Our Platinum Sponsors

There have been previous attempts to host a BarCamp in Charleston, so why did this one take off when others stalled? There are probably multiple answers, but one thing is clear: our Platinum Sponsors did much of the heavy lifting, and we're all deeply grateful.

For starters, the concept of BarCampCHS '09 is based on the generosity of Alan St. Clair. Alan is a businessman who sees that the profitable future of the Lowcountry depends on the expansion of its knowledge-based economy, and his Lowcountry Innovation Center is a bold bet on that future. His early support moved BarCamp out of the realm of abstract possibility and grounded it in reality.

When you show up for BarCampCHS, you'll be introduced to Alan's vision. He took an ugly-duckling Navy supply structure and reimagined it as a new kind of office building, re-engineered, re-designed and “right-sized” to meet the needs of companies driven by brainpower and creativity. Organizers took one look at his Lowcountry Innovation Center and saw an excellent venue for an unconference. Alan took a look at BarCamp and saw the value of inviting more than 200 of the Lowcountry's leading-edge citizens to experience the results of his vision.

The LIC is an office building designed to encourage interaction between its tenants, to be greater than the sum of its parts. We're excited to be launching BarCamp locally in such a unique building, and with such thoughtful support.

In addition to providing the venue, breakfast, snacks and beverages, Alan has also committed to staffing the event with multiple employees, just to make sure everything runs smoothly.

Our second Platinum Sponsor came to us from the real-time search industry, one of the most competitive and exciting fields in commercial Web development. Collecta is a San Francisco-based startup that staked its claim to a share of the real-time search market earlier this summer. In September the company made two big moves: first, it released a unique API that allows other applications pull in its search results, and second, it decided to donate $1,500 to BarCampCHS. While investors paid more attention to the first item than the second, Collecta's cash kicked planning for the event into high gear.

Why this connection between a California tech company and a Charleston-based unconference? Because a big chunk of Collecta's brainwattage lives here. Former MUSC / Butterfat LLC innovators Matthew Gregg and twin brothers Christopher and Nathan Zorn chose to make their contributions to the company without leaving the Lowcountry.

Matthew was already volunteering with the BarCamp crew before Collecta decided to sign on, and he and Christopher have been active participants in the project. So not only are we fortunate to have a sponsor with the national profile of Collecta, but BarCamp has benefited from their participation. You'll see them around on Saturday, so be sure to thank them.

When we were setting up this year's event, we decided to cap our Platinum-level sponsorships at three slots and went looking around for companies that fit a particular profile. But the great thing about an open event like this one is that sometimes there are local companies that fit your profile perfectly, and they find you. That's the story with our final Platinum Sponsor, Active Modules.

Active Modules is a West Ashley company that works in the DotNetNuke web application framework. It offers four easy-to-install modules that extend the capabilities of websites: Active Social (a communications module), Active Forums (which is what it sounds like), Active Purchase (an e-commerce solution), and Active Cases (a system for handling help tickets, work orders, bug fixes, etc.).

DotNetNuke is a popular (6 million downloads) open source web application framework built on Microsoft .NET technology. The platform is widely used and allows for sharp software companies like Active Modules to create, market and support modules that solve problems for companies that want more than just a static website.

So a big shout-out of gratitude to Active Modules founder Will Morgenweck. Not only did he have the vision to see BarCamp's value, he put his money behind it without requiring a sales pitch. We couldn't have done this with the faith and support of Will and our other sponsors at every level.

Thank you to all of our wonderful sponsors!