The Future Of Conferences Is Unconferences

Header of academic paper: The Future Of Conferences Is Unconferences: Exploring a Decentralized Network of Regional Meetups FORUM | MEANINGFUL DESIGN PROCESSES This forum is dedicated to exploring the notion of meaningfulness in design processes, taking the perspectives of community groups, nongovernmental organizations, and those who are marginalized in society as starting points. Authors will reflect conceptually and methodologically on practical engagements. — Rosanna Bellini and Angelika Strohmayer, Editors Soya Park, MIT, Eun-Jeong Kang, Cornell University, Karen Joy, Rutgers University, Rosanna Bellini, Cornell University, Jérémie Lumbroso, University of Pennsylvania, Danaé Metaxa, University of Pennsylvania, Andrés Monroy-Hernandez, Princeton University Meetings and conferences are perhaps one of the most important fundamental ways in which people come together and change happens. Yet this topic is rarely the focus of much academic study. So I’m pleased to discover an academic research article paper about unconference — especially since its title is: The Future Of Conferences Is Unconferences! The paper appears in the October 2023 issue of the venerable Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Interactions journal. ACM is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society.

Now, I’m not a fan of the term “unconference” because:

Nevertheless, I’m happy that at least some in academia see the value of participant-driven and participation-rich conferences.

Here’s a summary of the paper [read and/or download the full paper here].

The Future Of Conferences Is Unconferences

The paper begins with a critique of traditional conferences that will be familiar to regular readers of this blog: one-sided communication, high costs, environmental impact, and time away from other obligations.

Consequently the authors propose a new model: locally grouped unconferences, that prioritize informal connections and participant-driven content over formal presentations, challenging the hierarchical structure of conventional conferences.

An unconference-style event for local researchers

To assess the feasibility of this model for academic research, a group of researchers in the northeastern U.S. organized an unconference-style Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) event for local researchers. This event was free to attend and focused on interactions between researchers, with an emphasis on dynamic and meaningful interactions.

This one-day event was restricted to 70 participants, and included World Café and three 45-minute panel sessions, each featuring four panelists presenting their research findings. The panel sessions received positive feedback, though some participants noted challenges in selecting panelists and finding relevant papers for discussion.

The World Café table topics and the panelists were chosen in advance, so this wasn’t really a true unconference. However, participants reported “unanimous satisfaction”, “making meaningful connections”, and “interest in attending future similar events”.

The key elements of the unconference program included socialization, dissemination, and event organization. Socialization activities, such as an icebreaker and World Cafe-style discussions, were highly appreciated by participants for promoting engagement. However, they were less effective at identifying collaboration opportunities. [The peer conferences I’ve been running since 1992 are far more effective in this regard.] Participants found the smaller size of the event and unstructured socializing to be conducive to meaningful connections.

Size and location

The authors say that the size and location of the event are crucial. A right-sized event allows for meaningful networking without overwhelming attendees. Participants expressed a willingness to travel to other locations, provided they were easily accessible. They proposed that regional meetups should occur between quarterly and biannually to provide more regular contact with researchers. They should complement official conferences rather than compete with them. The goal is to make conferences more accessible and enjoyable, especially for junior scholars and those with fewer resources.

Conclusions

In conclusion, the paper states that a decentralized regional meetup model offers a promising alternative to traditional academic conferences. Its cost-effectiveness, emphasis on interactions, and potential for more regular contact among researchers make it a valuable addition to the academic conference landscape.

The authors believe that the success of this local unconference model suggests it can mitigate the drawbacks of traditional conferences. To promote more local gatherings, organizers can leverage the lower cost and preparation time of such events. They can also create a portal for organizers to share their experiences and knowledge, enabling others to learn from their experiences.

The authors offer these key insights:

  • A localized unconference model for academic conferences can serve as a viable alternative to mitigate the inherent drawbacks of conventional conferences.
  • Key to the success of such regional meetups is lower friction of organizing.
  • Such regional meetups should focus more on interactions between researchers than the dissemination of knowledge.

