Donations Make the World Go Round

Even though we're all sponsored up at BarCampRDU, that doesn't mean we can't have some great companies come in and help make BarCamp a better event. One of the things I've been pacing back and forth trying to figure out is the BarCamp coffee situation. Listen, I know you've been to those conferences where the coffee is out of the Folger's canister, all watery - and c'mon, nobody likes that.

This morning, Larry's beans of Raleigh stepped up and volunteered to donate all the beans we need for BarCampRDU! Larry's is a great roaster that is absolutely dedicated to Fair Trade - jiving very well with the BarCamp mentality. Larry's has got lots of great beans to choose from, and you can find their coffee all over the states. We're really excited to be drinking their Java at BarCamp (hey, and if they want to lead a BarCamp session on roasting beans, I'm sure that more than just a few geeks would turn out for it). Oh yeah, check out the Veggie Bus while you are at it.

Next, I'm really happy to announce that two publishers that really need no introduction, Manning Publications and The Pragmatic Programmers, will be donating a bunch of books to be given away at BarCampRDU. Talk about two top-notch publishers. I'm not sure if we'll just give the books away or make them door prizes of sorts, we'll have to figure that out. As I envision people will be stampeding to get free books by these excellent publishers, maybe I'll figure out some trivia or something.

Thanks to these three excellent companies for their wonderful donations to BarCamp.