This is easily the slickest, best organised Barcamp I've ever been to. The Guardian offices are amazing and perfect for a barcamp format, the food is not only very tasty but nutricious too (fresh broccoli & sugar snap peas make a welcome change), and the talks are, as usual, mind expanding.
The new Guardian offices in Kings Place (behind King's Cross and St Pancras stations) are truly a treat. They overlook the canal on two sides and make full use of the view. There are large glass windows in all the rooms -- if they don't look out onto the water, they have a view of the full height, glass atrium up the centre of the building. Unlike Barcamp London 3 at Google, all the rooms are right next to one another and you can see most of the people most of the time. Kings Place is also a new arts venue, with folk music, jazz or classical most nights -- I look forward to seeing more of it.
The only small niggles are the lack of space around the session grid (I'm sure there are pictures on Flickr of the crowd) and a possible lack of comfy furniture. The bean bags at previous Barcamps and similar events I've been on have been fantastic for encouraging a laid-back atmosphere -- here there are plenty of chairs but the floor is a bit hard. It feels a little more formal but that isn't a completely bad thing. I'm not sure how it worked for those sleeping over as I'm heading home for a proper night's sleep.
I've kept notes on several of the talks I've attended and I'll post them shortly, but I want to say thanks to the organisers for doing a fantastic job. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's sessions.
