afterwards and few more talks), however I did enjoy it. All photos taken by my camera are blurry again (I really should buy new camera), so no photos this time.

Update – got photos from Girl Geek Day

It is quite comon mistake in web development that people do not test scalability and as more users start using system, it actually breaks. Here is quick PDF to show you all you need to know about scalability and how to deal with it: agiletech.ie/scale

Imagine eating ice cream as much as you like for 2h! Imagine getting free Bulmers beer and talking with a lot of interesting people. Hear great presentations and pitch your business. That’s Connector. It was my first time there, but it seems I gonna return there again. Thanks again Conor for organising such a great event!

And for those who love Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, write review on their Facebook site. The most interesting review will win a delicious year’s supply of Ben & Jerry’s, yum! And there is Irish Artist bags on the site as well (at least that what they told us, but I wasn’t able to find ^^).

You can see a lot of information on web about recession and how to fight with it. Yesterdays Business Advice Show supported by Bank of Ireland was everything about stopping to look down (because of recession) and start to do something with your business. I completely agree with everyone who said that January was the biggest peak of recession. People was so afraid that they actually didn’t even went out of their offices. It started to pick up on February and I’m amazed how much people actually attended this event.

I therefor regret a lot that I didn’t came there with my stand. So much people starting their own businesses and expanding them – they would need to do something with web. They would have some great ideas of expending over it. Well, I was rather unfortunate to not thinking through this beforehand.

Event was part of the Enterprise week and as most of them took part in Stillorgan Park Hotel. My benefit from the event:

• 21 business cards, 2 leads, 10 existing contacts
• 2 free tickets on business coaching event next week
• Information about:
  • Patent search & registration
  • Selling Services in Northern Ireland
  • SFA, IIA, ISME, Enterprise Boards joining, networking, events
  • Investment for Redundant people who are starting business
  • Business Coaches
  • Translations
  • Online Banking (event was organised by BoI)
  • Solicitors, Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement
  • Franchising
  • Accounting software
  • Brochures about Managing Business Finances from Enterprise boards & ROS
  • Brochure about Marketing business

We heard great presentations from both Krishna De (marketing specialist) and Gavin Duffy (from “Dragons Den”) about actually starting to do something not just feeling depressing.

Krishna De presentation

Have you heard of Harry Potter site launching before? I keep hearing it on every networking event related to marketing. It seems that it was such a great success that people keep babbling about it. The marketing person of the site decided to tell only 7 people about site they are going to launch. Those 7 people were a big influencers in their area. They were all invited on the website on midnight for a talk. It made World Wide Rave after. Everyone blogged about it and they got enormous popularity in very short time and with a low cost budget.

So how do we find our customers in this recession scenario? First we talk with our existing / old customers and ask what they have been going through. What are those decisions they have to make now? Creating survey over Google Docs doesn’t cost us anything. Why not to see what our customers are doing? Second we look at your concurrents and analyse how they are trying to target customers.

After creating marketing plan you have to do it. Every day think – what have I done today for my business marketing? And even if it is small step, it will move forward your plan.

Think about how to make marketing more engaging. How to get people come back to you? Promising them free quote, documents or prizes? Make your site interactive. Make your business card interactive. Make people talk about you and keep in touch with them.

Gavin Duffys presentation

He was one of the “Dragon’s Den” dragons, so he kept talking about business, but it was so funny. For example, he talked about applications that didn’t went through. One farmer called them and said that he invented rat catcher, because you are always about 3m from some rat. And those rats, they have electrical charge, so when you take them in hand you can be hit by electricity. The “rat catcher” was actually a land mine. Dogs and cats can walk over it, humans can walk over it and there isn’t a problem. But if rat go over it, it goes boom. Hilarious.

Recession is father of innovation. For those who live through recession are more likely to grow multinational that those who don’t. However, setting up business might be very, very lonely. You are alone with all those problems which you have no clue how to solve. This is where enterprise boards and networking is a great help for everyone starting up.

Apparently “Dragon’s Den” might start second season from September or October. So if you are interested go online and try to apply for it. And remember – that investors do not invest in business, they invest on people.

