DaVinci’s Faire & BarCamp

In February 2009, Sara Hand made a few phone calls for a friend in Tampa inviting several people to an informal lunch to discuss what they saw as needs in the tech business community. Eight people met that third Friday in February. By April, Sara with 2 cofounders on board took ownership of a nebulous conversation that within months would include an after-hours conversation as well as the lunchtime one. With no firm agenda the conversation took on its own life and became what we initially known as BarCamp Sarasota.

Now called DaVinci’s Faire & BarCamp, since the first 2 day unconference in 2010, the community organized and run initiative has help 18 days of unconference events, and well more than a hundred lunch & learns, after-hours and special education events. Original cofounder, Sara Hand, and her company “Spark Growth” (the former tagline for BarCamp Sarasota) still celebrates the spirit of this effort through community events held at Station-2-Innovation in Bradenton, FL.

The last DaVinci’s Faire was held as a one day event at the beautiful Manatee Technical College. With the current tagline: Share. Learn. Grow. DaVinci’s Faire & BarCamp brought in hundreds of people each year with attendees representing all ages and many different interests. What unites them all, though, is the desire to learn.

See a trove of photos of DaVinci’s Faire & BarCamp here: https://www.facebook.com/barcampsarasota/photos_by

We encourage all to continue a tradition of lifelong learning and wholeheartedly thank the sponsors, who yearly helped to keep this event FREE to attendees.