Yes, I said it. Let’s move past the UnConference, the UnSession, and move from Un to “In” – Intentional that is. We have been hosting symposia, salons, festivals, events and conferences for thousands of years, and it is only in the last decade we invented the Un, as a response to ‘boring’ conferences. I am here to say LOUDLY, that if we use the principles of intentional event design to create people-centric, purpose-driven events, we can move the Un back to its rightful place – the original idea of this being to develop an agenda once on-site with a group of people in a similar job role or area of expertise to provide the most up-to-date information as provided by the people who had gathered to share information. (ie. Adrian Segar’s work with physicists). It was still a conference, it just didn’t have the agenda set three to nine months ahead of time.
If you want to plan a meeting that brings in this idea – small group size, setting the agenda or a portion of it on-site, please go ahead. It has its place and has success for many similar groups by allowing the collective genius available to be shared with interested participants. But, please stop marketing “Un” as an alternative to a conference – just start making your conferences and events more intentional. Consider deeply your objectives, your audience and stakeholder needs, the technology you will embrace, the learning methodology you will use, the flow of the program and space you have available, the seating design, the personalization you will bring in, and how you will incorporate wellness into your overall design, and how you will use your creativity to bring this all to life, creating shareable memories. Does that sound like a lot – it is – but it is also what we strive to do every day as event professionals. So move over Un – we are bringing back the IN and showing the value event professionals bring every time!