"Here come the drums, here come the drums, here come the drums!"

So, last night was opening night for the Drumbeat Festival, and my god was it a sight to behold. Over 400 geeks, teachers, film makers, journalists, students, scholars, and general web do gooders not only attended the event but owned it. But, before I get to carried away let me explain what is happening here in the most glorious weather of Barcelona.

I am not off college just for fun. Far from it! I am here to learn about the future, and the potential. Today and tomorrow, and of course, last night, all these people are joining in with the awesome that is the Mozilla mission. Even if they don’t entirely realize.

So what is this festival about? Well I will be a little cheeky here and steal a quote from the website:

We are educators, hackers and innovators from around the world making, teaching and inventing the future of education and the web.

Let the chaos begin! – Day One

So the day started at about lunch for those of us who are helping with the running of the event. It all started with a talk for those running spaces on the logistics. We were all introduced, asked our questions on what we had concerns about and then I was called away. To do some logistics on learning the ropes for the information kiosk.

The evening started at 6pm with registration (still open btw), followed by a 8:30 start for the main event. I can say, that being a runner is a lot of fun, and very interesting. Running around like a headless chicken should defiantly be the next thing I add to my CV.

It was a late night and I spoke to a tonne of interesting people from P2P through to Badge Labs, and even Big Fun Arts!

So I would love to go into detail on who I spoke to and what I learned however that will wait as I feel it more important to tell you about the great work going on behind the scenes.

Nathaniel and Maria even at this point have done some much work that you really do need to say a very big thank-you to them at the end of your stay here. But what work have they done I hear you ask! Well everything from gathering if resources to solving logistical issues to helping facilitate the awesome. So what was my evening…? As usual I was the general leg man, from implementing the solutions from Nathaniel and Maria, to making sure people who were stuck at displays had a drink and had all they needed, to learning as much as possible. I spoke in great length to some of the now obvious superstars of the event, and then would be called away. Yet I feel that as my time was so precious, my ability to absorb what I was being taught (NOT told) was not degraded, but enhanced!

The post on today will arrive at some point tomorrow so stay tuned. I know that this is not to detailed, but tomorrows will be a lot better. Honest, there is more to talk about, more details, more fun, more snapshots into the lives of those who are facilitating the awesome.