Speaking for the rest of the Bobbleheads, we were amazed by how consistently everyone “got it” this year. All of you seemed to be right on the same page with the same vision, which just gave all of us even more energy. This unified voice seemed to even carry over to every tweet, article and interview that we saw. We’re truly lucky to be living in an environment filled with such positive, creative and community-minded people like all of you. And it’s operating at a level I haven’t seen anywhere else.

There is a symphony of chatter going on about what to do next year. We ask that you write these ideas down as soon as you can – before we forget. As organizers, it might be best if you can write suggestions as comments to this post. However we can read posts on the public site (“feedback” page), or on the facebook group.

If you have any interesting stories or favorite vignettes of the event, please share those as well. Otherwise tag your photos with SPARKcon in flickr or tell us where else you put them.

We will be scheduling a meeting in the next few weeks to try to visit with all of you again and capture all of your thoughts. Be on the lookout and come prepared to celebrate!

Thank you again and Spark on!

Aly

He can be reached at the following:

FTBPhotography.com
email info@FTBPhotography.com
404.921.8413

Or feel free to send your inquires to me, and I can pass them along.

mwood@themis-media.com

September 18th and September 19th

Starts September 18th at 5:00 pm until 8:00 pm and continues the following day at 1:00 pm until the end of the Gears of War 2 Tournament.

Located at the Urban Design Center

133 Fayetteville St Mall, Suite 100 (on the corner of Fayetteville and Hargett St)

LOCALLY CREATED VIDEO GAMES

Showcases videogames developed locally which were submitted by the creators themselves. This event will feature games in the following categories: Casual Games, Simulation/Serious Games, Mobile Games, and Student Games.

We are  accepting submissions for games to be featured in this event until 8/28/09. If you are interested in featuring a game that you worked on in any portion of the development process, please go to http://www.sparkcon.com/sparks/gamingspark/ to fill out the application.

“GEARS OF WAR 2 TOURNAMENT”

September 19th

Starts September 19th at 1:00 pm and goes until we have our final winners!

Located at the Urban Design Center

133 Fayetteville St Mall, Suite 100 (on the corner of Fayetteville and Hargett St)

GEARS OF WAR 2 TOURNAMENT

Commences at 1:00 pm and brings a locally created game to the masses in a style of  tournament that allows maximum participation. The players will try to rack up the most points possible in the allotted time frame. The Gears of War 2 Tournament is open to anyone who wishes to participate with the exception of those who have actually worked on the creation of the game itself. All entries in the tournament will have the chance to win prizes. Integrated Audio Video @ Southpoint is donating a 37 inch flat screen TV to go to one of the participants. Participants will have additional opportunities to win other prizes to be named at a later date, donated by The Escapist.

Sponsored by:

The Escapist, Triangle Game Initiative, GameFrog, Integrated Audio Video @ Southpoint

Main Contact:

Megan Wood

Team:

Christy White, Troy Knight, Meghan Murphy, Steve Greene, and Garrett French

In Attendance:

Christy White, volunteer

Meghan Murphy, volunteer

Garrett French, volunteer

Ryan Sheppard., volunteer

Aly Khalifa, Bobble head

Megan Wood, organizer

Note:

Greetings and Introductions

Megan W briefed new members about GamingSPARK and what it  hopes to bring to the gamut of Spark events; GamingSPARK hopes to  showcase local talent in the expanding world of the Video Game Industry, as well as broaden community awareness of nationally recognized games that are conceived and produced right here in the Triangle.

We discussed the type of venue we would need to host this event, and went over some possible spots. Meghan M will check with Sitti and Aly is going to check on the space above Foundation.

Went over the possibility of bringing including  industry professionals to speak about their job.

Discussed the potential of expanding to two days, both Friday and Saturday.

Brainstormed on bringing  a tournament to the event for Saturday in a bracket format; giving a title, fun trophy,  and cool gifts to the winner.

The possibility of giving a new console away as a gift to the winner of a raffle.

Megan W and Meghan M will divide the list and push the ” Calls for Talent” this week through our gaming industry contacts.

Discussed potential sponsorships and budget snags.

Christy volunteered to get pamphlets/flyers printed once we get them designed.

Set next meeting for 7/23/09.

The rest of the meeting was dedicated to discussing our jurying process and venues. Marbles might be one of our favorite options but it will cost $$$. On the list before the next meeting is:

1. Help Kevin get in touch with Bob Young as a potential keynote speaker.
2. Rob and David to discuss the online voting system for evaluating submissions.
3.  All of us to generate a list of people with great community ideas that should present at ideaSPARK
4. All of us to create a list of key people who should be in the audience to give momentum and energy to our best presentations.
5. All of us think of a good M.C. to run the show.
6. Contact the food and drink peeps in SPARKcon to see if we can have some refreshments offered during the event.

This shifts our earlier focus from Fayetteville Street (so that we could better connect with BugFest), but given the RCC’s generous offer and the permitting issues of that street and its repeated closure the two prior weekends, it will probably be a more popular choice with the local businesses. We will try to have the Raleigh Rickshaws and other transportation solutions to connect us with Bugfest.

