The founders of the network hub, gorgeous coworking space up in Vancouver have announced they plan to run a freelance camp early in 2010. If you are up in the area and are interested in helping to plan the event, drop a comment and we will put you in touch.

When people asked me 10 years ago what I did (freelance developer), most nodded their heads but couldn’t relate. Well it seems that a whole lot more people do now. According to money magazine, 31% of Americans are now freelancing, part time workers or self employed. Personally, I don’t get the difference between the first and third, but that point aside, holy cow that’s a huge shift in our economy and the work life balance.

We are very excited to bring the Freelance Camp event to Reno-Tahoe but unfortunately we have to postpone the event. Freelance Camp Reno-Tahoe will now be taking place on November 7th. Our new venue is being finalized this week but the event will be taking place in downtown Reno.

RSVP for Freelance Camp Reno-Tahoe

This is a small blessing in disguise as we are confident that Reno Collective will be opening its doors on November 1st and we may be able to host the event at our building.

The venue just fell through. The organizer is quickly looking for a replacement, but has requested that we set the event date to TBD until they can find a new location. If you happen to live in LV and have any suggestions or can help him out, leave a comment.

Don’t waste a whole day of good networking. There are many ways to keep in touch and draw upon the resources and people you will met / have met at the events.

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2210555
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18528177643&ref=ts
Twitter: Follow “Freelancecamp” or tweet #freelancecamp

You could go read the event notes
You could stay in touch with people on facebook
You could follow up on Twitter for announcements: “Freelancecamp”
Write a blog post about your experience and link back here so people can read them.
You could implement what you learned!!

For those of you coming to the event tomorrow, it will be a hot one. Forecast is well into the 80s. Nice day for the beaches. While the fires are dramatic, they have not affected any of the major thoroughfares and are miles away from downtown. We are excited to see you and have a dynamic dialog.

In case you want more detail, below is an interactive map of where the fire is.

For more info visit the Mercury News.

Its official. Freelance camp Washington DC 2009. They have a venue (the DC improv – can’t get more inspiring than that). They have a signup site. And they are rocking the preparation. Join them in Spring of 2010.

Looking to help out. Volunteers are encouraged. Just leave a comment.

What to Expect at This Saturday (15th) at Freelance Camp Santa Cruz

The day will start at 8am with an hour of socializing over coffee and pastries. We will be handing out free Klean Kanteen stainless steel water bottles at the sign up. We have 250 bottles and 300 signups, so come early!

It is really important you arrive by 9am so you can participate in creating the day’s agenda. At 9am sharp we will give directions on how to propose a topic and then we will create the schedule. We will be harvesting the minds and expertise of all the people in the room to come up with topics pertinent to freelancers.

If you’d like to lead a session you’re going to want to speak up with your topic idea at 9am, when the schedule is being created.

Looking for more info: browse www.freelancecamp.org

What You Need to Bring

* A head full of topic ideas
* Your laptop (free wi-fi provided thanks to Cruzio.) or a notebook and pen will do.
* Lots of business cards. This is a great networking opportunity. You can get a quick turnaround from Zazzle.com if you are in need of cards.
* Please consider bringing your own coffee mug (if you don’t want to use your canteen). We will provide a water cooler full of refreshing cool spring water for you to fill your own drinking device.

Session Participation

After the schedule goes up you’ll be able to peruse the offerings and decide where you want to go. Remember, this is a participatory event. You’re encouraged to join in the conversation that gets started in the session, so you may want to go to some where you want to learn more about the topic, and you may want to go to some where you have useful knowledge to share.

If You Want to Lead a Session

Bring any materials you’d like to share. As a topic leader you keep the conversation going. You don’t have to be an expert on your topic; since topics are usually fairly broad, there’ll probably be others present who can help you out. This is about sharing information within the group so you want to encourage everyone to participate.

Need a topic idea? We’ve suggested some here to get you started. Please be thinking of others that can be added to the list, we’re working off the power of the collective:

* how much should I charge?
* handling slowdowns
* contracts and negotiations
* part time: balancing job and clients
* how to fire a client
* business structures
* getting work through your portfolio
* why start a business?
* sales – creating new leads
* doing both services & products
* handling quick growth
* retirement
* managing remote teams
* time management
* subcontracting
* what to do when things go wrong?
* from part time to full time
* taxes and savings
* how to work from home and stay happily married
* insurance: health, life, liability
* [your idea here] …

After Party at Motiv

The owners of Motiv, a high end restaurant / bar / club have made their venue available starting at 5:30pm. For location and more visit: http://www.freelancecamp.org/santa-cruz-after-party-at-motiv.

Other Useful Information

* Morning coffee + pastries and lunch will be provided – free of charge thanks to our generous sponsors. Lunch will be selected from a variety of downtown venues including Zoccoli’s, Planet Fresh, Jack’s, Woodstocks, The Greek and a smattering from Costco.

* The event takes place in the brand new Rittenhouse building right on pacific and church. While the address is 1375 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, the entrance we will use in on Church Street right by across from Clouds. This is a really cool place to hold a BarCamp, lot’s of creative inspiration with a great view! Many many thanks to Palace Office Supply & Office Interiors for providing furniture.

* If you plan to live blog or tweet – the hash tag is #freelancecamp

The General Schedule:

8 – Coffee and socializing
9 – 10 Planning Session
10 – 12:30 Sessions Run
12:3 – 1:30 Lunch
1:30 – 5 Sessions run
5:15 – 6 Wrap-up / discussion / cleanup
5:30 + Drinks and Food at Motiv

Volunteer

We could use your help! Just reply to this post. Please let us know if you are open to giving an hour to help with the following:

* Signup
* Food
* Cleanup
* Runners
* Move in (friday evening)
* Move out (sunday afternoon)

Thank you to our Totally Cool Sponsors!

Please patronize them often and thank them profusely for supporting our cause.

Baskin & Grant Legal
City of Santa Cruz: Economic Development & Redevelopment
Cruzio
Elance
Hope Foundry
Mashable
Nextspace
Palace Office Supply & Office Interiors
Parachute Creative
Rittenhouse
Santa Cruz New Tech MeetUp
Shane & Peter Inc.
Central Coast Small Business Development Center
Studio Holladay
SugarCRM

We have decided to take advantage of barcamp.org’s wonderful free wiki to save the event notes. If you are leading a session, please have someone take summary notes and post them to the wiki at http://barcamp.org/Freelance-Camp-3. If you are coming here after the event, I hope they are wonderful.

Curious about last years notes? Check them out: http://barcamp.org/FreelanceCampSchedule