The Insider Archive
The Insider: Getting Together: Unconferences Permit Increased Contact, Content and Communications
Innovation Matters, Volume 2, Issue 6 - December 18, 2008
In a world characterized by a challenging economic climate and financial cutbacks, conference attendance and travel is often one of the first items to be slashed from the budget. But the fact remains that getting together serves multiple and important purposes from knowledge-sharing to networking. The good news is that technology is having a dramatic and positive impact on how conferences and meetings are held, where they are held and who can attend.
Unconferences are the latest trend in conference planning, gaining popularity and kudos from participants nationwide. The premise is simple. Formal speakers are not the only ones with interesting thoughts, insights and expertise to share. BusinessWeek reported in May 2007 that “unconferences turn the plodding, predictable business gathering inside out. They’re a hybrid of a teach-in and a jam session, with a little show-and-tell mixed in.”
The idea is that when you go to a conference, the best ideas you have are in the hallway – in that way it’s a ‘hallway’ conference. In the technology and media world – so what happens is that you take that and make a day out of it. Whoever comes to it doesn’t need to be encouraged to speak.
The term unconference first appeared in an announcement for the annual XML developers conference in 1998. More recently, the term was used by Lenn Pryor when discussing BloggerCom and was popularized by Dave Winer, the organizer of BloggerCom, in an April 2004 article. While the term is catching on, many of those who are involved, don’t like the term, preferring to call it an “All Day Collaborative Event,” says Bart Mroz, a partner at round(3)media, a creative agency based in Philadelphia.
Unconferences are organized online first via a wiki (a Web-based tool for knowledge sharing) where attendees can register, tell something about themselves, and float ideas for sessions. Not surprisingly, there is no dress code. A high-speed network is mandatory so those present can publish notes and other material.
A facilitated, participant-driven conference is centered on a theme or purpose, unconferences are especially popular in the high-tech community as self-organizing forums for idea-sharing, networking, learning, speaking, demonstrating and generally interacting.
Unconferences are characterized as a free marketplace of ideas, open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by the participants who include a range of ages and experience level. Because they do not require the infrastructure and organization of a full-blown gathering, they can occur more frequently and are often free or offered at a very low cost.
“Many of the people in the technology and media industries in the Philadelphia area have been communicating online for months, if not years. BarCamp Philly,(www.barcampphilly.com) which took place November 8, allowed people to meet face-to-face. Although the agenda was not set beforehand, it became clear – quickly – which topics were important to attendees. During an ‘unconference’ there is an entire day devoted to these conversations among hundreds of people,” Mroz says.
The people who attend are required to participate in some way: to present, to speak on a panel, to show off a project, or just to ask a lot of questions. But that, according to Mroz is the easy part.
The atmosphere tends to be informal, collegial and friendly because everyone is interested in learning about other people’s projects and proposed sessions. The unstructured nature allows for fluidity among the participants to approach and discuss subjects with other attendees. Attendees contribute topics helping to encourage attendees to share their knowledge rather than sit silently and observe as they would at a traditional conference. There are no passive attendees allowed at an unconference.
More good news. Unconferences are inexpensive, which opens the event up to a larger universe. The ad hoc nature and low cost makes an unconference accessible to an expanded universe of attendees. Unconferences typically don’t have big-bucks underwriters but sponsors are welcome, often providing in-kind donations, such as a venue, t-shirts or food.
Sounds great, right? It is. But as with anything new, expectations can be a bit different from reality. For instance, people may come to the unconference with varied ideas of what to expect as a participant. The key is to communicate early and often with attendees – a task made easy by technology. Often times, organizers of the unconferences set a specific “track” beforehand to ensure that the shared ideas are within the same topic or track.
As unconferences are gaining popularity throughout the region and the nation, entire conferences are being planned within this structure. Larger conferences are also incorporating this new trend to the agenda by leaving open time slots for small unconferences, in hopes that content from speakers can drive new ideas and content within attendees.
Innovation Philadelphia is planning the next Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit in late fall of 2009. We will be exploring different types of technology of how to best enhance the quality of the conference and to ensure that attendees are part of driving the content of the Summit.
If you are interested in being a part of the planning process for the Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit, please contact Nicole Kenney at nkenney@innovationphiladelphia.com.
Tell us what you think.