I just got back from RubyConf 2008, in Orlando, Florida. It was really a fantastic conference. It came off really well, and everything was top-notch. What I loved most was reconnecting with the community, just sitting, chatting and hacking with people from all over the world with whom I normally interact only online.
It made me realize that what I really want to attend is an “unconference”, where people pay to come and listen to one (or maybe two) keynotes by prominent community members, but then the rest of the time is spent in unstructured hacking sessions, where people cluster and work together on any number of different projects. If people want to stand up at a mic and talk about something that interests them, that’s fine, but the focus would not be on presentation, but on working on interesting projects.
Barcamp sounds kind of like this, but the emphasis still seems to be on presentations. Has anyone ever attended something like this?
Julius
on 10 Nov 08Hey Jamis,
great post. Unconferences are indeed conferences 2.0.
I attend several Barcamps per year and do organize some as well.
The model which originated unconferences is Open Space Technology, conceptualized by Harrison Owen.
Presentations shouldn’t even be allowed at unconferences as we decide what to talk about on the day of the event.
Sessions are just discussions not pitches of products or bullet points and the session promoter does not control but rather facilitate.
Some BarCamps still keep the original format and are for free some others are just using the attractive format to sell the same boring stuff.
The best unconferences produce a document at the end of the day, capturing all the discussion. When the model was started in early 90’s it was very tough to do so. We are using twitter now and that is so cool!
Julius
matt
on 10 Nov 08Like a ‘code sprint’, then- no? I would think the Ruby community would have these. Very popular in other development circles.
Takuan
on 10 Nov 08Conferences that focus primarily on group hacking are not uncommon in the indie game community, where people will get together and a common challenge is to try to create a playable (albeit very rough) game in the amount of time available.
There’s not as much tangible stuff to take away from such a conference, but it’s great fun and really brings people together, and that’s really the driving motivator for most participants. Almost as a side effect, a lot of tips, tricks, and newest industry research is shared among all almost effortlessly :)
I’ve often wondered why that’s not as common in other software development areas.
Wolf
on 10 Nov 08The Barcamps in Belgium are presentation based; we find sponsors for the location and food; entrance is free of course, but participation is obligatory (although not enforced). You learn a thing or two but in the end it’s more of a mass geek/twittercrowd meetup than anything else.
Which is fine by me, I’d rather do hacking weekends with people I know on a project that is real.
Daniel Burka
on 10 Nov 08‘Unconference’ is one of those terms that’s recently come up, but with several variations in meaning.
What you’ve described in the post above sounds a lot like Super Happy Dev House, which I’ve attended once in Palo Alto. On a regular basis people get together and hack on projects together. At the same time, a few people do impromptu short presentations (under an hour) and people give their feedback in real-time. The one I went to was a lot of fun and they’re fairly popular in the Bay Area. http://superhappydevhouse.org/
Unconference can also refer to Barcamps, as you’ve mentioned, or events like silverorange’s Zap Your PRAM Conference. The latter happened a month ago and was something of a cross between Barcamp, TED, and a slumber party – the basic premise is to get 50-60 really smart people from a wide range of experiences together for 3 days in a beautiful environment… some people do presentations and everyone else interrupts them frequently with questions and commentary. http://www.zapyourpram.org/
William Murray
on 10 Nov 08Sounds a bit like TED Conferences, where they have some intelligent speakers, but a lot of the action involves just mixing and mingling with other attendees. But then again, I’ve never been invited, so I could have it all wrong!
Soto
on 10 Nov 08My field, planetary science, is riddled with large conferences of a few thousand to 15,000 people where short 10 minute talks and posters rule the day. I have rarely learned much at these conference nor generated new ideas to pursue.
Fortunately, there are small workshops held periodically around on specific topics. A well run workshop usually has less than 100 people involved, has discussions ‘sessions” schedule amidst the talks, and often schedules long lunches. These characteristics really foster impromptu interaction.
Recently I attended a workshop in southern Utah where the thirty or so participants stayed in the same hotel and where the schedule included a lot of unstructured time. This workshop proved to be extremely productive. The talks served as catalysts for many discussions, and because we had time to brainstorm ideas inspired by the talks, I left with a list of new projects on which to work and new scientists with which to collaborate. Overall, the four days of this workshop were far more productive than the weeks worth of conferences I have attended over the last few years.
