Web Directions Year round learning for product, design and engineering professionals

On the day after Web Directions South this year, Saturday September 29, there’s going to be a very special event which is

• free
• open to anyone who wants to participate – but you do need to register

Hatch Day is a day of web creativity and idea sharing that falls somewhere between Barcamp and hard core coding weekends like RAILS Camp. Maybe you’re a developer or group of developers with a project you’re been wanting an excuse to get stuck into. Or perhaps you have expertise you’d like to share, a desire to help people really breathe life into a project.

Hatch Day is "The Extreme Incubator": the day on which you take a proto-project and

1. really put some focussed work into it
2. get some input from experts

turning it into at least the level of a presentable prototype by the end of the day, when there will be a Webjam.

So, what happens?

First of all, anyone who wants to contribute can come along, but numbers for this day are limited, so you need to register. You can register as

A project team

You can have as many or as few people in your team as you like, but we suggest somewhere between 3 and 5 people. Just let us know who you are, and give yourselves a name. Then put as much work into the project as you can before the day – the more you put in before the more you’ll benefit from the intensity of Hatch Day.

A person in search of a team

If you would like to be part of one of the teams, give us some info about yourself and we’ll see what we can do to hook you up. Even better, get in touch with one of the teams yourself.

A roving expert

Do you work in usability or interaction design? Are you a hard core backend or database type who’d be willing to help others solve some curly problems? Have you got experience in turning ideas into commercial realities? Of course, the coding is at the core of any project, but going from a nat idea to an actual product requires so much more than this. If you’d like to share your expertise and be a vital part of the incubator, we’d love you to register and come along.

Then just turn up at 10.00am on the day and go go go until the Webjam at 6.00pm, when you’ll get to show us what you’ve been up to, and there’ll be prizes and drinking and stuff.

But I’m not a hacker

All kinds of projects need all kinds off skills. It’s not all hardcore Ruby on Rails and Ajax. Design and illustration skills, writing, front end design, photography, woodworking, hairdressing, whatever you love doing you’ll find a way to use. There’ll also be all kinds of things happening throughout the day, so there’ll be plenty to keep you occupied.

OK, so what kinds of thing do people build?

Check out some of the projects at the Open Hack Day in 2006.

What will be provided?

We’ll provide

• a venue
• a wifi network
• lunch and refreshments
• lots of experts to help you out with ideas, provide advice about everything from CSS to Javascript to Django and Rails

What does it cost?

Nada, nix, nothing. That’s right, it’s free as in beer. Hmmm, come to think of it, there may even be free beer there as well. Just one more reason to come along.

The lowdown

When: 10am, Saturday September 29
Where: North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club – Map
Register
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