35 Leadership Here’s how Wikipedia defines an unconference: “An unconference is a participant-driven meeting.” “Typically at an unconference, the agenda is created by the attendees at the beginning of the meeting.” —Unconference definition, Wikipedia Sorry, folks, but conference programs that are determined in advance, even those using pre-event attendee surveys, are not unconferences! I have been convening and facilitating unconferences for 33 years. Why? Because they provide a far better conference experience. Better, because creating the conference program in real-time at the start ensures that the event optimally meets participants’ in-the-moment wants and needs. My research shows that asking attendees in advance for program suggestions doesn’t work. And a program committee or the mythical “conference curator” doesn’t do any better: “In my twenty years of organizing conferences, I’ve never found a program committee that predicted more than half of the session topics that conference attendees chose when they were given the choice. During that time I’ve seen no evidence that any one person, whether they are given the title of ‘curator’ or not, can put together a conference program that can match what attendees actually need and want.” —”Jeremy Lin and the myth of the conference curator,” Adrian Segar, February 2012 Seth Godin puts it this way: “We have no idea in advance who the great contributors are going to be.” Just about every unconference I’ve convened or attended has brought to light participants whose valuable knowledge, expertise, experience, and contributions were unknown to the conveners (and most, if not all, of the attendees). You can’t do this effectively at a traditional conference with a predetermined program. So, if you’re a marketer, stop using “unconference” as an event marketing buzzword. We’re not selling cereal here. As Robert Kreitner says, “Buzzwords… drive out good ideas.” Unconferences are participant-driven, which involves building the program in real time during the event. Having (well-designed) discussion sessions during an event is great, but that doesn’t make a meeting an unconference. If you’re a conference convener, learn about what unconferences actually are before calling your event one. I care about how people use the word “unconference” because I’ve met too many folks who assume that an event billed as an unconference must be one. Then, they attend and are underwhelmed. I hate to see the reputation of unconferences suffer because marketing folks use the word as a way to make an event sound hip and sophisticated. So don’t call your event an “unconference” because it sounds cool! 3Don’t Have an “Unconference Track” at Your Event! Consider the following: » Relatively few people have experienced an unconference session (one shaped on the spot by the needs, experience, and expertise of the people present); » Lecture-style formats comprise the vast majority of people’s formal learning experiences. So, if you haven’t previously experienced an unconference session, you’re probably skeptical that it’ll be useful to you; and » We are creatures of habit, and most of us are cautious about trying something new. When you combine these observations, the unfortunate outcome is that very few people will attend an unconference track. Most attendees will stick to the conventional and “safe” concurrent sessions on pre-announced topics. It turns out that when a participant-led session or sessions are the only conference activities going on, people dive in, and nearly everyone likes what occurs. But when you give people a choice between what’s familiar and what’s not, all but the bravest take the safer path. So how do we avoid making this mistake? Make participant-led sessions plenaries or simultaneous breakouts. You certainly don’t have to make unconference sessions 100% of your conference, but there should be no other type of conference activity going on at the same time. There will probably always be conference organizers who are skeptical that participant-led sessions can work. A compromise may appear to be the way to keep such people happy, but it will invariably create a self-fulfilling prophecy; the “experimental” track will be poorly attended, and the skeptics will say, “I told you so.” We all get tripped up from time to time by the unintended consequences of our good intentions. When planning to add participant-led sessions to your next event, resist the alluring compromise of an unconference track. Instead, dedicate a morning, afternoon, day, or even days to well-designed participant-led sessions. Then, you’ll see just how well these increasingly popular formats can work.
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