We’re officially announcing BarCamp San Diego 3!

The last two BarCamps were a lot of fun, but we think number three is going to be special. We’ve got a couple of well-known tech rockstars coming. There’s an all new DefCamp challenge. The Wii Bowling Tournament is back. Folks coming down from BarCamp LA. Free t-shirts, food, and beer. It’s going to rock!

Dates

BarCamp is happening May 3 - 4. Just like last time, this is a weekend event. We’ll start Saturday morning, and finish up late Sunday afternoon.

Venue

Technical Training Resources has been beyond gracious for hosting our first two BarCamps, but our little San Diego tech community is wearing big boy pants now and had to find a new home.

This time around we’ll be invading the spacious, cozy offices at Microsoft, in La Jolla [map].

There’s plenty of free parking in the lot, but remember that carpooling and public transportation earn just as much good karma as free cupcakes.

Registration

If you’re coming to BarCamp San Diego, add your name and talk topic to our official wiki. Registration really happens on-site, but adding your name will help us know approximately how many folks to expect and what folks will be talking about.

Sponsors

BarCamp would be a couple of geeks out on the sidewalk with a projector and a pizza if it weren’t for our sponsors, and we sure do appreciate all the love and money it takes to feed and clothe so many people for a weekend.

We’re really pleased to have so many companies sponsoring this time. Microsoft, DivX, Opera, SureFire, LAMPhost.net, SuggestionBox.com, MindTouch, Integral Impressions, Achieve Internet, digitaria, StickerGiant.com, Startup Schwag, Starbucks, and Technical Training Resources. Thanks, guys!

Start preparing now

Even the most decentralized ad-hocracy can benefit from a little forethought on what each individual can contribute.

The session board will be broken down into 30 minute blocks available on a first come basis, but feel free to go nuts on it if you only want 15 minutes or think you’re awesome enough to take up an hour. Don’t know what you have to offer?

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Demo a product that you’re passionate about
• Prepare a few open questions for a roundtable
• Show off something you’ve built or hacked
• Gather with a few friends for a topic-centered panel
• Present research of your own or from someone you’ve been following
• Or you can always just get up with a deck and ramble for a while

Don’t feel that you have to be on the bleeding edge of Web 2.0 development technologies to be well received at BarCamp.

San Diego’s community also includes hackers, linguists (who are all quite cunning, I hear), photographers, bloggers, vloggers, podcasters, knitters, and ninjas.

The more different genres of knowledge are floating around during BarCamp, the more everyone gets more out of the weekend.

Help us get the word out!

Joshua Brewer made these gorgeous blog badges, so hurry up and show ‘em off on your blog, create a post, and use all the social media tools you have at your disposal to spread the message to every geeky creative type that you know.

Drag ‘em to your desktop. Or download the whole bunch.

Get involved

Thanks to the work of a whole slew of brilliant people, there are now dozens of San Diego meetups and ways to congregate online with the BarCampSD kids.

Here are a few to get you started:

• Sign up for the mailing list
• Follow @barcampsd on twitter for up to the minute updates
• Add yourself and follow members of the BarCampSD twitter pack
• Party in the IRC backchannel on freenode.net #barcampsd
• Join the BarCampSD Facebook group
• Read about local entrepreneurs and all kinds of events that geeks like on startupsd.net

Go forth and blog, San Diego, and check back soon for schedule details and volunteering opportunities.