We realize yogaSPARK was very excited about using the Capitol grounds, but we plan to find an equally shaded and attractive location at Moore Square. Lea- please meet with Greg to find the best spot in Moore Square for your group. It will be nice to see this connect better with the meditation space at Longview.

GroundSPARK will maintain its location on Martin Street, and we will also be better positioned to have Marbles do some youthSPARK programming.

We will have Marbles to house the models and stylists for fashionSPARK which will be a nice logistical solution to maitain this year. Also we will have the courtyard at Marbles to use Friday night – possibly a nice location for Salsa dancing before the fashion show?  Allison – thoughts on how to do this without interfering with the fashion show prep?

Greg will soon update the SparkCon map to give clear indication on the when/where of each component.

Overall, we’re excited to have this donation come through from the RCC in a tough year, and we’ll be on what is now our home court advantage. We’ll begin to look at City Plaza and Fayetteville Street next year when its construction is complete.

MusicSpark
Chico taking one venue at Riviera.
Bugfest will program their stage Sat until 9pm.
Steve Popson suggested getting in touch with Musicmaker. He will also contact Paul Siler to see if he has any interest.
Band Together was another suggestion.  

BugSpark / BugFest
Jeff and Steve came from the Museum of Natural Sciences to fill us in about BugFest.
Bugfest is a giant deal: 20,000 people from 9 am to 9 pm with a main stage and includes eating bugs. 
Since they intend to close down Edenton and take over half of the Capital, the suggestion was that SparkCon connect directly to it by taking over the other half of the Capital and some of Fayetteville Street. This could make for a really nice transition for pedestrians.

FashionSpark
Allison Beale has taken the reins and already made a lot of strides. Last year’s designers have been contacted and sent the FashionSpark footage up on the main site. 3 designers are already signed up. 
Event is Friday  at 8 pm on the main stage (main stage location TBD)
Marbles Museum is already reserved for FashionSpark on that Friday by Pam Hartley.
Bruce deBoer has requested being involved for photography. Alex Mengle for Videography.

StorySpark
Greg Behr and Billy Warden expressed their mission to “Celebrate Storytelling” on a variety of venues across town. They are making great progress and were encouraged to “build density” as much as possible, and to take a portion of the main stage on Saturday night. Recommendations included tapping SparkConners Stammer, using the City Museum to frame Oral Histories, and possibly work with local author Lee Smith.

GrafSpark
Organizer Matt Currin was not present but Gab Smith spoke for him. They are waiting for avenue to be selected. They plan to reach out beyond their own personal network and bring in new faces to the group. Paul Friedrich mught check into getting the Barnstormers out to the event.

YogaSpark
Lea Peace and Carsen Efivo presented their vision for a comprehensive weekend of free yoga and meditation. 30 people are in the group from 5 studios. Green space would be ideal – whether on the Capitol grounds or in Moore Square. They meet @ Helios Thursdays at 2 pm. SparkCon also coincides with International Peace Day.

SparkBazaar
Ty Beddingfield has interest building  amongst various groups. THe Bazaar will require tents – which could work fine on Fayetteville Street. Ty wants more food involved this time.

DanceSpark
Katherine Ferrier discussed interest in starting this component. Ideas included having performances in various venues around town or evn having dancing tour guides. A performance scavenger hunt might be involved  somehow. Schizophrenic Octopus should be connected with Katherine for connecting the breakdancing element. They are in search of good venues for dance.

GiveSpark
Heather Yandow presented a vision for combining all the sparks with an element of charitable giving. She also suggest a 1 hour workshop on a creative angle on collectively giving.

GourmetSpark
Not many updates here. Local breweries were suggested.

IdeaSpark
Heather Hesketh and Steve Champeon presented a concept for rethinking IdeaSpark and integrating with the tech crowd by working in other conferences like BarCamp and FooCamp models. An essential part is getting participants to hang out more – with things like lunch. A main focus will be social entrepeneurship. 

GoSpark
Hopefully we will find someone to integrate various transportation modes for getting around SparkCon. 

HealthSpark
Maurice wants this to be active but could not attend this week. 

Other topics were touched upon that I missed here. Feel free to add comments on the rest.

In the spirit of being transparent and open-source of how things are working, we’ll document our small meetings on this site.

meeting: 3/4/08

there: Isaac, Ty, Aly

recap of most of our thoughts:
1. The main focus for the Bobbleheads on SparkCon should be to do 7 great meetings to enable good training and feedback for the Spark Organizers.
2. We’d like our website and info sessions to become a “manual” that allows SparkCon to pass on leadership and skills to new organizers.
3. Ultimately, we’d like this “manual” to enable others outside of SparkCon create their own community-based conferences.
4. The bobbleheads will reach out individually to new people to come to the meeting on Tuesday and bring in fresh faces.
5. We’ll also start compiling a list for trainers (outside of SparkCon) for each meeting.
6. Each of us will adopt 1-2 meetings for lining up speakers, shaping the content to make it easy for SparkCon Organizers create their plans.