I was thinking about the reputation of one of our sister brands the "unconference"
To start with, I think that we as a "Brand" and doing Open Space have benefited enormously by having Harrison Owen as a gatekeeper to what it constitutes to have an Open Space. The sparking of this post came from a blog post by Mitch Joel from early last year. Where he expands upon what an unConference is not. These are also true fro Open Space. see: http://www.twistimage.com/blog/archives/the-death-of-the-unconference/ I will also post the blog text here: > > > The Death Of The Unconference > by Mitch Joel - February 9, 2012 > > Does anyone remember the unconference? > > There was hope for collaboration and self-organizing groups, but it seems to > have gone the way of the corporate spin machine. I was a massive proponent of > the unconference movement (I still am!), but that word has been used so > poorly by so many groups that it seems to have all but disappeared. In short: > calling your conference an "unconference" just to sound young, hip and with > it, actually makes you sound old, out-of-touch and stupid. This past month, > I've seen a handful of events that are billing themselves as unconferences > when, in reality, they're just very shabby and cheap events. > > Your conference is not an unconference if... > > * There is a pre-set agenda. The whole point of an unconference is that > group comes together to create the agenda/slate together. > * The organizers decide on the agenda. Organizers can help organize the > day in terms of logistics (when there are sessions and breaks), but should > not be setting the agenda in terms of the content. > * The organizers are doing everything. The organizers aren't there to > make the event good for everyone else. The event is actually being "run" by > everyone. Everyone participates. Unconferences are not about bystanders or > attendees. The organizers are there simply to ensure that a venue is secure > and that everyone knows where they are going. I'd even argue that this task > can be done by the participants as well. > * You're charging for it. This will be a contentious issue, but the best > unconferences I have been to, have been the ones where everyone took both > individual and group responsibility for the event. If the venue requires a > fee, everyone chips in equally to pay for it. If you're hungry and want to > eat, either bring food or go out and buy some. The true spirit of the > unconference movement is that this is NOT a traditional conference. Bring > your own nametag, notebook, snacks and drinks. If this is a self-organizing > event why should any one individual have a financial risk attached to it? > Think about getting sponsors instead of charging for it (if you really have > to). > * You're attending but not speaking. If you're showing up to consume and > not contribute, stay home. Many people don't like to speak in public, that's > fine. No one is asking you to give a keynote address. An unconference is a > place where like-minded people come to share and challenge one another. Try > sitting in circles and think about the event as a live interactive > environment, instead of just sitting there hoping the next speaker can > entertain you. > * You don't enact the law of two-feet. If you're not learning, get up, > use your own two feet and go somewhere you can learn. Hallway conversations > are great for this. If your unconference isn't littered with spaces for > sudden collisions of conversation, it isn't much of an unconference. > > Unconference are an amazing opportunity. > > You would think that this Blog post should have been written and published > five years ago. You would think that unconference are so passé. You would be > wrong. After attending close to seventy events each and every year, the > handful that stick out in my mind are the more intimate unconferences that I > have taken an active part in. An unconference creates an egalitarian moment > in time where people from all walks of life (and all levels within an > organization) can simply share, learn, communicate and grow. To run a > conference and call it an unconference is a disservice to the unconference > movement. Many people don't understand this because an unconference looks and > acts nothing like their traditional definition of a conference (hence the > name of it ;). It saddens me to see how many people start with the right > spirit of an unconference but quickly get stuck in all of the trappings of > what they think will create a great event (and this - unfortunately - looks a > lot like a traditional conference). > > If you've never taken part in an unconference, I would encourage you to look > into it... or better yet... start your own. > > -- Kári Gunnarsson [email protected] gsm: +354 8645189 _______________________________________________ OSList mailing list To post send emails to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
