...and kickin'.

Next weekend marks the one year anniversary of the original BarCamp, held last year in San Jose. Folks around the globe have latched onto this un-conference, ad-hoc sharing of knowledge and technology forum in a crazy frenzy sort of way, with BarCamps popping up everywhere from Vienna, to Brasil, to Shanghai.

And yes, Vancouver is now on the BarCamp map, as this city's first BarCamp gets set to kick-off next week, as a part of BarCampEarth, marking the anniversary.

It's been amazing to see the great amount of support from local companies that have recognized the importance of creating such an event in the city of Vancouver, a web 2.0 Mecca in its' own realm. The companies that have graciously sponsored BarCampVancouver, covering everything from chairs to beers, include:

• Nitobi
• Uniserve
• Business Objects
• Bryght
• Capulet Communications
• elasticpath
• EQO Communications
• sxip
• Jones Sodas
• Belkin
• Midnight Kitchen
• Workspace
• AdHack
• T-Shirt.ca
• Raincity Studios

Thanks to these guys, the conference is able to run successfully, in the traditional sense it was meant to, where there are no paid speakers and everyone involved is just as much of a player and participant as the next.

BarCampVancouver starts Friday, August 25th in the evening and runs until the following night. With 120 participants - maxed out! - it's sure to be a grand time!