I've debated this a few times with people and gotten a range of answers. BarCamp is a social, casual, mixity-upped messorama that might resemble a conference on acid, but in the end what are the big gains, especially when compared to a regular conference gig.

"mixity-upped messorama that might resemble a conference on acid"

 wow and here i am thinking i was going to attend an event that had some form of stucture .. oh well guess i'll be wearing thongs and a Singlet =P

I suppose the BarCamp goal is a subjective one. For one, it's a chance for me to bandy around ideas that I have about development and integration especially on the likes of webservices. Plus it's a chance for me to interact with my industry peers and thats always healthy. 

Barcamp for me is about networking and understanding, i am young and obviously new to business so i wanna be exposed to as many ideas as possible then formulate my own opinion from the collective bulk.

 So i can't wait to go

P;S ok and really i was trying to hint it, but whats the dress code, i have the increadible ability to overdress more almost every occassion so please save me from embarrisment. 

the scrappier the clothes, the better the coder

Marty;

my code is uberbad

haha too funny however i'm no code, i'm Mr Marketing in our duo (my business partner and i) In other words i'm the evil one sent from hell with no soul.. isn;t that what marketers are ? =P (i'm poking fun at myself too no one take offense)

oh and i jsut noticed my spelling mistakes i apologise i ahevn;t slept and the keyboard is seeming to merge together ...

Alex - you need to get across to the Port 80 forums then ... shortage of dedicated sales people (I mean dedicated as primary role, not to the job - of course we're ALL dedicated to our jobs).