First Annual Ottawa Geek BBQ

Jamie Oastler, Chris Schmitt and others are putting on Ottawa’s first annual Geek BBQ this coming May 17th starting at 2pm.  This should be an amazing event and is a great opportunity for Ottawa’s geek community to get together and socialize.    Sign Up and get more info here.

Now that Mother Nature’s last gasp of winter has passed us by, it is time we spring forward and start a new social tradition. The goal of this event is to bring together all those Ottawa freelancers, twitterers, social mediaists and entrepreneurs who have been hermiting away the winter in a social setting. All significant others, families and friends are welcome so that they can put a face to all the names we tweet about.

Chris Schmitt (TeamCamp.ca) has graciously offered the use of his lovely 2.7 acre backyard in Cumberland Estates. Hopefully the distance won’t  inhibit anyone from attending – contact Jamie (jamie {at} idealienstudios {dot} com) if you need space / have space to help people join in the fun.

All proceeds from this event will be donated to the Startup Ottawa community to help make it easier to organize more awesome events in the future.

What do you need to do?

• Order preferred food / drink ticket option from EventBrite for you + any family / friends
• Spread the word about the event between now and May 16
• On Twitter, use hashcode #OttawaGeekBBQ

What do you need to bring on the day of the BBQ?

• You + any family / friends who you bought tickets for.
• Any family friendly outdoor games (frisbee, badminton, etc) welcome.
• Lawn chair(s)

Snacks, Pop and main course will be provided based on ticket purchase. If you have a favourite dessert or side dish that you love to share, feel free to bring it along with a list of any potential food allergy items that are ingredients.

Jamie is kindly donating all the proceeds from this event to the Startup Ottawa Community.  As with sponsorships all money donated goes to putting more and better events in Ottawa.

Lastly, the Ottawa Geek BBQ is sponsored by ExpertHost.com and LaBarge Weinstein:

ExpertHost.com is Ottawa’s number #1 Managed Services Web Host. They are also offering any Ottawa geeks who attend 3 months of free VPS hosting on any of the VPS hosting plans listed at http://www.experthost.com/ottawageekbbq.

LaBarge Weinstein is Canada’s premier tech startup law firm with offices in Ottawa, Toronto and Waterloo.

Ottawa Geek BBQ

Earlier this month Jamie Oastler started pitching around the idea of doing a Ottawa Geek BBQ.  This morning he followed through and sent me the following info on the BBQ event of the coming spring season…

Now that Mother Nature’s last gasp of winter has passed us by – I do believe that it is time we spring forward and start a new social tradition. How does "The 1st Annual Ottawa Web Geek BBQ" sound? The hope is to bring together all those Ottawa freelancers, twitterers, social mediaists and entrepreneurs who have been hermiting away the winter in a social setting. An event for significant others, families and friends to put a face to all the names we tweet about.

Are you interested? There are two core things we need to make this happen:

1. What date works best for most people? Vote at: http://www.polldaddy.com/p/1533558/
2. Someone having a big backyard that they would like to volunteer to host this event?

There are lots of other little things that enthusiastic individuals could orchestrate if they wanted to:

1. Any form of kid-friendly outdoor activities
2. Decide if a BYOB(ooze) / BYOM(eat) or potluck style is preferable
3. A mini-keg or two if sufficient people are interested in sharing the cost. (From my university daze, that last option meant $5 – $10 / person for drinks all day. )

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below or tweet about it with the hashtag #OttawaGeekBBQ or a reply tweet to me (@idealien). I first floated this idea a few weeks ago on Twitter and more than a few people felt the chance to hoist a pint and have a barbie was the right thing to do, including of @snookca, @thecodefactory, @scottica, @mste, @1G33K and @marquiscote   – Do you?