—Soya Park, Eun-Jeong Kang, Karen Joy, Rosanna Bellini, Jérémie Lumbroso, Danaë Metaxa, Andrés Monroy-Hernández , The Future Of Conferences Is Unconferences

Doing peer conferences right

Participants gather at the 2022 SoCraTes peer conferenceSoftware testers do peer conferences right! (They even call them a peer conference, rather than unconference, a term I don’t like.) As evidence of software tester conference awesomeness, I offer three examples below. But first…

…a short history of the peer conference

I first designed and convened what I called a “peer conference” in 1992 for a group of IT managers at small schools that eventually became known as edACCESS.

During my 20+ years as an IT consultant and software developer, I got to know a delightful international crowd of software testers: those all-important people responsible for the impossible task of making sure that software works. After I talked about my meeting design work with pioneer tester James Bach at the 2004 Amplifying Your Effectiveness conference, the testing community somehow adopted the term peer conference for their get-togethers.

My code development days are long gone. I miss hanging out with the folks I got to know at these events. (Though I’m still in touch with some of them.) Regardless, peer conferences in the world of software testing are still alive and thriving!

And now…

Three examples of how software testers do peer conferences right

1. The 2022 SoCraTes peer conference

Lisi Hocke wrote a long detailed post about her first-timer experience at the 2022 SoCraTes (Software Craft and Testing) peer conference held in Soltau, Germany.

For a quick visual impression of the event, watch this!


Here are some illustrative extracts from Lisi’s post.

Keeping participants safe

Feeling safe is an important psychological requirement for people in any situation, and conferences are no exception (1, 2, 3). Lisi shares another participant’s experience:

Providing a welcoming and supportive environment for first-time participants

SoCraTes 2022 included a Foundation Day “with fewer people and hence a smaller crowd to get used to. A day that covered fundamental topics without them being too basic, so I learned a lot even with topics I knew about. A day where we had a schedule set in advance, which took away the uncertainty of what would happen. A day to get to know people a bit already.”

Notice how this optional first day used more conventional session formats to make it easier for first-time attendees to integrate into the existing community.

“Over dinner, I realized I was not the only one joining this conference for the first time. Later on, we realized lots of people were new joiners indeed, based on recommendations they chose to give this conference a try. Was really great to see.

In the beginning, things were still a bit new, strange and even stiff; as it often is for me these days when suddenly seeing lots of people in real life. Within a short period of time I could loosen up, though. The more people I got to know, the more I relaxed and felt at ease.”

A participation-rich session format — World Café — was introduced at the end of Foundation Day

The World Café supplied an appropriate introduction and transition to the Open Space format used during the rest of the conference.

“To set the scene, a World Café was hosted by the wonderful Juke, getting all of us connected to SoCraTes and each other. How it worked? We had three rounds, a new question each round. For each group, one stays at the same place while all others look for a new group to join. The one who stays welcomes the new people and shares what the previous group had talked about. Usually this is supported by taking notes and drawing on flip charts or similar means.”

Open Space

SoCraTes 2022 used the participant-driven Open Space format to determine what sessions participants wanted to hold. Though Open Space is just one of the formats you can use to create participant-driven and participation-rich meetings, it’s probably the most well-known and is often an appropriate process to use.

“In short: we build the agenda we want to see! And that’s what happened. It’s fascinating how you can really trust in the system. The queues to briefly present the proposed topics were really long, and the emerging schedule looked amazing. So many awesome topics…”

Session leaders used a wide variety of participative formats

Check out Lisi’s post for descriptions of many appropriate innovative session formats, including ask me anything, brainstorming, blind ensemble programming, the pipeline game, exploring feelings while reading code, a Code Retreat, and a retrospective.

Some closing insights

About listening and learning…

“The entire conference felt like a version of the world that could exist. Many small and large customs help people to get along better with each other. It starts with the name tags alone: ​​take off the name tag if you’re too introverted to talk to people right now. A red tape means you don’t want to be photographed. The name tags are magnetic and hold the creative badges that people use to announce their pronouns – with a lot of artistic flair if you like.”
—Eric, SoCraTes 2022 — a conference report [translated from German]

Compare the innovation and excitement at SoCraTes 2022 with just about any other conference you’ve attended. Can you see why software testers like Lisi think that peer conferences rock?!

2. The Unexpo Experiment

Here’s another example from a software testing peer conference, TestBash Brighton 2018. The conference designers invented a way to create “highly engaging, interactive, and fun” poster sessions. Check out my post that describes this “excellent example of how to invent, explore, evaluate, and improve new meeting formats”.

