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. For example, in 2006, CNNMoney applied the term to diverse events including BarCamp, Bloggercon, and Mashup Camp.[1] The term is primarily used in the geek community, though as of 2009 it has also started to appear in the travel industry[2].
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History
Harrison Owen developed the Open Space Technology[3] format/method in the mid 1980's. He published Open Space Technology: a User's Guide, in 1993. This book discussed many of the techniques now associated with unconferences, although his book does not use the term "unconference."
Consultants Camp started by Jerry Weinberg has been using the Open Space Technology method for their week long conference since 1988.
The term unconference first appeared in an announcement for the annual XML developers conference in 1998.
Open Space Technology was part of the Agile Universe Conference program in 2002.
The term was used by Lenn Pryor when discussing BloggerCon and was popularized by Dave Winer, the organizer of BloggerCon, in an April 2004 writeup. The first BloggerCon was October 4-5, 2003.
FooCamp is an invitation-only event for the Friends of O'Reilly that was created by Tim O'Reilly and Sara Weinge the VP of Corporate Communications for O'Reilly Media. Sara drew on her experience of open space and conversations with Harrison Owen to develop the format [4] The first one happened October 10-12, 2003. In 2005 some of the attendees from previous years decided to produce their own "Bar" Camp.
These three different events, BloggerCon, FooCamp and BarCamp were all part of popularizing the term "unconference". Foo and Bar Camp in particular popularized the form where "there is no agenda until .. the attendees made one up."
In December 2009, the first travel industry unconference was held in the Austrian Alps with an attendance of over 20 people from 10 countries[5].
Styles of facilitation
An unconference can be conducted using a number of different facilitation styles. Some of these are:
- Appreciative Inquiry
- Barcamp
- Birds of a Feather
- Code Camp
- Dotmocracy
- The Fishbowl
- FooCamp
- Knowledge Cafe
- Lightning Talks
- Nominal Group Technique
- Multi-voting
- Open Space Technology
- Pecha Kucha
- Speed Geeking
- World Cafe
- OSScamp
References
- ^ money.cnn.com Why "unconferences" are fun conferences
- ^ Hostel Management Unconference, Austria 2009
- ^ [1] Open Space World Resources
- ^ BarCamp Mail Archive
- ^ [2] The first travel industry unconference, Grünau im Almtal, Austria, 2009
External links
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