{"id":627,"date":"2011-08-30T19:10:58","date_gmt":"2011-08-31T02:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2011.portland.wordcamp.org\/?page_id=627"},"modified":"2011-08-30T19:14:03","modified_gmt":"2011-08-31T02:14:03","slug":"what-is-an-unconference","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2011\/schedule\/what-is-an-unconference\/","title":{"rendered":"What is an Unconference?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve mentioned that much of our weekend schedule for WordCamp Portland will be determined in an unconference format, but I’m sure that at least a few of you are wondering what that means. Rather than creating yet another explanation, I’d like to borrow a couple explanations from\u00a0Dawn Foster:<\/a><\/p>\n

“It is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for
\npeople to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense
\nevent with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or in more detail:<\/p>\n

“The unconference is an adhoc gathering shaped by those who attend
\nwith the sessions and agenda being driven by the participants. The
\nframework is defined in advance, but the sessions are organized and
\nproduced by the attendees. In other words, instead of a full agenda
\nwith sessions and speakers clearly determined in advance, you start
\nwith a blank grid containing times on one axis and rooms \/ locations
\non the other axis; lunches and any other common activities are often
\nadded to the grid in advance to provide some basic infrastructure for
\nthe event. You never know what discussions, demos, and other interactions
\nto expect before the event, but you can count on it being an
\ninteresting time!”
\n…
\n“Unconferences on the other hand may tend to attract people who enjoy
\nshaping their environment and who may value networking and
\nconversation more than presentation. You become a participant, instead
\nof just an attendee. Sessions are proposed, refined, and often
\ncombined as the event progresses and conversations evolve. I also find
\nmore networking opportunities at unconferences, since many sessions
\nare discussion based rather than a single person giving a
\npresentation.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thanks to Dawn for allowing me to republish her explanations; this should clear things up for those who have yet to experience the benefits an unconference can bring when so many interesting people are together.<\/p>\n

In order to spur some pre-event discussion, there is a blog post<\/a> that can be used as an open thread for discussion about topics folks might want to discuss at WordCamp Portland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve mentioned that much of our weekend schedule for WordCamp Portland will be determined in an unconference format, but I’m sure that at least a few of you are wondering what that means. Rather than creating yet another explanation, I’d … Continue reading What is an Unconference?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":488108,"featured_media":0,"parent":320,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-627","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P1wS71-a7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/488108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":639,"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/627\/revisions\/639"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}