3. A free guide to creating peer conferences

Want to create a peer conference, but don’t want to buy any of my excellent books on this topic? (Hey, you can buy all three for just $49.99, but that’s OK 😀.) No problem, the Association for Software Testing published an excellent free introductory guide to creating peer conferences. Learn more about it, and download it here.

Final thoughts

I love and respect the software testing community because its practitioners think carefully and seriously about how to design their conferences. And then they implement and test their innovative designs, discovering what works and what doesn’t while also being open to the joy and excitement of the unexpected. A beautiful mixture of serious exploration, learning, and fun.

That’s the way to improve meetings!

Image attribution: #SoCraTes2022 peer conference photo by Markus Tacker

A free guide to creating peer conferences

free guide to creating peer conferences: Photograph of conference attendees having fun. Attribution: 2018 "QA or the Highway" software testing conference.

The Association for Software Testing (AST) issued a free guide to creating peer conferences. I believe the software testing community adopted my term “peer conference” for their get-togethers after a conversation I had with pioneer software tester James Bach in 2004.

Reminiscent of my first book, Conferences That Work, AST’s guide provides a comprehensive entry-level guide to starting, preparing for, and running a peer conference. While it doesn’t offer the level of detail in Conferences That Work, it’s an excellent introduction to the key issues. Although it’s written for software testing conferences (hence the references to Lean Coffee and k-cards) first-time organizers of small conferences of any kind will learn a lot.

This short guide includes useful sections on:

  • defining the conference’s mission;
  • codes of conduct;
  • diversity;
  • dissemination; and
  • email templates and helpful checklists.

The text includes many links to more detailed explanations. As a result, the guide is a compact resource for anyone with little or no experience who wants to offer a great, well-run, conference.

So I strongly recommend this free guide to creating peer conferences. (Did I mention it’s free?)

Photo attributions: 2018 “QA or the Highway” software testing conference {top}. My old friend Fiona Charles (on right) at UKSTARConf 2019 {bottom}

27 years of peer conferences

27 years of peer conferencesGood things come in threes. Though I usually overlook anniversaries, I noticed one this morning. The first peer conference I convened and designed was held June 3 – 5, 1992 at Marlboro College, Vermont. So, as of today, the community of practice that eventually became edACCESS has enjoyed 27 years of peer conferences. [That’s 3 x 3 x 3. I told you good things come in threes.]

Twenty-three people came to the inaugural conference. At the time, I had no idea that what I instinctively put together for a gathering of people who barely knew each other would lead to:

  • a global design and facilitation consulting practice;
  • over 500 posts on this blog, which has now become, to the best of my knowledge, the most-visited website on meeting design and facilitation;
  • three books (almost!) on participant-driven, participation-rich meeting design; and
  • plentiful ongoing opportunities to fulfill my mission to facilitate connection between people.

However, none of this happened overnight. For many years, designing and facilitating meetings was a vocation rather than a profession, usually unpaid. Furthermore, it was an infrequent adjunct to my “real” jobs at the time: information technology consulting, and teaching computer science.

27 years of peer conferences. From little acorns, mighty oaks. I would never have predicted the path I’ve traveled — and continue to look forward to the journey yet to come. Above all, thank you everyone who has made it possible. I can’t adequately express the gratitude you are due.

Scenes from a peer conference—part 2

Since 2012, I’ve had the privilege of designing and facilitating the annual Vermont Vision for a Multicultural Future Peer Conference. It’s an honor to work on a classic Conferences That Work-style peer conference that’s turned out to be one of the most powerful tools for building inclusive, equitable, and sustainable communities in my home state. So I’m happy to share some scenes from this peer conference.

Experience a taste in this two-minute conference video, made by the staff at the Vermont Partnership for Fairness & Diversity. Watch carefully for my cameo appearances!

Watch scenes from a peer conference—part 1 here.

Being Schooled: Inside a Conference That Works

Inside a Conference That Works: photograph of edACCESS 2014 Three Questions session by Brent Seabrook PhotographyInside a Conference That Works

“Mad blogger” Sue Pelletier (formerly) of MeetingsNet wrote an excellent article on her experiences at the four-day Conferences That Work format edACCESS annual meeting I convened in June 2014.

