BarCampDelhi: On Adobe - "They Said Yes in 24 Hours"

The conference was marked by surprisingly pleasant and efficient service by Adobe, the main sponsors of the event. Corporate culture in India, even in many tech companies is still characterised by bureaucratic hassles. Just entering the building requires you to complete half a dozen formalities. You must sign the entry log, register your laptop serial number if you're carrying one, the staff then checks with the person you're about to visit and finally you're issued a visitor's pass. Entering Adobe was a breeze. It wasn't that they were lax about security, (they were very particular that each exit and entry was recorded) but were helpful and unbureaucratic. First, they already knew that there was an event (they asked if I was there for the BarCamp!) and all that was needed was to give my name. Then I was told where to go.

The rest of the day the company was just as efficient. No customary preachy talk from the company's VP Marketing on "Adobe culture" or anything of that sort. There were a couple of presentations from Adobe employees (aimed at selling their products though it was nothing direct) but they were strictly on topic. Jon mentioned that he didn't need any convincing to get them to sponsor and that they (Adobe, US) said yes in 24 hours of first hearing about the idea.

I think there couldn't have been a better partnership. Adobe with its Macromedia acquisition is right in the middle of "Web2.0". So, if you’re thinking of organising BarCamp in your city (and you should!), find a sponsor that gets more than just publicity from the conference. Ideally, it should be either someone who has something to sell (their products or a job at their company) or to learn about the latest in "Web2.0".

I should also thank Uzanto, the other sponsor of BarCamp, for making it a success. It was really with Jon, Amit and Gaurav's (Tekriti) initiative that we had a BarCampDelhi.

Adobe, Uzanto
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