The ninth DemoCamp Edmonton took place this past week. There was a great turnout and some really interesting demos.

I don’t want to attempt a summary of the event  (Mack Male has done his usual top-notch recap) - but point out a few things for people who maybe have never attended - or don’t know why they would:

• [added Dec 7]: this is about as close to a true meritocracy of ideas as you will find.  My sense is that that most people really don’t care how old you are, what education you have, or where/if you work. If you created something cool - people care.
• you see some cool early stage stuff.  Some of it is very rough -some about to be/ just launched. Both extremes are interesting.
• you realize that the tech community in Edmonton is actually very robust. This is not a given to many people.  Most people think “oil & gas & gov’t” when they think edmonton (OK - most people think “big ass mall” and “1980’s Oilers” - but whatever…)  There is a lot of very good development going on here - and unfortunately outside of the tech community there is less awareness than there should be.
• you get an understanding of how co-operative and open the Edmonton tech community is. Perhaps its partially due to the fact that the community has to band together to get the notice it deserves ..but I think it’s true.
• it’s not just for geeks. You don’t have to be a coder to enter.
• sure the quality of the demos themselves and the products varies widely  -but this is not some 12 year olds showing off the wicked GeoCities page they customised with FrontPage98.

Bottom Line:

Think of it as attending an art exhibition: you get to see cool stuff, meet the people who made it, and in turn support a vital part of our city.