I've managed to get involved in the latest Barcamp incantation at Brisbane today, after helping co-ordinate the Joomla! Melbourne User Group and networking with Tequp, another unconference. Notes, presentation slides and photos to follow as it gets pushed out to the wider web stream.
This is a good opportunity for the wider web design community in Queensland to focus on quality design, development and training, having come from my interactions with the Web Standards Group, the Australian Web Industry Association and the Guild of Accessible Web Designers. As GAWDS is an international body, it doesn't have a local chapter in Brisbane or the greater South East, either in the Gold or Sunshine Coast. Yet both the WSG and AWIA are national bodies, and neither seem to be greatly encouraged or represented in this state.