Government Connections - Spring 2010 - (Page 27) Unconference 101 A Unique Way to Fatigue-Proof Your Next Event By Nick Stanley, CGMP DOES THIS SITUATION sound familiar? Your keynote speaker is on stage, you look out into the audience and you see it…the sleepy head-bob. Then you look in the other direction and see someone using their BlackBerry to work on a new high score on BrickBreaker! Weeks’ worth of perfect planning on your part, and there are still attendees you’re not reaching with your programming. Even the best meeting planners have frustrating moments like this. So, what do you do about it? How do you beat keynote fatigue and passive audiences? Quit planning! Have you heard of an unconference? If not, you’re probably not alone, even though the unconference concept has been around in one form or the other since the 1980s. Unconferences mostly have been used in the technology and marketing industries; however you can apply the principles of an unconference to any industry. Creative planners are starting to incorporate the guiding principles into a traditional conference program with surprising results. This might just be the tool that you have been waiting for. ATTENDEES IN CHARGE All right, so you’re a creative planner who is ready to innovate, but you’re still not sure what an unconference is. A traditional unconference has no programs; no one (not even you) knows what the breakout sessions will be or who will lead them. But, you are guaranteed that they will be relevant to the attendees because the attendees themselves are about to design their own conference. This format clearly will not work for training sessions or meetings with certain types of attendees or objectives. However, incorporating a block of time for your attendees to design and take ownership of your event is easy and is likely to create excitement for the entire conference along with a desire for your attendees to return next year. Typically the unconference starts with a general session much like a normal conference; however, this general session is anything but just another canned keynote speech. Break out the construction paper and markers and pass them around. Attendees will write down session topics on the paper and then announce them to the group. After all the pieces have been collected and assembled on the wall, your breakout sessions are now planned. That was easy, right? But who is going to speak at the sessions? Not to worry. Everyone is going to speak! BORED? USE YOUR OWN TWO FEET Teach your attendees the Law of Two Feet. “If you are neither learning nor contributing, it is your responsibility to respectfully use your own two feet to go some place where you are learning or contributing.” With this in mind, the sessions will, in effect, run themselves. Whatever the topic is and however many people show up, determine the success of that program and think of it as a good collaboration—not a good outline. I’m sure that you would agree that some of your best learning is done by talking with peers and learning from each other’s experiences rather than getting just one person’s (the speaker’s) perspective. This meeting format might never work for you, or perhaps it’s just what you were looking for. Some might say this is a new take on a proven format, but the creative energy and sense of ownership that is created is hard to replicate. For more information about unconferences please visit www.unconference.net. G Nick Stanley, CGMP, is executive assistant for the Society of Government Meeting Professionals (SGMP). Contact him at nick.stanley@sgmp.org. www.sgmp.org http://www.unconference.net http://www.unconference.net http://www.sgmp.org Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Government Connections - Spring 2010 Government Connections - Spring 2010 Contents President’s Letter Editor’s Letter Go Figure Going Places Education Edge That’s Technology Travel Tips and Trends Supplier Strategy Plan Green Good to Know Dieting on a Per Diem Event Security Tips Unconference 101 Ethics are Elementary In Memoriam SGMP Nation Membership News Conference Connection Advertisers’ Index The Meeting Minute Government Connections - Spring 2010 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/SGMQ0412 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/SGMQ0312 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/SGMQ0212 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/SGMQ0112 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/SGMQ0411 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/SGMQ0311 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/SGMQ0211 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/SGMQ0111 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/SGMQ0410 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/SGMQ0310 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/SGMQ0210 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/SGMQ0110 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/SGMQ0409 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/SGMQ0309 http://www.nxtbookMEDIA.com
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