OggCamp10 came and went so quickly that it seems vaguely surreal already. The months of work poured into the event all exploded across 48 hectic hours in Liverpool. Now it’s all over, bar the administrivia. It’s just crazy that people travel from all over the country, and even abroad, to come to something we’ve set up. Crazy in a great way, crazy in a way that puts pressure on us to make sure the event goes well, crazy in a way that we really appreciate, but crazy nonetheless. So, how to sum it up? To be honest, I’m not in much of a position to do so. Such was the pace of the weekend that I spent most of it running around the main stage. I didn’t see any talks in either of the two smaller stages. Not one. There were also lots of people I only got to say hello to in passing, something which comes with the workload of running an event, but is still a bit sad. There are some great photos emerging on flickr too. So I’ll share my memories, but they are but a small, small part of the picture.
Laura and I set off for Liverpool early on Friday morning, via Basingstoke and Hammersmith. We were collecting bits of equipment for the event on the way, adding to the assortment of raffle prizes and other boxes which were already packed into the car. I had arranged to collect the kit as, at the time of booking it, we weren’t sure how much sponsorship money we’d have. Collecting kit in person saves on a day’s hire and a delivery charge. It added a few hours to the journey time though. The Hammersmith location was a small recording studio in a town house, of which I was immediately jealous. It looked like the perfect place to record podcasts. 
Goods all safely gathered in, we set off for the north.
Thanks to the wonder of Google Latitude we could see that we were going to reach the M6 at almost exactly the same time as Alan and Laura Czajkowski. We arranged to meet at the next services, where we enjoyed a quick break and a catch-up. Driving into Liverpool around 5pm, we were overtaken by Ciemon on his motorbike at some traffic lights. Laura and I went straight to the Black-E to drop off the kit from the car. We met up with Dan and Dan’s mum, Agnes, and helped them unload their car too. This was my first chance to look around the venue – Dan had seen it many times and Laura had visited a couple of weekends previously. I’d seen photos of course, but there’s no substitute for being there in person. It was immediately clear that this was a very cool venue, with just the right vibe. It was a real shame that the refurbishment work hadn’t been completed as this took quite a lot of the shine off. The main stage was just massive. With two hundred seats set out, there was still plenty of space round the outside for people to stand. There were two balconies right around the space, giving the whole thing the feeling of a roman gladiatorial arena. At least, to my slightly nervous and overwhelmed mind.
After checking in at our fairly minimal hotel, we had a quick brush-up before heading back to the Black-E for a photo-shoot. That’s right, someone actually wanted to take some photos of us. Graham Binns was taking photos during the OggCamp event but wanted to take some photos of the UUPC mob as a separate project. Although there was some confusion about where we were shooting, we had access to the venue for half an hour, where he shot some portraits. After that, we were whisked off to the beaches with Antony Gormley’s Another Place installation for some brief and cold photos. Graham has blogged about the process and whilst I agree with some of the areas for improvement, the results are very pleasing. We wrapped up just as the light faded.
UUPC on the beach - Graham Binns
After getting back from the photo-shoot, we went to find something to eat. Always the gastronomic adventurers, we ended up in Pizza Hut with Andy Stanford-Clark, Simon Phipps, Roger Light and Laura Czajkowski. One of the lessons I learnt this OggCamp is that not having a designated hotel is a pain! People end up staying all over the town and something as simple as getting together for a meal can become a much more protracted and involved operation than I’m comfortable with. After eating, most of us finally made it to the Rathole Radio gig, an arrival which was delayed by my poor map-reading in the darkened alleyways of Liverpool. We arrived just in time to get a beer in before Dan and his band took to the stage and played a great set. The venue was great, reminiscent of the Cavern Club with its low vaulted roofs. Seeing people gathering helped build the sense of anticipation for the following day. Weary from our travels and aware of the early start the following day, we left around midnight.
We arrived at the venue at 8am, beaten to it by a few ever-eager crew members. Those who had stayed up later at the Rathole gig rocked up some time after the designated start time. 
