---
tags: unconference
---

# How we do an unconference

## What is an unconference?

- Conference: pre-planned by an "elite" program committee
- Conference: large amount of preparation, often minimum threshold to contribute
- Unconference: provide tools for participants to drive the program more dynamically than usual.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference

## Why are we doing an unconference?

- Easier for us!
- More dynamic, especially for a small group.
- We want real ideas and discussions. Advance planning by a program committee doesn't match that too well because it biases towards planned events.
- This isn't a "pure" unconference
- We have some pre-scheduling
- But we will try to make it dynamic as well

## Preparation

- Attendees can suggest sessions or ideas or even *requests for sessions* in advance
- Attendees can vote on what they would like to see
- ... and help other attendees develop their sessions, or join up to co-present
- Organizers try to highlight a few sessions and produce an initial schedule.
- All session proposals are copied into the unconference HackMD before the event

## During the event

- Attend sessions and discuss
- When you get an idea for something else to discuss or present, propose it!
- Mention it where relevant: HackMD discussion of the current session
- In the main unconference HackMD, in the "Proposed sessions" section.
- Vote up sessions you would like to attend with "+1" in the HackMD right after the session proposal.
- Organizers will try to keep track of this and periodically announce upcoming events and breakout room assignments
- But you can also always follow the HackMD for the latest status.
- Or you can grab a breakout room at any time. HackMD can be used to try to attract people to it.

Think of this as "stick notes on a wall", which is used in in-person unconferences. A sticky note is a proposal, people add notes and occassionally they get arranged into sessions, like this: 
Image via Wikipedia:Unconference.

## For sessions
- Realize that there are a wide variety of people attending and try to spend some time making sure everyone has a chance to talk
- Keep good HackMD notes, since not everyone who is interested can attend each session. You might even get some contributors who are in another session but watching your HackMD.

## Notes

- In other unconferences, these sessions may be directly scheduled into slots.
- Here, proposals can be added at any moment but organizers try to keep things organized.
- We don't have a limit on number of breakout rooms (well, 50), but we want to have enough people at each session.
- Anarchy vs democracy vs authororitarianism
- Perhaps an ideal world is where everything comes from attendees
- But we think that we need some organizers benevolently guiding the program to make it work well, for example a few pre-planned sessions.
- Perhaps we need less of this once we become more comfortable with the format.

## To-do
- [ ] The schedule on the website says to look at HackMD for the latest assignments, etc.
- [ ] "check-in" sessions in main room added to schedule for use with summaries and announcing upcoming sessions.
- [ ] Main HackMD has sections for "Current schedule" and "Proposed sessions"
- [ ] Proposals transferred from issues into HackMD (linked to issues for ideas)
- [ ] Session chair knows what to do during the "check-in" sessions