….if this is your first time at BarCamp then you must give a presentation. No shirt. No shoes. No rules. Tyler Durden would be proud.

Well actually it’s not quite that hardcore – you don’t have to give a presentation (I jest – of course you can keep your shoes on )

I’ll cut to the chase and say that BarCamp fits the bill for the tech startup world. There are many people with brilliant ideas, businesses and a passion for what they do who want to share and learn in a relaxed environment. It’s a lot like most good networking events, but with free presentation opportunities.

BarCamp is a well self-organised free “unconference” where all participants are encouraged to give a presentation about their chosen topic. At the start of the proceedings all participants are encourages to wrestle over a few stack of post-it notes and sharpies (marker pens) in order to scribble down and stick their preferred topic on the schedule.

Despite the apparent scotch tape and toothpicks, BarCamp is now attracting sponsorship from tech heavyweights, so don’t be surprised to find people from Yahoo! or Google lurking amongst eager bootstrappers.

The Twitter back-channel keeps everyone posted on what’s happening – #barcampmiami rose to one of the most popular Twitter trends during the event. There are a number of sporadic talks running in parallel, so keeping in sync via Twitter helps catch the buzz.

There are no glossy schedules, hopefully fewer headaches for the organiser and less unnecessary costs. If someone backs out of a talk you can count their slot being taken quickly.

I learned new things from some awesome people and was delighted to share by presenting in the courtyard sun about Agavi PHP Framework. It was fun, despite there being no hope of the projector working.

Sales pitches are discouraged and against the whole BarCamp ethos. Thanks however to @alexdc for making an announcement about Total Hotspots for iPhone during his introduction – people from BarCamp and FOWA should find the app genuinely useful since it enables them to find the best nearby free and paid Wi-Fi hotspots.

I can’t believe that I went to BarCamp Miami before doing BarCamp London. I’d love to be involved in bringing this fantastic concept to UK shores, however it appears already to be a massive success, with the first 50 BarCamp London tickets selling out in under 30 seconds. Wow!

I recommend that my friends back home sign up to the BarCamp London mailing list and follow @barcamplondon to keep a close eye on their next ticket release. Be quick!

Were you @ BarCamp Miami or do you have plans for BarCamp London? Get in touch via email, Twitter, Linkedin or comment on this post. Thanks.