A whirlwind of activity ensured that exhibitors were loaded in, signs stuck up, projectors configured and PAs set up. The fantastic banners heralded the event outside the Black-E and there was a crowd outside well in advance of the doors opening. In what seemed like no time at all, we were on stage welcoming everyone along and introducing the first speaker, Simon Phipps. Fortunately lots of people had come along ready to give talks, so I missed Simon’s talk to help Laura set up the schedule for the rest of the day. Unfortunately we were rather surprised by the number of people putting forward half hour talks rather than hour long ones. Worried about not having enough talks to keep everyone occupied, we chickened out and only scheduled a single round of talks before lunch. In hindsight I’d have preferred to pack that time slot out more as it felt like a bit of an anti-climax. Being stuck up on the balcony looking after the sound desk, oblivious to the fascinating talks going on on the other two stages, it all felt like a bit of an anticlimax and I crashed hard.
After a lunch break the afternoon schedule kicked off with another round or two of talks. Dan did a great job of chairing a panel session, keeping our very chatty panelists in line with ease. All the panelists were great, but it was especially good to see Brad Pearce being part of it. Brad came along to OggCamp and offered a talk on neuroscience. During the talk it was clear that he was an articulate and intelligent speaker, so we just asked him to join the panel! It was also great to see my friends Ade Bradshaw and Chris Procter, former LugRadio presenters, taking part. Both had come along to support the event, but it was nice seeing them spout forth a bit. Saturday concluded with the wonderful raffle, with a range of prizes donated by various generous companies. Dave showed his salesman instincts, flogging loads more tickets just before we got underway. I really enjoyed the raffle, it was exciting, a little bit tense and very funny. Oh, and it helps us cover the costs of the event too.
After a pit stop at the hotel, (oh, alright, we watched Doctor Who) we headed off to Studio2 for the evening session. Studio2 is a fantastically cool venue, perfect for an event centred around two podcasts. It’s a recording studio, complete with sound booths and large studio monitors in the walls. Thanks to yet more poor navigation on my behalf, Laura, Andy Stanford-Clark and I took far longer to get there than we should, so we missed last orders for food. We had to make do with a nearby restaurant in Chinatown instead. We were finally able to let our hair down a bit at Studio2, knowing that tomorrow would not be an early start. But before too long it became clear that the day had taken its toll and we headed back to the hotel, leaving others knocking back baby guinesses.
The Live Show - By Lorna Jane Mitchell
Sunday was quieter than the Saturday, which was the case at LugRadio Live too. I’d love to know why people only attend on the one day – do they have family commitments on the other day, or just called in on the Saturday on the off chance? Nothing wrong with just coming on one day of course, but I’m curious. Again, I was in the main stage for most of Sunday, catching Alan Bell’s interesting talk on VoteGeek and Andy Stanford-Clark’s twittering house talk (for the third time!) This year we had provided a clip radio microphone for speakers and they all seemed more comfortable with it than the handheld radio microphone. Definitely a win over last year. But before we knew it, the live show was bearing down upon us. Popey had squeezed some ideas out of us and ensured that we all knew roughly what was going on, but the combination of nerves and having seven people on the stage meant that we were tripping over each other a bit during the recording. Although Fab and Dan are used to working together, and the UUPC presenters are too, we’re not used to working with all of us at once so we didn’t do as good a job of second-guessing what we were going to do as we could. That said, the show picked up pace in the second half and the last few minutes were really funny. We had to edit it a bit for the Ubuntu Podcast version of the show to stay family-friendly, but the Linux Outlaws released the unexpurgated version for those who aren’t of a sensitive disposition. (I’m very pleased that something I said became their episode title!) It’s always difficult to know how it went immediately after recording, but we had lots of great feedback. Then within an hour we packed up all our stuff and got out of the venue. A quick stop at the hotel to drop all the boxes off preceded another meal in China town, this time with Laura Czajkowski: a chance to mull over how we could make the event better in future. Yup, despite all the stress, pressure and work, it looks like we’re doing it again next year. We rounded off the weekend with a few more beers at Studio2, though once again tiredness hit before too long.
We drove home at a leisurely pace the following day, reflecting on the event and how all these amazing people come together from around the country, work hard, play hard and then disband, scattering across the globe. Events like this are essentially ephemeral, but not being able to speak to everyone and viewing the whole thing through a fug of tiredness is slightly disappointing. I don’t blame those who steer clear of volunteering for things. That said, I’m already looking forward to getting stuck into organising next year’s event. Once we’ve all unwound and properly put OggCamp10 to bed, we’ll think about “next year”, but please give us some time to get over this one first!