Awards

BoI together with enterprise boards were giving away 5000eur in cash and 5000eur in mentoring & training to one of the applications for Bright Ideas Challenge. There were 4 of them. Each had great idea, very nice business plan and future growth planned.

• Asimil8 is an e-learning venture that provides immerse education for languages and other subjects through virtual world and gaming technology. I was amazed by they idea. It might be quite similar to the MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft but with learning purposes
• iFoods owns and operates the website lookandtaste.com. The website features over 230 professionally produced video recipes raging from scrambled eggs to the daunting soufflé. I actually have to check that website out. It looked very tasty.
• Trezur is an online music recommendations service. It provides listeners with a widely distributed mechanism to find new music. Its recommendation engine combines the best of people-generated and automated musicology analysis to provide listeners with relevant recommendations
• Vellocity Couriers provides an environmentally friendly bicycle courier service within Dublin’s city center. Using specially designed cargo bikes, it carries small to medium loads more quickly, cheaply and with no emissions.

Asimil8 won the first prize, but I didn’t got enough time to take picture. Congratulations!

Would I go to this event next year? Definitely, with my own stand!

This week is DLR Enterprise Week with a lot of events every day. Check our their website Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Enteprise Week 2009. I hope it’s not too late for me to write this post. There are still quite a few events left such as networking, incubation spaces info, shows, workshops and awards.

It wasn’t very wise to assume that I could see parade by just going there at 12 o’clock and looking at it. People from all over the world came to see this parade. It was completely CROWDED. We kept going around the streets hoping to get a peek at parade, but at the end we just gave up. To see the parade you have to do one of the following 1. Be there few hours earlier and take place near fences. Don’t move or somebody else will take your place. It might be hot if it’s sunny or it might be cold if its rainy so be prepared. 2. Take stairs with you. It is very common thing on St.Patricks and a lot of people do take stairs with them. 3. Climb somewhere high – on statues, telephone boxes, staircases of the old buildings, fences, poles, fountains etc. 4. Buy ticket for the best view (not sure about this though).

As we didn’t see parade we decided at least go to the Merrion Square for the Fun Fair. It was crowded as well, we were standing around 20 min to get on the panorama wheel and then we just gave up and went home. Probably I won’t go to parade next year and it is a bit sad, because it is great (saw it last year, because it was a bit rainy and there was a little less people). They should get this thing somehow better organised or it looses it’s credibility.

Here is some photos.

One great thing about recession is that people are more willing to do networking. I have heard few people saying that networking doesn’t really help businesses and it is waste of time. I have been networking for last half year and can tell you that people do not know how to do networking. Here is some 10 tips that might help you network better.

1. Do not sell

Everyone fails on this. You go to networking event to meet people, introduce your business to others and learn new things. Remember that each person has around 500 contacts behind him. If this person can’t help your business, it might be that one of his friends are in need of your services. So how about stop selling and start to do some networking.

2. It’s not all about you

The person you talk with is the most important person at that moment. You should try to help him in any possible way by give him advice, your contacts or introducing him to others. Remember the law of reciprocity. If you give something, people feel obligated to give you something back.

3. Make yourself noticable

When I first went to Start Your Own business course and there was lady with small red mini skirts and big red high heel shoes, I thought she is very unusual. But after quite a few networking sessions I noticed that people who network regular keep those touches on. I have seen at least two guys who always keep funny hat on, or girls who wear red clothes. I have a hat and people do recognise me after seeing it only on twitter or LinkedIn.

4. Find the right networking event for you

It’s not true that you go to all networking events and they all will be viable for you. Find the ones that are most suited for your business and do research beforehand. If you have a list of people attending, look up them and decide whom you want to talk with. If there isn’t anyone you want to meet – don’t waste your time and don’t go there.

5. Do talks & presentations

While people are very affraid from talking in front of others, it is almost the only way to introduce yourself to everyone. People will be more at ease to approach you after.

6. Do Follow Ups

There is no point for you going to networking events if you don’t follow up people you met. Don’t sit at office and hope that they gonna call you. Send them e-mail, call them and remind about your talk.

