O'Reilly's first Foo Camp, held in October, 2003, elicited these responses from participants:

"Foo Camp changed my life. It simply rocked!... I made many lifelong friends in the short 24 hours I was there. You deserve a lot of credit for making this industry fun again."

"It was a great whack upside the head with the imagination stick!"

"The controlled chaos and the random encounters with very interesting people is just what I needed. I learned more than I expected, and got infected with new ideas. Who can ask for more?"

"Big kudos for having the courage to try a self-organizing event and for having succeeded WAY beyond belief!...Foo Camp was truly epic."