Writing about Universalist Christianity and improving how churches work
I’ll probably be very tired at GA this year; I have been each year I’ve been. But I intend to attend it differently this year. I have helped plan, worked and attended Sunlight Foundation’s hybrid-unconference TransparencyCamp for several years, and have attended at least one other unconference, not to mention a bunch of meetings built …
Continue reading “Make your own unconference within General Assembly”
Another reason why an unconference like a BarCamp is a good value for its participants: “We figured there was much more expertise in the audience than there possibly could be onstage,” says BarCamp co-founder Ryan King. Unconferences break the barrier between the two. Attendees write topics they’re interested in on boards, consolidate the topics, and …
Continue reading “Must we conference if we can unconference?”
MAKE Magazine‘s blog has a great picture (and links to more) of the first Ignite Boston. (I love the laptop used as a countdown clock. ) This is what happened there. Imagine! “[W]all-to-wall FOOs, alpha geeks, and techies from the greater Boston area.” (I think foo in this setting means high-level discussion, action or both, …
Continue reading “A glimpse at what a UU Unconference might look like”
So, I was talking with some friends about what I to see in a Christian church conference, and opined, I’d like to see it coffee morning prayer and communion with sermon a good lecture [with a home-grown lecturer] a (re-)introduction to unconference meetings (people will need to be prep-ed ahead of time) one workshop session …
My day job (Sunlight Foundation) colleague, Jeremy Carbaugh, has written a thrilling blog post about the technology Sunlight uses to run our annual big event/unconference, TransparencyCamp, a.k.a. TCamp. Along with masterful planning and execution, engaged group process and careful attention to design, TCamp is a sight to behold. I’m quite proud of it, and wanted …
Another happy bragging point about my workplace, the Sunlight Foundation. (And thanks to you who have spoken to me privately about it.) Sunlight has a guide for Transparency Camp, our annual meeting (convocation? unconference?) that has many transferable lessons for those organizing a conference. And while you’re at it, why not try out Sunlight’s SuperPAC …
Continue reading “A guide for conference organizing (government transparency or otherwise)”
I mentioned the concept of the Esperanto weekend before. Think low-cost, lightly pre-programmed meetings with a focus on fellowship. Perhaps the container for an unconference. Two more thoughts. 1. The next Esperanto weekend will be in Richmond, Virginia. (details in English and Esperanto). Here is a how-to, if you read Esperanto. 2. Buses. Megabus, the …
Please excuse the bloggy silence this weekend — and the bragging to follow. My employer, the Sunlight Foundation, hosted this weekend TransparencyCamp 2011, organized on the highly participatory “unconference” or “camp” model. And it came off very well, if I do say so. I’m very proud of my colleagues and incredibly inspired by the work the participants are doing to …
Continue reading “Camp model not magic, but can make a very good meeting”
I was very hopeful and encouraged that last year’s Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly (UUA GA) tried a version of an Unconference process within the main program, but was worried that its peculiar adaptations and schedule conflicts — plus its novelty to seasoned GA participants — would doom it. Reviews from people on the ground …
Continue reading “GA 2008: The re-found Open Space opportunity re-lost”
How good does it get? The BarCamp/Unconference mode of learning and teaching and the economic cooperative benefits of credit unions and alternative banking together. That’s the upshot of BarCampBankSeattle that met over the summer. Some interesting features for those thinking of organizing an unconference: Judging by the list of those who said they were there, …