When social experience designer Roz Duffy first organized Barcamp Philly–the local version of Silicon Valley’s most ad-hoc tech conference, coming to the University of the Arts November 13th–she knew that she had to be flexible. After all, Barcamp is known for a come-as-you-are message, cheap admission (tickets are just $5) and speakers who sign up minutes before they are asked to take the podium. But there was one point on which Duffy would not be moved: the t-shirt would not be lame. Not on her watch. Today, Barcamp has some of the most recognizable t-shirts in the Philly tech world. This is no cheap throw-away. These shirts get worn. 
“We don’t half-ass the t-shirt, getting some white t-shirt and iron on the logo,” says Duffy, a freelance web developer and event planner. “As a woman, I have to say, it is a real drag to go to a conference and see a bunch of men’s extra-larges with just the name of the conference on it. We try to think about everyone who is experiencing the event and see it through their eyes. And the t-shirts are really cool!”
Two years later, Duffy is still wearing her ladies medium and she is still sweating the details. Only this time, she has a bit more on her plate. Duffy has taken on both Barcamp and a new addition to the Philly tech conference scene, TEDxPhilly. The first local incarnation of the Long Beach, Calif. conference once attended by the likes of Al Gore, Jane Goodall and Bill Gates hits the Kimmel Center November 18. TEDx is known worldwide as a mothership of “ideas worth spreading,” giving speakers 18 minutes and top-of-the-line equipment to share their best plans for the future. When Duffy decided to organize Philadelphia’s first TEDx event–a decidedly more involved process involving licensing, a higher price tag ($75) and a more prime-time setting–she had no idea it would end up just five days after Barcamp. But now that she is in, Duffy is determined to make her mark. Still, throwing two of the city’s largest innovation conferences in a single week takes its toll. When asked to describe it, she pauses and sighs. “In a word,” she says, “bananas.”
“It’s a full-time job and I am going to have to commit the next few weeks to these events,” says Duffy. “Basically, I am bouncing around the city, going to meetings, organizing one thing at a time. With TEDx, this is the first one so there is so much to learn and even with Barcamp, there are always things that we say ‘we should have started earlier.’ It will definitely get all my focus now that we are in the home stretch.”
After attending Temple University, Duffy left Philadelphia for five years to pursue what she thought were greener pastures in New York. But she soon felt like a small fish in a big pond unable to creatively experiment. Upon returning to Philadelphia, Duffy became a serial web developer for clients as diverse as Urban Outfitters, The Wharton School and Comcast. She quickly jumped into the tech scene and the neurons started firing. Barcamp, she says, was born from this early excitement. And her passion has become contagious. Since founding the event with JP Toto, a fellow developer and VP of Application Development for Cognisit, copycat events have formed around other local industries like healthcare, higher education and journalism. Toto believes this is a product of the environment they created. 
“After seeing our example of doing something extremely low budget but very effective, people seemed to feel very empowered to bring people together in their own domain,” says Toto. “For me, it is rewarding because people not only enjoy themselves but it is great to see people exchanging ideas and feeling empowered to do things on their own.”
The rewards must be worth the effort for Duffy and company. The organizers receive no payment for their efforts and took on their prospective projects of their own volition. But promoting a self-sustaining network of technology professionals has become the rising tide that lifts all boats. And Duffy and her fellow organizers see events like TEDx and Barcamp as a marketing opportunity. 
“Sometimes we don’t realize what is on our own doorstep,” says TEDx co-organizer and founder of Old City-based web design/marketing firm I-Site Ian Cross. “There are a lot of very talented people doing very interesting and progressive work in Philadelphia but that doesn’t mean that we know about them. That is what makes events like this exciting. It definitely brings attention to people you may be unaware of or had heard of but really don’t know much about.”
But beyond the marketing efforts, these event organizers are nurturing a scene, designing an experience and taking from it inspiration that cannot be measured on a balance sheet or a time card.
“I think the way people measure value in society is different,” says Cross. “When you look at what it means to create, it doesn’t always have to have an economic factor. I think we are all passionate to learn and if you want to learn, you have to reach out into your community. If you want to learn, the best way is to be involved with something and put it together yourself. If you are passive and you wait for things to happen, you are never going to get anything out of them anyway.”
November 19 will be a day of sorting pictures and napping for Roz Duffy. But for now, she is ready to get started. Beyond the inspiration or networking opportunities, these events are fun. For Barcamp, there are pre-parties, post-parties, Rock Band tournaments and games aplenty. And if TEDx catches on, it could create lasting initiatives for the city. This is what drives her to put the Barcamp t-shirt on every year. And once she is in, Duffy says she is in all the way.
“Fun is super important because there is getting sponsorships to pay for everything and getting people signed up but if it isn’t fun, what is the point?” says Duffy. “If you go to a conference and it is in a hotel and everything is beige and drab with stupid programs that are like every other program you have ever seen, and a lame t-shirt, it won’t be worthwhile.”
John Steele is a freelance writer, blogger and communication consultant in Philadelphia. Please send feedback here.
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Photos:
Roz Duffy in a rare disconnected, quite moment
Duffy back to work
Duffy indulges our photographer yet again before getting back to work
Ian Cross, co-founder of web design/marketing firm I-Site, takes a moment in the ‘chill room’ at its Old City HQ.
The I-Site entrance
Cross in the I-zone
All photographs by Michael Persico