What to expect from The Unconference at DataJam North East
DataJam NorthEast will take place on September 17 and 18.
Our post — What actually is DataJam North East? gives an overview where we talk about how the different aspects of the event will fit together. This post is about The Unconference which may be a new concept for some but hopefully one you will quickly come to love!
What is the focus of the Unconference?
The Unconference enables participants to set their own agenda for the event. Following the chance to hear a little at the start of the day about the aims of the event and a thought-provoking keynote on the importance of data, people will get the chance to pitch their own ideas about what they would like to talk about. Here is a video created before the first One Team Government event that explains a little about unconferences.
We think this approach is important because it enables everyone at the event to choose to discuss the topics that matter most to them. The free flowing nature of the discussions also support more involvement from all in the sessions — no sitting back to hear someone present!
How will pitching work?
Following the keynotes on both days participants will get the chance to pitch their ideas about what they would like to talk about. Before we do this we will explain a little more about what a pitch is and how you can do it.
People will have 30 seconds to talk through their big idea, the thing they want to talk about or discuss. We will be using an audience interaction tool — slido — which we hope this will make things run more smoothly and limit some of the fear factor. We will also be splitting the pitching across both days which will mean by day two everyone will be a veteran of unconferences and ready to jump straight in or for those who aren’t just speak to any volunteer and we can arrange the pitch for you.
Once everyone has had the chance to pitch we will create a session grid which will help participants decide which sessions they want to attend. The Unconference sessions will be spread across a number of different rooms/spaces, each with different capacities. Pitching will help us to decide which session should go where and the grid with titles and locations will be available for reference throughout the day and shared on a URL.
If we want to pitch, do we need to prepare?
Not at all! There is no need to prepare to pitch a session — you can pitch an idea you’ve just had or you can use it as a chance to get a wider perspective on something you’ve been thinking about for a while or a tricky issue you are tackling. In fact more formal presentations can be tricky to make interactive and limit the discussion.
If your pitch turns into a session all we ask is that you go to that session and start off the conversation. This could be by posing a first question, sharing information or providing brief background. This will be followed by an interactive discussion and there will be a facilitator in each session to support all this on the day asking the pitcher to kick off the discussion and supporting this throughout.
How will the sessions run?
We will make sure that each session is well facilitated. There is no right or wrong way for the session to run but we expect most will follow the same broad format. A facilitator will get things going asking those who pitched to briefly chat about their pitch — maybe by posing a first question, sharing information or providing brief background. This will be followed by an interactive discussion.
The quality of the conversation is the important part so even if only a few people turn up to a session, they are the ones who share the interest and can help the discussion lead to some action.
Each unconference session will be 45 minutes but there is no pressure to fill the time. If the group has finished interacting–then the session can end. Equally if a group conversation gets going, and your discussion needs to continue — find a way to make this happen. We have two days so if you can’t find another space you can always pitch this on day 2.
What will the outputs be?
We know problem solving can be hard and some of the Unconference discussions will be about BIG challenges. We believe small consistent microactions taking little time, effort or resources can help make macro changes, particularly when it comes to collaboration.
In order for DataJam North East to be the start of more collaborative sharing of data, the start of a new way of integrating data and design and the start of a new wave of collaboration across the North East we all need to take responsibility for our microactions.
Getting a head start…
There will be at least 24 unconference sessions, maybe more, so get your thinking caps on: what is it that you want to talk about?
If you have any ideas in advance please share them and where we can we will try and connect people ahead of time to join up or collaborate on pitches. You can share these by commenting here, tweeting with #DataJamNE hashtag, or contacting us at datajamnortheast@gmail.com.