Pedro Menezes
on 10 Nov 08Here in Brazil, unconferences are getting hot between bloggers.
I went to my first unconference in BlogcampRJ 2008. It was an amazing event and everybody loved it. There were some “arenas” for people who likes debates, but the best part was to talk to people outside the arenas.
Free entrance & food (not including lunch). :)
Danny Burkes
on 10 Nov 08Internet Identity Workshop (http://iiw.idcommons.net/Iiw2008b) is an unconference I have been attending for a couple of years, and it is always one of the most productive ones I attend all year.
I love the format- I wish more gatherings would adopt it.
Michael Buckbee
on 10 Nov 08I’ve been to a number of Barcamps and in my experience they tend to skew away from formal presentations and are much more discussion based.
Case in point, your own Mark Imbracio’s talk/discussion at Raleigh Ruby Camp – http://www.buzzwordcompliant.net/2008/10/22/how-37-signals-deploys-their-software/
At Raleigh Ruby Camp there was also a continual Refactotum + OpenHack fest in the main room with the discussion presentations happening off in the conference rooms, which seems very much like what you are describing.
- Mike
James Avery
on 10 Nov 08Jamis, It was great to meet you at RubyConf, I had the same thought while at RubyConf about unconferences. I have been to our local barcamp, participated in various open spaces tracks at conferences, and ran a local Ruby unconference here in Raleigh called RaleighRubyCamp. The RaleighRubyCamp had a mix of presentations (mostly about what people are working on) and open discussions which I thinked worked out well. We also had Relevance run their refactotum and lots of places to just sit and hack.
While I think traditional conferences still have their place, I love un-conferences more and more. I like your idea of something with a little bit of each.
Assaf
on 10 Nov 08You mean Hackathon?
Lief Zimmerman
on 10 Nov 08I attended INFOCAMP 2008 this year in Seattle. It was the second annual InfoCamp and was done as an unconference. The people who organized it pulled it off very well with one keynote per day and the rest of the sessions decided on the spot; the morning of each day of the event. I hadn’t planned on presenting but found myself presenting a 45 minute discussion on GTD and how complex list (or groups of lists) could be functional, simple, and actually used on a mobile platform. It was an amazing forum for idea exchange and community building.
One of the founders, Aaron Louie, can probably give you more information if you are interested. The organizing committee is listed on the InfoCamp2008 wiki page.
Chris Messina
on 10 Nov 08As the fortunate co-founder of BarCamp, I can attest to the value of unconferences and “unscheduled conferences”.
Though BarCamp started out in Silicon Valley in 2005, it’s since grown to an international phenomena, covering diverse subjects and providing people with a low-cost, local way to organize people who are passionate about a topic area to meet and discuss.
The first BarCamp was planned in 6 days for around $3000 (which mostly went to beer!). Typically a venue is donated and wifi is covered by a local independent company. It is expected that participants contribute heavily to the event—that the event itself is sort of an organic ad hoc “open source” project.
If you’re interested in the basic rules of BarCamp, this page should be of some interest:
http://barcamp.org/TheRulesOfBarCamp
GeeIWonder
on 10 Nov 08We call these workshops.
GeeIWonder
on 10 Nov 08(also phenomenon is the singular form)
rvr
on 10 Nov 08another word in support of open space technology. the conference is whatever those who show up decides it should be.
Billy Mabray
on 10 Nov 08The first OpenBeta was held a couple of weeks ago in Oklahoma City, and it’s similar to what you’re describing. No hacking sessions, but the focus was on meeting and sharing ideas. We had 1 keynote (Noah Everett, founder of Twitpic) and a handful of lightning talks (5 minutes with 20 slides on auto play). The rest of the time was for meeting people and demonstrating projects. It was a huge success, and the next one is already scheduled for February.
(For the record, I have no official connection to OpenBeta, other than having attended and enjoyed it.)
Nathan Clark
on 10 Nov 08A few years back I attended a Christian conference called the Vine with that sort of format – all participants were required to give a session presentation (3-5 minutes) and participate in a panel discussion. Lots of free time, etc. One of the better formats for a conference I’ve been to, but it went out business owing to a lack of interest in alt-format conferences at the time.
