We asked everyone under the sun for suggestions. What could we give out at the event that they would actually use and keep? The winning answer was: “A nice canteen.”

We heard you (ditched the tried and true t-shirt approach) and decided to even throw down some extra cash to get, not just a nice one, but the very best in the industry. A bunch of negotiation and Klean Kanteen slapped our artwork on a 27oz Stainless Steel bottle. We are quite thankful to the team at Parachute Creative for their generous donation of poster / bottle art.

In short, every attendee (unless we get some party crashers) will get for FREE their very own canteen. Even more awesome? Our local outdoor shops sell these exact bottles for about $20-25! The cost of a freelancecamp ticket: $25. So it is no surprise we are feeling pretty darn proud of ourselves right now.

Below is pre-print mach of what the bottle will look like. The artwork wasn’t final at this point but you get the idea.

A HUGE thanks to our sponsors for helping to make this happen.

The event is really coming together!

We now have a venue, which is the newest building on pacific ave right in the middle of down town Santa Cruz! In fact, the building is so new it is completely empty, so we got Palace Office Supply & Office Interiors as a sponsor to set up a series of 5 meeting spaces / lounges. Top floor awesome view, big balconies, 10,000+ square feet of prime space surrounded by some killer restaurants and right up the street from the beach.

We also are now working with Klean Kanteen to get custom stainless steel water bottles for the event. This is going to be the sickest schwag ever. I must see one in the hand of every 10th person walking down the street and they retail for close to $25. You get one along with your ticket! And I am talking the 27oz bottles, not those tinny ones.

• Venue: Rittenhouse Building, Downtown Santa Cruz, CA
• Date: Saturday August 15, 2009
• Time: 8am – 6pm + after party
• Cost: $25 or free if you are a student or really, really, really need the help (please be respectful)
• Schwag: Klean Kanteen 27oz bottles (retail cost for these is more than the price of your ticket)
• Register: http://freelancecamp3.eventbrite.com/

Not in the area? Don’t worry! We have a freelance camp coming to Reno soon (date still to be decided). Still out of luck? Start your own. We have already had five freelance camps in 2009 and every freelancer who has put one on sent me personal notes telling stories of how much this has caused a serious boost to their careers and the local economy.

Fire marshal has us capped at 300 people, so that nails down the ticket count. Last year, after my email blast (which we will be sending out around June 18th or so) we sold out in 3 days. As of June 19th we are already down to 221 tickets just based upon word of mouth. So if you want to come, sign up fast.

Who should come? If you sell your services (or are considering it), you are a perfect fit: developer, designer, accountant, blogger, journalist, realtor, lawyer, carpenter, engineer, financial adviser, marketer, sales, musician, artist, inventor… Historically, the bulk of attendees are from hi-tech. We encourage all types of owners to come to provide a balanced perspective to business.

• Get experience based answers to your questions.
• Network and meet people running successful freelance businesses.
• Form partnerships and collaborate.
• Find clients.
• Help others and be a person of influence.

The “Camp” in FreelanceCamp implies that the event is informal with an emphasis on face-to-face interaction with other attendees. “Community-driven” means that the attendees of the conference actually run the conference by discussing topics appropriate to the subject of the event. The presentation schedule is determined on the morning of the conference and anyone is welcome to present.

Our sponsors include:

Baskin & Grant
City of Santa Cruz
Cruzio
Elance
Happy Santa Cruz
Hope Foundry
Nextspace Coworking and Innovation
Palace Office Supply & Office Interiors
Parachute Creative
Rittenhouse
Santa Cruz New Tech MeetUp
Shane & Peter Inc
Small Business Development Center
Studio Holladay
Sugar Crm