I attended Freelance Camp today in Vancouver. It’s the first unconference I’ve ever attended and I have to admit I was intrigued. The format seems chaotic but it worked out incredibly well.
What’s an unconference you ask?
It’s a series of seminars around a topic without a list of speakers. We arrived this morning at 9am with the instruction that if you had a subject you wanted to present, tell the organizer when you arrived.
At 9:10 people started pitching their topics to the audience, if there was interest in the topic offered, the seminar was added to the board in a timeslot that was jointly decided on by the speaker and the audience (and what timeslots were left).
By 9:30am we had a full day scheduled and had already started the first sessions. There were easily 80 people in attendance. I couldn’t believe how easily and smoothly the process went. A huge shout out to @hummingbird604, his band of volunteers and @thenetworkhub for providing the space.
I went old school with pen and paper. Half way through the day, I was worried I’d run out of ink. My pen flew across the page. Not only from the information given by the speakers, but also from the crowd. The sessions were very interactive and the different perspectives really enabled us to see we’re not alone.
I’ve added so many people to my Twitter tonight. Folks I heard speak, folks who spoke up from the audience and even folks I heard talking in the halls. They all had interesting stuff to say and I want to keep listening.
It was a long day and my head is close to exploding, but it was well worth every moment… even the getting up early on a Saturday morning to head downtown.
Added Bonus: I have a lot more tidbits of information to pass on to you… stay tuned