Structured, pre-planned conferences aren't for everyone.

An impromptu "unconference" of tech-creatives -- without registration, fees or even a schedule of topics -- drew 150 programmers, students and Web developers to downtown Bryan this weekend. It was the area's first BarCamp Texas event, a free, open-format gathering where information technology professionals share their knowledge of Web applications and other technologies.

"With these unconferences, you don't plan a lot beforehand," said Cody Marx Bailey of Bryan-based Creative Space, one of BarCamp's organizers. "You just get the word out, and people who understand the idea end up showing up."

The LaSalle Hotel played host to the techies, who immediately opened the floor to presentation ideas. The presentations, which ranged in topic from programming in Python to how to manage a start-up, took place throughout Saturday and Sunday.

Typically, BarCamp events -- made popular by the Bay Area Rejects, a group started in California by an IT professional who didn't get his invite to a similar, exclusive meeting one year -- have been held in larger cities such as Houston and Austin. Bailey said local IT professionals in a group called Refresh Bryan/College Station decided to hold the local event because they were tired of having to travel to conferences.

Refresh Bryan/College Station usually draws 50 to 250 local IT professionals to its monthly meetings.

Bryan's BarCamp attracted a wide variety of people, including Dallas, Austin and Houston professionals and students. About 80 percent of the attendees came from areas outside Bryan-College Station, Bailey said, adding that Refresh Bryan/College Station is hoping to arrange another conference in the fall or spring.

James Lancaster, general manager of the Research Valley Innovation Center, said the event could result in increased interest in the area from start-ups.

"The raw energy of the technology community here is ripe and perfectly positioned to take advantage of growth," Lancaster said. "I love the energy the guys that pulled off BarCamp have."

The Innovation Center seeks to coach and help steer local start-up companies.

Bryan-College Station has a large base of front-end and back-end Web development professionals, Lancaster said. Front-end professionals can create slick e-commerce sites and meet core business programming needs. Back-end professionals can provide more in-depth applications and analytical number-crunching functions -- particularly mathematicians and other professionals at Texas A&M University.

Where the area is lacking, Lancaster said, is in the middle part -- for instance, writing programs that would process an invoice for a multi-department business, provide complex database support and simulations.

But Fibertown, a downtown Bryan company that provides fiber optics infrastructure akin to that found in much larger cities, could help attract professionals in those areas, Lancaster said.

• Holli L. Estridge's e-mail address is holli.estridge@theeagle.com.``

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