Solution Room edACCESS 2014Sue, a veteran journalist, was there for the opening roundtable, peer session sign-up, The Solution Room, and even one of the 32 resulting peer sessions. Illustrated with great photos by Brent Seabrook Photography, Being Schooled: Inside a Conference That Works is one of the best descriptions I’ve read of the opening of a peer conference.

Recommended!

Photo attribution: Brent Seabrook Photography

 

Drive-by experts at your conference

experts conference: photograph of a "drive-by" fast food restaurant with customers' motorbikes parked inside. Photo attribution: Flickr user jannem

Want to discover the experts at your conference?

“It’s been clear from the beginning of the Web that it gives us access to experts on topics we never even thought of. As the Web has become more social, and as conversations have become scaled up, these crazy-smart experts are no longer nestling at home. They’re showing up like genies summoned by the incantation of particular words. We see this at Twitter, Reddit, and other sites with large populations and open-circle conversations. This is a great thing, especially if the conversational space is engineered to give prominence to the contributions of drive-by experts. We want to take advantage of the fact that if enough people are in a conversation, one of them will be an expert.
—David Weinberger, Globalization of local experience

This is exactly why the Conferences That Work format works so well. Peer conferences allow participants to discover the conference experts in (what was formerly known as) the “audience” they want to meet, connect with, and learn from. Instead of restricting teachers to the few folks at the front of the room, peer conferences allow us to tap the experience and expertise of anyone that’s present.
In other words, Conferences That Work extend the effectiveness of the online conversations that David describes above to face-to-face meetings.

Photo attribution: Flickr user jannem

Market your conference with an annotated schedule

market conference schedule: photograph of a young girl holding a paper sign that says "Lemonade 50¢ each". Photo attribution: Flickr user stevendepolo

Here’s a creative way to market your conference — with an annotated schedule!

Right after my last post on marketing a new peer conference, organizational and leadership development consultant Judy Warriner Walke suggested an additional way to help communicate what happens at a conference—an annotated schedule.

I like this idea! Walking potential attendees through the flow of the event helps to clarify and demystify conference process. (Especially if people haven’t attended an event format like Conferences That Work before.) Want to try to market your conference with an annotated schedule? Here’s an example of what you can do, written for the October 2013 1st Annual Vermont Leadership Network Conference.


Want to better understand what will be happening at the 1st Annual Vermont Leadership Network Conference? Here’s an annotated schedule!

[Note: Some details are omitted here! For more information, visit About Peer Conferences.]

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Registration will be open between noon and 2 p.m.

At 2 pm, after a brief welcome and an explanation of conference ground rules, we’ll start with The Three Questions. The Three Questions provides a structured, safe way for you to learn about other participants early in the conference. During The Three Questions, you’ll:

  • discover topics of interest to explore;
  • get a sense of the depth of interest in these topics; and
  • find out who has experience and expertise that you want to connect with and explore further.

We’ll include frequent breaks and refreshments during the roundtable, ending around 4:30 p.m.

After an hour break, we’ll hold peer session sign-up during dinner. In peer session sign-up we’ll visually document our wishes and suggestions for the upcoming conference sessions. Then, we’ll determine which of the suggested peer session topics are popular and schedule the chosen sessions into a conference program. This is a short process that will be held during the dinner and subsequent socializing, with a small group subsequently using the resulting information to create Friday’s program. The result will be a Friday conference schedule that optimally matches desired topics with the resources of the group.

Friday, October 18

We’ll have time for four sets of (usually) one-hour concurrent sessions on Friday, with breaks between each and lunch served between sessions 3 and 4.

What might these sessions look like? They are typically informal: often facilitated discussions, presentations, panels, workshops, walks, etc. As an example, five years ago the class  of ’08 used this conference format for a reunion—here are the topics that were chosen (8 sessions in concurrent pairs):

Fun and team camaraderie in the workplace • Fundraising • The political process – running for office • The systematic development of informed consent • Am I doing what I want to be doing? • Technology – social networking & other applications • Getting Things Done • Appreciative Inquiry

Closing sessions

At 2:40 pm we’ll end with two facilitated closing sessions, a personal introspective and a group spective.

The personal introspective will give you a structured opportunity to think about what you have experienced at the conference, how your experiences may impact your life in the future, and what changes you may want to make as a result. After reflection, you’ll then have an opportunity to share your answers in small groups.

