Everything you're wondering before you say yes

No. beCamp is completely free to attend, including the food, thanks to our generous sponsors.

Friday night we'll have pizza, plus a cash bar for drinks. Saturday includes breakfast, lunch, and beverages throughout the day.

You can, but come both days if you're able. You'll get the most out of it that way. If you're planning to attend Saturday's sessions, we ask that you also come to Friday's Pitch Night, since that's where the schedule gets built.

Yes. The short version: be kind, be curious, and treat everyone with respect. You'll find the full Code of Conduct linked in the footer of every page.

Reach out to us. We want beCamp to work for everyone. Use the "Contact organizers" link in the footer and we'll do everything we can to accommodate you.

Many do, and some hands-on sessions make good use of them, but they're not required. A notebook and curiosity work just as well.

Like any good conference: multiple sessions running at once, relevant and current topics, a proper lunch break. The differences are that it's local to Charlottesville, it's free (including food, thanks to sponsors), and the entire agenda gets built by attendees the night before.

Come both days if you can. You'll get the most out of it that way.

beCamp is a genuine barcamp; it's been through years of retrospectives, iteration, and a rotating cast of organizers who keep improving the format.

Developers, designers, students, founders, researchers, and the generally tech-curious from across the Charlottesville area. You don't need to be an expert in anything. If you're interested, you belong.

October 2–3, 2026. Friday starts with a reception at The Poplar Restaurant at The Virginia Guest House from 4:30–5:30pm, then Pitch Night runs 5:30–8:30pm at the UVA School of Data Science. Saturday's sessions run 9am–4pm at the School of Data Science. Directions are on the home page.

Because it hasn't been written yet, and that's the point. The Saturday schedule gets filled in by whoever shows up Friday night, and the empty slots are where your topic goes.

Anyone can pitch a topic at Friday's Pitch Night, anything they want to teach, share, demonstrate, discuss, or understand better. Attendees vote on the pitches, and volunteers arrange the winners into Saturday's schedule that same evening. You don't need to be an expert to pitch.

They don't disappear. Unpicked topics often turn into hallway conversations on Saturday, and plenty come back as sharper pitches the following year.

The first beCamp happened in 2006 in the backyard of local technologist Steve Stedman, as an offshoot of the beTech meetup and inspired by BarCamp, the open, anyone-welcome answer to Foo Camp. It's been running ever since. The full story is on our About page.

Volunteer! There are checkboxes on the registration form for helping out Friday or Saturday, and we need and love our volunteers. Organizations can also support the event as sponsors, and simply spreading the word helps more than you'd think.

beSwarm is the spirit of beCamp's Friday night, minus the pitches, run on a Saturday. It started in 2010 for people who wanted beCamp more than once a year. beCamp is the full two-day unconference; beSwarm is the hangout.