"An unconference is a facilitated, participant-driven conference centered around a theme or purpose. The term "unconference" has been applied, or self-applied, to a wide range of gatherings that try to avoid one or more aspects of a conventional conference, such as high fees and sponsored presentations" – Wikipedia
I’ve attended two unconference style events this year (Startupcamp/Barcamp)- and I’ve become a true believer of this format. Since I’ve seen a lot of what goes on behind the scenes – here are some tips to follow if you want to run a similar show in your location.
1. Get a team of kindred spirits together
This is possibly the most important aspect. The purpose of these unconferences would be to bring together people of the same feather, and to begin – you will need a core of like-minded and driven people. The volunteers who help run this show don’t usually look for recognition nor remuneration.
Everything is fueled by passion.
2. Get sponsors – nice ones
Get people who really want to help, rather than take over your event. BarCamp Kuala Lumpur had one rule about sponsors and it was that their donation limit would be capped. This was to prevent any organizer from driving the agenda of the event. To me, this is an excellent path for any unconference to take.
3. Set up the venue right
In a nutshell, besides the basics like ease of access, amenities, etc. You need to get a venue with 3 or more large rooms (for the sessions), and perhaps just as important – a large area to mingle. For me, a lot of the value I gain from these events would be the relationships built, and the interesting mix of characters and conversations you will get into informally between sessions.
Make sure all the rooms have an easy to use speaker system. Some speakers will have video to show on their laptop, which fails badly if they have to play audio through the laptop sound system.
4. Set the ground rules
Due to its informal setting, there are very few rules for an unconference. Common ground rules include staying on time, and being considerate as to not over-run into another session.
5. Trust
Don’t bother vetting speaker material and judge quality. Unconference attendees vote with their feet – ie. They can move on to another room based on their own agenda. (Speakers – don’t take this personally – people will walk in and out of of your talk – many attendees bounce around during sessions). Trust the speakers will do their best to contribute to the event, and trust the crowd.
6. Spread the word
Unconferences typically run on a shoestring budget, but what it lacks in the wallet section, it makes up for in ability to generate goodwill. Tap into your social networks (online and in real life), the bloggers, and local interest groups. Local interest groups bring along their own set of people passionate about a particular topic, eg. photography, or Linux – this broadens your the breadth of your audience and their backgrounds.
7. Enjoy
Whatever happens, happens. Don’t take things so seriously. What you’ll find is that when things go wrong, there will be more people who will step up and help you fix the problem than people who sit back and complain. At the end of the day, everyone who attends is there to share, participate, discuss, and learn.
8. Attend before you attempt
If you’re going to run an event, visit one first! For those people living in Malaysia or Singapore – come to BarcampJB happening 6th and 7th December at MSC Cyberport JB I’ll be speaking on "How to change the world with $25 – an introduction to Kiva" on the 6th at 3pm. We have some pretty interesting sessions – full schedule here.
Check out the barcamp Malaysia blog for more details. For those who live outside South East Asia, check out barcamp.org for a list of events happening near your area!
Do you have other unconference tips to share? Let us know in the comments!
Dear brother, great tips. When I saw you in Startup Camp, was about to tell you that when I see you I think of beef or kiva :-) Anyway, as I had to leave early, I had to skip your session as planned.
I like unconference. I wonder I can make an analogy to cell groups or not. But I think it is one of best ways for learning and sharing. Imagine an unconference can be held anywhere, anytime, scalable to any number of people, in any language, on any topic, wouldn’t it be nice?
http://www.rickysoo.com/2008/08/04/barcamp-the-ideal-learning-platform/
Yeah… I’d also love for business meeting conferences to be like this. This will at least force people to keep on time, and stay on point.
It’ll be interesting to see how businesses can adopt this “offline web2.0-style” unconferencing for their own benefit. We had a similar one just the other day with a client; where they had their own staff & friends from the industry come in and give talks / sessions on their experience & knowledge. The whole thing was very small and friendly, and offered a good chance for employees to know one another on a different level – good for team building too!
Hi,
Thank you for a set of useful tips. This approach seems ideal for creative networking. Pecha-Kucha is another one which seems to follow similar creative elements. Are there any books on the subject or other websites?
Thanks again.
@Johannes : I think blogs which detail unconferences are your best bets. There are few set rules in play so its very much a play-by-ear environment.
Here’s an example of one form it can take – In Barcamp Bangkok, there were 8 rooms running concurrently, but there were so many willing speakers that people vote for which speakers they want to hear from before each session.
James,
Thank you for commenting. I will certainly explore this method further as it seems to allow for the generation of new ideas and provide opportunity to share your own with a varied group of people. This is certainly one thing that I found interesting about ‘unconference’; the potential to communicate on themes rather than one a rigid topic, this way people from different spheres can collaborate.