This is part 2 of an 8 part series on ChurchTechCamp (ChurchTechCamp:.Los Angeles, ChurchTechCamp:.Dallas) from the perspective of organizing one, in hopes that others will find some useful information to help organize one near them.
What is an unconference?
It made me realize that what I really want to attend is an “unconference“, where people pay to come and listen to one (or maybe two) keynotes by prominent community members, but then the rest of the time is spent in unstructured hacking sessions, where people cluster and work together on any number of different projects. If people want to stand up at a mic and talk about something that interests them, that‘s fine, but the focus would not be on presentation, but on working on interesting projects.
Unconferences by Jamis of 37 Signals
You can find this quote on the front page of the ChurchTechCamp:.Dallas website.
And that is the intention of ChurchTechCamp:.Dallas. A place where people can gather together, free of charge, no product placement, no one pushing products…and talk about “best practices” in their areas of interest as it relates to church and technology.
Tony Steward from the outset has successfully pushed for an event that is different from all the other events, and one that is free of sponsors and agendas. I think this is what makes ChurchTechCamp unique, and I think it’s a desire for many who have been burned out and overwhelmed by the number of conference, sponsors and fees to attend them.
An “unconference” is grassroots gathering of locals that has implications for a larger mobilization of the church through the use of technology. Not only do you have the opportunity to listen to others share their perspective, but you as an attender have the opportunity to contribute to the conference in the morning sessions, as well as participating in projects along with everyone else in the afternoon. You are more than a face in the crowd, but a participant of the event.
Questions:
What do you think about the philosophy and idea of an “unconference?”
How many conferences will you attend this year? What will be the grand total cost of them?
Are you burned out going to lots of conferences?
If you had to choose 3 conferences to go to this year (in an area of practice), what would they be?
Series:
ChurchTechCamp-8 Things To Know If You Want To Help Organize One-Part 1: It’s Organic
Disclaimer: Tony Steward is the main organizer, facilitator and influence behind ChurchTechCamp:.LA and ChurchTechCamp:.Dallas, I’m simply writing this series from the perspective of helping organize the details (location specifics) for the Dallas event, and hopefully this will be a useful series if you find yourself wanting to or in the position of helping organize one for your city.
@jasondtaylor
Rhett, great quick thoughts. I work for a Non-Profit coaching company and we’ve been wrestling through this too. There are so many good conferences how can you attend them all? Further, can we really soak in and apply all that data? I can’t be the only person who at times comes away from a weekend conference overwhelmed because I want to apply so much and just can’t physically figure out how to do it. And @ some point fiscally, how can you justify the expense, especially now? We’re trying to move toward technology and gathering people online through webinars, video and conference calls as an alternative but it’s still difficult because as true as what I said above is, there’s still something very engaging about gathering with people in the same space for a time.
If I could pick 3 though, I’d go to Willow’s Leadership Summit in Chicago, Catalyst West Coast and then find a small core group and go sit around for a weekend and do this “unconference” idea.
dude. churchcrunch.com representation…? *sigh*… dallas was a combo-strike!
John,
You are coming up in the next part, collaborative piece…I’m just trying to lay the ground work first…
Dallas was a combo strike…epic!
Rhett
HECK YES! I REALLY REALLY WANT TO ATTEND THIS IN ATLANTA!!!
John, can we please do in Atlanta? Please? Heck, I’ll even drive-up to Nashville if it’s on a weekend. Or somewhere in SC?
RHETT – I wish Christians had come-up with this concept first – I think we’re called to be sharing, uniting, collaborating for the greatest mission ever. I almost think all Christian conferences should be like this (is that ironic?).
Being totally honest, I wonder if I could make a living traveling around the country, connecting the local leaders in dozens of these conferences every year (I know, no one is supposed to be making money off this).
Not to poo poo on rhetoric but come on. Does church in general need more terms? Organic, unconference, emerging, etc. bleh. I have to put up with them enough in the Charismatic circles, much less now in the more liberal Christian circles.
Why not call it a gathering? But once again, this is just an attempt to try and make one thing unique from the current status quo which is great but tiresome when you have been following fads in the church for almost ten years.
What next? “Change we can believe in?” Oops, that one was already beaten like a horse that died 4 times.