BarCamp: The unconference

April 30th, 2006 | by Tim Wilson |

I’ve been to enough conferences over the last three years to realize that the most valuable experiences are often the ones that happen over a round of beers after the day’s sessions are done. The most recent example was a fantastic conversation I had at FETC. These conversations form what amounts to a parallel conference experience.

So I was especially interested in BarCamp when I discovered it recently. The site proclaims:

BarCamp is an ad-hoc un-conference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees. Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join. When you come, be prepared to share with barcampers. When you leave, be prepared to share it with the world.

Barcamps tend to be small. It seems like 100 attendees is typical. The foremost Barcamp rule is “No spectators, only participants.” This isn’t just a theoretical interest. minnēbar is this Saturday, and I’m signed up as a participant. I’m not sure what I will present, but I’ve got a few days to figure that out. :-)

This brings up the ultimate point of this post, and that is to suggest that this kind of event lends itself especially well to ed tech folks. How cool would it be for even a dozen innovative tech-using educators to get together for a day of show-and-tell? I think we need a trial run at an Ed Tech BarCamp in the Twin Cities. Anyone interested?

barcamp, minnebar

  1. 4 Responses to “BarCamp: The unconference”

  2. By Jon Berry on Apr 30, 2006 | Reply

    Sounds like a great idea Tim. Count me in. How about something at the end of July? Long enough after the end of school and NECC but before things really heat up for the start of 06-07.

  3. By Wesley Fryer on Apr 30, 2006 | Reply

    I’m in, let me know when to log in! :-)

  4. By Dean Shareski on Apr 30, 2006 | Reply

    I also enjoyed the FETC meet up. Because of some inspiration from Steve Dembo, organized an openspace conference. It was a tremendous experience and one I hope to be involved in in the future.

  5. By Steve on May 1, 2006 | Reply

    I’m mighty interested, but if you can’t pull one off in the TC area (insert a remark here about my Tigers sweeping the Twins…) then I think Clarity can plan a little something in parallel to NECC in San Diego … perhaps on Friday, the 7th.

Post a Comment