7. Don’t lie

If you don’t remember somebody ask for his name or business card. If you don’t know what person is talking about, ask him. Don’t pretend you know those things. It usually leads to worse case scenarios!

8. Try to talk with everyone

Standing and chatting with one person all evening won’t bring you much opportunities. Go around, talk with everyone and return to persons you are most interested in. I have heard that most best spot for networking is near the food and drink stand. You keep returning there, pour tea for somebody and start talk.

9. Don’t do networking too often

Firstly you won’t have time to follow up with everyone and secondly you will be very tired unless you are super sociable person. I had around 4 networking events last week and I was very, very tired after.

This is your chance to get some business, so go do some networking!

This post is split in different sections. First it’s my review, then there are links to presentations, other bloggers, pictures and even video.

My review of FOWA Dublin

For those who want to see what exactly was happening review #fowadublin on twitter and see what people had been writing.

While a lot of people wasn’t happy with the event, I’m quite glad I got there. I got my ticket to Fowa in courtesy of http://IrishDev.com. Presentations was quite interesting and I met a lot of people interesting people.

Here is my notes from all the presentations. I hope you might find something interesting for you. I didn’t attended last two presentations (as I had to run away), but I heard they were quite impressive. I was unable to spot presentations over the net. Even thought they did promised they will put them out somewhere, I couldn’t find them.

1. “How to sell your web app” by Ryan Carson (organiser of event)

Ryan Carson sold two businesses already and now is building third one. Here is his tips on building business for selling.

• Use balsamiq.com for mockups
• Obsess over numbers (e.g. time user upgrades from free accounts to paid)
• IT projects have around 60-70% profit margin
• Use your own app every day
• Dont plan to get acquired
• Separate Google Analyitics account from company account
• Start the domain transfer early (as it takes months)
• You will have to pay around 30k for lawyers and accountants when selling company
• Do serious tax planning
• When sale takes place, you have to work 100% of your time for about 4+ months to make it successful

2. “Unconventional Web Apps” by Contrast

To be honest I was sure they won’t be able to go through their 200 presentation slides in those 30min, but they really did it and it was awesome, funny and valuable. While it’s kinda hard to put points over their presentation, I could say in general they were talking about how and when break the conventions in web applications. E.g. layout of the home page or signup process. Their ending statement was “Break the rules, question them and have fun.”

3. “Apps for All in a Web 2.0 World” by Robin Christopherson

Really great talk about problems in web applications for those with disabilities.

• Captcha is one of the greatest enemy for blind people. Often even if they have sound version, it is not good enough to understand
• A lot of pages become completely unusable after JavaScript is switched off. So you have to check that before releasing your app.
• Each map should have text version for it. E.g. Google maps have great example.
• A lot of videos auto start. If person opens page like that, he don’t hear text with voice reader any more and can’t stop the video.
• Flickering images is bad for people with Epilepsy
• Videos without any text explenations might be confusing or even scary
• Image alt text is very important and you have to keep it up to date if site changes
• Flash sites are almost unaccessible for people that can’t see
• You have to check navigation by rows and keys (not only mouse)
• See more information at http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/

4. “How to build amazing web apps – Lessons learned from building Twitter.com” by Blaine Cook

Blaine talked mostly about Natural Social Networks and real time updates. His belief is that we are still in stone age for social media networking and it still gonna grow. It’s kinda hard to explain what he was talking about, but he did mention OpenID, OpenSocial, webhooks.org and others. Try to look it up for more info.

5. “The future is Ruby w/o Rails” by Emma Persky

Emma told her about her experience with Rails and w/o them. She believes that every project has to use programming language or framework best suited for that application. Using always Ruby on Rails aren’t the best option.

6. “Yet another web app? Or a successful business?” by Morgan McKeagney, IQ Content

His talk about why few web apps are successful and few aren’t were really impressive. What makes anotomy of success is: product, team&personalities, value, punters, commercial-savvy, local to global. His example was great : there was two groups U2 and The Blades. While second had much better songs, singers and publicity, U2 got global. Why? Because they  had “Vital Financial Breakthrough”. At the end of the day it is always – which one makes more money?