After a break, a group spective will start at 3:50 pm. The group spective will provide facilitated time for participants as a group to evaluate the conference. We’ll also suggest and begin to develop future initiatives for Vermont Leadership and the Snelling Center. We’ll use a variety of techniques to do this.

The conference will end at 5 p.m. All are welcome to stay and socialize with their classmates and new friends at a reception hosted by the Snelling Center immediately following the conference.

As you can see, participation on Thursday will make a big difference to your conference experience and your influence on its form and content. Please attend the whole event if at all possible!

Outline of the conference schedule

To summarize, here’s the outline of the conference schedule for Thursday and Friday.

Thursday, October 17, 2013
12:00 PM – 02:00 PM Registration
02:00 PM – 02:10 PM Welcome
02:10 PM – 03:10 PM The Three Questions
03:10 PM – 03:30 PM Break
03:30 PM – 04:30 PM The Three Questions continued
05:30 PM – 07:00 PM Dinner and peer session sign-up
07:00 PM – Informal chat, socializing, music, etc.
Friday, October 18
08:30 AM – 08:40 AM Morning news
08:40 AM – 09:40 AM Peer session 1
09:40 AM – 09:50 AM Break
09:50 AM – 10:50 AM Peer session 2
10:50 AM – 11:05 AM Break
11:05 AM – 12:05 AM Peer session 3
12:15 PM – 01:30 PM Lunch
01:30 PM – 02:30 PM Peer session 4
02:30 PM – 02:40 PM Break
02:40 PM – 03:40 PM Personal introspective
03:40 PM – 03:50 PM Break
03:50 PM – 05:00 PM Group spective
05:00 PM – Optional: class reunions, etc.

Notice that I’ve added a regular schedule at the end of the annotation, so attendees can still easily see when all sessions take place.

I like this way of marketing your conference with an annotated schedule. Familiarizing people with something different in advance is a great way of reducing the common resistance to trying something new. Thanks for the suggestion, Judy!

Photo attribution: Flickr user stevendepolo

Published—free update of Conferences That Work: Creating Events That People Love!

free update Conferences That Work cover page

I’m happy to announce that a free 9,000-word update to my book Conferences That Work: Creating Events That People Love is available!

Many improvements and refinements are included—the outcome of four years of feedback and experience since the book was published in 2009. Highlights include a long-awaited chapter on extending Conferences That Work to larger events, and important additions that make the established format (now tried and true for over twenty years!) even better.

Here’s a list of the contents:

INTRODUCTION

  • CHAPTER 1 Why did I write this supplement?
  • CHAPTER 2 What’s included?
  • CHAPTER 3 Acknowledgements

GENERAL CHAPTERS

  • CHAPTER 4 Avoid one-day peer conferences
  • CHAPTER 5 Running Conferences That Work with more than 100 participants

IMPORTANT IMPROVEMENTS

  • CHAPTER 6 Give people permission and the opportunity to take a break!
  • CHAPTER 7 Break up roundtables approximately every twenty minutes
  • CHAPTER 8 Make peer session determination more efficient
  • CHAPTER 9 Improve personal introspectives by running them in small groups
  • CHAPTER 10 How to choose what to do at a group spective

OPTIONAL IMPROVEMENTS

  • CHAPTER 11 Include a first-timers session for repeat events
  • CHAPTER 12 Consider implementing a buddy system
  • CHAPTER 13 Use shared Google Docs for roundtable themes and plus/delta sharing
  • CHAPTER 14 Have people stand while speaking during the roundtable
  • CHAPTER 15 Use alternate colors when recording on flip charts
  • CHAPTER 16 Focused discussion = fishbowl — and an alternative format

ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES

  • CHAPTER 17 Consider using a conference app instead of a face book
  • CHAPTER 18 Consider running plus/delta with tape columns on the floor
  • CHAPTER 19 Use plus/delta as a tool for action
  • CHAPTER 20 Consider adding “Curious about?” column to plus/delta

MISCELLANEOUS TIPS

  • CHAPTER 21 Where to buy stiff 5 x 8 index cards
  • CHAPTER 22 A closing note about appreciations

The supplement, provided as a free ebook <pdf>, will be updated from time to time and the latest version will always be available for free on this website. Comments and corrections are always welcome.

Download this free update to Conferences That Work now!

Happy reading and best wishes!

-Adrian Segar-