The name itself may sound a touch Orwellian, but the concept of “unconference” is the opposite of authoritarian – it’s a democratic, if not utopian, forum for discussion with no keynotes, speakers or pre-planned sessions, where the agenda is driven by participants.
The concept of an open-space conference has been around for a while in the technology world, but it’s recently been embraced by the museum sector as an innovative way of facilitating conversations and sharing ideas. An unconference should:
While an unconference can take many forms, the basic premise is “organised chaos”: that is, the programme is made up on the day and the traditional divide between organiser and delegate is broken down. Anyone can be a speaker and anyone can pitch an idea for a session.
Unconference devotees say the format energises and engages participants by giving them an active role and a sense of ownership in the event, while the loose, informal structure opens people to spontaneous ideas and interaction.
The format has taken off in tandem with blogging and social media – which has itself blurred the lines between content provider and consumer – so unconference events have a savvy online presence and a tendency towards snappy, hashtag-friendly monikers.
MuseumCamp
First held in 2012, the MuseumCamp unconference is close to establishing itself as an annual gathering for the sector. At last year’s event in Birmingham, around 120 museum professionals attended, ranging from students and volunteers to managers.
The event was organised by independent consultant Mar Dixon and Linda Spurdle, the digital development manager at Birmingham Museums Trust; sponsors included Arts Council England and the Marches Network of museum development officers.
Sessions ranged in content from a debate on whether augmented reality is overrated, to advice on staging a takeover day, to “cool” ways of evaluating exhibitions for children and teenagers.
According to Dixon, the key reasons people attended were:
Museomix
Part of the thinking behind the unconference format is that it creates a fertile ground for innovation, giving people a non-judgmental space to test ideas.
Museomix is one such forum. First organised in France in 2011, it’s an event that brings the unconference ethos to exhibition design, enabling museums professionals, software developers, web coders and designers to collaborate on new museum innovations and test their prototypes out on members of the public, who are also invited to attend.
The event is now held simultaneously in a number of countries. The first Museomix UK event took place at Ironbridge Gorge Museums in Shropshire over three days last November.
Participants started off with a blank canvas: after pitching and whittling down ideas, they then divided into teams to create their prototypes. Each team had access to Ironbridge’s hi-tech Fabrication Laboratory (Fab Lab), which had a 3D-printer specially installed for the occasion.
Innovations included an interactive “ask the curator” app and a redesign of the water feature in Ironbridge’s Enginuity museum. Another Museomix get-together is planned for this month.
Essentials
A key unconference tenet is that events should be free or low cost in order to bring as wide a range of people together as possible. Decent refreshments are another must. (Last year’s MuseumCamp also marketed itself as #cakefest2013).
The unconference movement is already having an impact on the traditional conference format so it looks like it’s a trend that is here to stay.
“We created MuseumCamp in response to the conferences we attended: while all of them have brilliant benefits, the only time any real meaningful discussion happened was at the coffee break and lunch.
The unconference approach allows for conversations to happen throughout the event – gone are the keynote speakers who talk at the delegates.
The goal is to flush out thoughts and ideas that don’t fit in other conferences and meetings. If you are in a session and decide it’s not actually what you wanted, you’re allowed to leave.
Unconference is an incredible option for those that can’t always afford to attend a conference. The low cost allows students, volunteers, funders and senior management to come and discuss real topics that matter to them. That has to be a good thing.”
The concept of an open-space conference has been around for a while in the technology world, but it’s recently been embraced by the museum sector as an innovative way of facilitating conversations and sharing ideas. An unconference should:
- Build community.
- Unleash initiative.
- Help solve problems.
While an unconference can take many forms, the basic premise is “organised chaos”: that is, the programme is made up on the day and the traditional divide between organiser and delegate is broken down. Anyone can be a speaker and anyone can pitch an idea for a session.
Unconference devotees say the format energises and engages participants by giving them an active role and a sense of ownership in the event, while the loose, informal structure opens people to spontaneous ideas and interaction.
The format has taken off in tandem with blogging and social media – which has itself blurred the lines between content provider and consumer – so unconference events have a savvy online presence and a tendency towards snappy, hashtag-friendly monikers.
MuseumCamp
First held in 2012, the MuseumCamp unconference is close to establishing itself as an annual gathering for the sector. At last year’s event in Birmingham, around 120 museum professionals attended, ranging from students and volunteers to managers.
The event was organised by independent consultant Mar Dixon and Linda Spurdle, the digital development manager at Birmingham Museums Trust; sponsors included Arts Council England and the Marches Network of museum development officers.
Sessions ranged in content from a debate on whether augmented reality is overrated, to advice on staging a takeover day, to “cool” ways of evaluating exhibitions for children and teenagers.
According to Dixon, the key reasons people attended were:
- To gain knowledge.
- To network.
- To have a forum to ask questions that aren’t addressed at “normal” conferences.
Museomix
Part of the thinking behind the unconference format is that it creates a fertile ground for innovation, giving people a non-judgmental space to test ideas.
Museomix is one such forum. First organised in France in 2011, it’s an event that brings the unconference ethos to exhibition design, enabling museums professionals, software developers, web coders and designers to collaborate on new museum innovations and test their prototypes out on members of the public, who are also invited to attend.
The event is now held simultaneously in a number of countries. The first Museomix UK event took place at Ironbridge Gorge Museums in Shropshire over three days last November.
Participants started off with a blank canvas: after pitching and whittling down ideas, they then divided into teams to create their prototypes. Each team had access to Ironbridge’s hi-tech Fabrication Laboratory (Fab Lab), which had a 3D-printer specially installed for the occasion.
Innovations included an interactive “ask the curator” app and a redesign of the water feature in Ironbridge’s Enginuity museum. Another Museomix get-together is planned for this month.
Essentials
A key unconference tenet is that events should be free or low cost in order to bring as wide a range of people together as possible. Decent refreshments are another must. (Last year’s MuseumCamp also marketed itself as #cakefest2013).
The unconference movement is already having an impact on the traditional conference format so it looks like it’s a trend that is here to stay.
Mar Dixon, co-organiser, MuseumCamp and Museomix
“We created MuseumCamp in response to the conferences we attended: while all of them have brilliant benefits, the only time any real meaningful discussion happened was at the coffee break and lunch.
The unconference approach allows for conversations to happen throughout the event – gone are the keynote speakers who talk at the delegates.
The goal is to flush out thoughts and ideas that don’t fit in other conferences and meetings. If you are in a session and decide it’s not actually what you wanted, you’re allowed to leave.
Unconference is an incredible option for those that can’t always afford to attend a conference. The low cost allows students, volunteers, funders and senior management to come and discuss real topics that matter to them. That has to be a good thing.”
