Part of the problem of not living in Silicon Valley is that you miss out on some of the cooler applications of technology. While it isn’t new, I just recently came across the idea of unconferencecs. Now that I’ve heard of them, they make perfect sense and I am somewhat peeved this idea hadn’t occurred to me earlier. While the term is most associated with a particular form of conference “driven by the participants” rather than the more traditional guest speakers, this concept is an excellent example of the co-creation of value through an open approach. Instead of just having the conference presenters deliver a one-way stream of value, an unconference creates value through it’s attendees. The attendees actively participate in both structuring the conference itself as well as driving the session.
Certainly there is more risk in depending on the attendees than relying on a proven speaker, so the facilitation of an unconference is therefore key. Without some controls, I’m sure an unconference could devolve into chaos. Properly facilitated, however, I would be interested to see what a smart group of attendees could come up with when compared to a traditional session. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some really interesting discussions emerge from such a technique.
Have any of my readers been to an unconference? If so, let me know what you thought!