7. “How to build desktop apps that help your web app succeed?” by Matthew Ogle, Last.fm

Matthew told about his experience of building and growing last.fm with using “scrobble” and attention data. He mentioned that it is very important to make application Open Sourced if it is using user data. New software will be launched soon by last.fm – Buffin

8. “Web application horror stories” by Simon Willsison, Freelance

This was my most favorite presentation. We all love to hear how big companies failed on security and how we can improve our own apps not to fail similar.

• XSS – never let inject JavaScript. Don’t let inject HTML or CSS either. (e.g. “sany is my hero” – myspace worm, UTF-7 hole in Google.)
• SQL injection – worst case scenario you can let people do
• CSRF. Protection would be adding the crumb, but you have to protect the crumb by all possibilities. For example, if you have XSS hole, you will have CSRF problems as well. (e.g. Digg allowed to enter script that diggs post. Gmail got filter hacked. ING got funds transfers proceeded.)
• Login CSRF – to avoid it, force user to sign up on trused account
• Clickjacking – new attack with invisible frames (e.g. Flickr had “Don’t click this” worm.). Possible solution would be frame busting, but it will still fail in case of Clicky Game (e.g. how fast you can click on buttons on the game?)
• Do protect Admin access! (e.g. MacRoom life had problems with someone writting that Steve Jobs is dead. Twitter had problems with teenagers hacking admin account.)

Few bad points I was unhappy about

First thing – the wireless was crap. Most of the attendies used either macbooks or iPhones and it was almost impossible to get connection.

Second thing – you had to buy drinks and food. For the price I paid for this event I expected at least get some free drinks or suggestions where to go eat (only sandwitches provided by bar). I heard Contract and IGOpeople both payed €200 for drinks for ppl at the bar. Great to hear that.

ANNOUNCING PRIZE (you can still apply for this)

Announcing IQ prize of €10,000

Slideshows and other info on presentations

Web Security Horror Stories Presentation

Web Security Horror Stories Notes

More info on Sun StartUp Workshop

Notes by Renate Valdes Olmos

How to build webb apps to succeed Notes

Apps for All in the Web 2.0 world Notes

Blog posts about FOWA Dublin

FOWA by Andy (quite unhappy review of the FOWA)

Fuck the Real World by Peter (about one of the last presentations)

Fuck the Real World prsentation review by Thomas Wittek

Unhappy FOWA review by Peter

FOWA Review by Dave Concannon (quite short and very nice review)

John Keys review of all talks

Lessons Learned from FOWA by Kabling

Great speakers, poorly organised by John Breslin

Photos from FOWA Dublin

Flickr FOWA Dublin tag pics

One pic of “Fuck the Real World” speaker

Another pic of “Fuck the Real World” speaker (ppl really loved the presentation)

Paul Seys photos on Flickr

Photo by blurredfocus.co.uk

Paul Seys TwitPic (the one in middle is organiser)

Last.fm presentator on Mobypicture

Fowa crowd on Mobypicture

Movie on after party

The Official FOWA wrap party will be taking place at The

Dandelion Club on March 6th 2009. See youtube

Last 3 days was crazy networking stuff all over Dublin. I’m very tired now. I haven’t replied to mails, haven’t followed back on Twitter and haven’t done anything else than networking. I will back to you on Monday for sure. Please bear till then

Three forums I found in last few weeks are Business Advice Forum and Irish SEO, Marketing & Webmaster forum and Irelands online bookclub forum

Few useful links for businesses & IT

Free Irish Fax number – great way if you are just starting your business

Updated List of Irish Marketing Comms Blog – if you are doing your own marketing

Few technical people might love U-Buntu Ireland Resources. The mailing list isn’t really spamming me and they have quite a few meetups.

Just something to read

10 Harsh Thruths About Corporation websites

How to become Happy Freelancer

Few out-of-work links

Our friends came over and were searching for best outlet shops in Dublin. While there were few, somebody suggested them to try out Kildare Village. Didn’t know about it before.

Though it’s past the Valentines I’m completely in love with these animated e-cards