During last 2 years former USSR countries faced so-called “BarCamp boom”. Starting from the very first Ukranian BlogCamp in autumn 2007 and until the most recent NevaCamp in St. Petersburg, we all appreciated brand new style of putting new media dreams into real life.

These two years were full of exciting events, people, projects and innovations, which changed us very much. I, personally, during the Kiev BlogCamp in 2007, made my first presentation on a large (relatively) audience, met some people who became my good friends very soon, decided to take part in the BarCamp Baltics 2008 and even developed some ingenious projects for their Innovation Incubator.

Then a first thought of hosting our Belarusian un-conference has appeared. Later it transformed into some small events in Belarus and a huge event at the end of year, as a gift to all Belarusian internet community - ByCamp 2008.

Many people wanted us to continue, and we couldn’t decline. The next Belarusian un-conference will be! But, thinking about what do we are going to achieve, our goals, I started wondering - is BarCamp style suits our needs today? Are there any drawbacks of BarCamp? What do people say? How can we develop it into something more productive?

Suddenly, I came to a conclusion that we cannot host “just another BarCamp” in Belarus. Maybe it seems to me old fashioned, may be too limited, I`m not sure. The only word I have in mind after deciding to change something is “evolution”. Every man should grow personally so do un-conferences should. Asking people who visited BarCamps many times, I always hear about inspiration, parties, contacts, fun, new places, but… People, it’s not the case! Conferences, un-conferences should be visited mostly because one primal reason - knowledge.

We share knowledge, allow others to learn, someone - to teach. Information is the key to everything! Not just any information, but really valuable information, which can be used in everyday`s practice. When I`m visiting 5 different barcamps and see there the same people, or the same topics, or the same approaches to organizing - these T-shirts, stickers, I want to run away from the place. BarCamps are becoming boring. And people feel it. It’s obvious, that for a first-time blogger or Internet freshman events are incredible, but it is only for the first time. BarCamps lose their popularity. And, you know, it is good.

It is good, because “BarCamp crisis” evolved new ways of thinking in an “un-conference way”. And here are some examples:

1. iCamp Russia this year will take place at a ship, which will be traveling across the river Volga. So at least the entrance fee will be somewhere around 300 bucks.

2. BlogCamp Kiev will be a part of the Spot conference and will be free, while the Investor`s Day and a conference will require more serious preparation than just “came and listen”.

3. British people metamorphosed BarCamps into mere practical events, named this new format - “Social Innovation Camp”.

4. Finally, here in Belarus we decided to organize a conference of the Open Space type, which allows us to be much more flexible and creative, host one day as a BarCamp, the second as the practical conference, and the third - as a traditional one, with respective top-level speakers. And all days - in an unformal style!

You can ask me - what the hell, is BarCamp going to die? And my answer is - are you stupid?

Here are some thoughts about when to choose “pure” BarCamp style:

1. When you want it to be a part of something huge (Spot 2009)

2. When it is entirely devoted to one subject (Social Camp Kiev 2008 was for Ukrainian NGO`s mostly)

3. When you want to have some fun (Everybody wants!)

3. When people asking for it and there is a social demand (First BarCamp in every country is usually the best, BarCamp Central Asia, for example)

4. When one of your goals is to teach people public speaking (I`m saying - one of, not the only one)

5. When you want to create a space of public teaching the basics of something (good example - EduCamp Kiev last year).

6. When you want to make money and allow people to make it (iCamp Moscow last and this year).

So, everybody opt for the right way, as always, there are many ways of expressing yourself - whether it will be in Open Space, traditional, BarCamp, meet-up, whatever - format.

Everyone is free to create something - that is the lesson we learned from this incredible 2 years, everyone can do it and everyone must do it!

I`m not sure in everything, but I know one simple thing - we are going to rock!