Vance Lucas
on 10 Nov 08I recently made a quick 5-minute presentation at OpenBeta in Oklahoma City, OK on a new project I’m working on. It was a great opportunity to get noticed and get the local community involved and excited about my project. I’ve got several possible customers already, and my web app is not even finished yet! It really gave me extra motivation to finish and launch my project with all the positive feedback I got. I would highly recommend “unconferences” to anyone – the format and flow was fantastic. I already look forward to attending the next one and getting involved in the community even more.
Da
on 10 Nov 08Well, not one for programming… but for law, believe it or not. LexThink (http://www.lexthink.com/conferences/) puts on “unconferences” for lawyers… they had one here in Chicago a few years ago, and it was fantastic. Unfortunately, now it’s ruined about every other conference experience I’ve had since….
Andrew Brown
on 10 Nov 08I’d loved to do hacking sessions but I’m in a remote area, just got to figure a way to get people to jump start on the Internet.
Derek Neighbors
on 10 Nov 08I have been to several barcamps that mimic this structure, but perhaps the best social/hacking events I have attended have been SuperHappyDevHouse events.
We organize something similar every week and put the term hacknight on it.
Reuben
on 10 Nov 08But what about the reclusive and socially awkward types who take comfort in being one of the faces in a crowd and fear the breaks for lunch and networking sessions as much as they fear public speaking. There is nothing in it for them (us?), they will not participate but instead lurk around other people in session and nod their head from behind the couch, but stop nodding and just look awkward when you notice them lurking and nodding at your ideas.
You can learn a lot during a conference presentation, especially if you have the facebook app on your iPhone and a white tablecloth in front of you to keep it well hidden.
GeeIWonder
on 10 Nov 08You can learn a lot during a conference presentation, especially if you have the facebook app on your iPhone and a white tablecloth in front of you to keep it well hidden.
This attitude just annoys me. Why waste your time? Or anybody else’s?
This isn’t high school. You don’t want to be there, leave.
Reuben
on 10 Nov 08@GeelWonder
That is exactly my point.
matt
on 10 Nov 08Barcamp chicago 2006 and 2007 were largely like that. While the presos were well attended, there were definitely a number of people sitting in the hallways working on other things.
I can’t speak for the 2008 one as I wasn’t in town.
Bob
on 10 Nov 08The Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council (MassTLC.org) just had an “unConference” that was wildly successful. The combination of “limited structure”-structure (a few dozen meeting rooms, open spaces, whiteboards) and smart people with varied backgrounds made for a very productive and innovation-inducing day. Can’t say too many good things about it, and greatly looking forward to the next one!
Evan Light
on 11 Nov 08Jamis: Not only attended but organized one and specifically for Ruby! Ruby DCamp (http://rubydcamp.org) was held on 10/11-12 of this year. However, there will certainly be another one next year (date TBD). By all means, attend.
About 20-25% of the people at Ruby DCamp were in the code most of the time whereas the rest were in group sessions that were decided on at the morning “Planning Sessions”.
court3nay
on 11 Nov 08Jamis,
We did one of these at Railsconf this year (Cabooseconf) - mainly because our office is in Portland - and were invited to become the “official” railsconf unconference next year in Vegas.
Basically, we get a large area at the same venue as the official conf, but it’s free. We’ll be the official hackspace of the conference.. and as you suggest, there’ll be talks and such, but the focus will be on hacking and networking.
court3nay
on 11 Nov 08Search for “Cabooseconf” on flickr to see what it looked like.
John Hawbaker
on 11 Nov 08Zap Your PRAM 2008 was my first experience with the unconference format, and it was great. As Daniel alluded to, Zap was less about keynote speakers (there were none) and more about conversations with an interesting group of people. We had everyone from designers and developers to screenwriters and beer bloggers. The unique setting and communal atmosphere were also key to encouraging new friendships rather than merely “networking.”
Rachel Lehman
on 11 Nov 08Adobe is doing this with their MAX conference this year, they have a few select topic areas that have “unconference” tracks going on throughout the conference. They’re huge so they can support both formats, but I’ve seen a lot of smaller ones popping up exclusively in this free-form format.
sohbet
on 15 Nov 08I have been attending for a couple of years, and it is always one of the most productive ones I attend all year.
sohbet
on 15 Nov 08We did one of these at Railsconf this year (Cabooseconf) – mainly because our office is in Portland – and were invited to become the “official” railsconf unconference next year in Vegas.
This discussion is closed.