Digital Delights

A conference is a highly organized event, generally tied to a specific trade or association, with a set agenda. Speakers are lined up in advance, programs are made available and both attendees and speakers have pretty well-established roles by which they participate. The organizers, beyond being an emcee, facilitate the overall operation of the event, clearing the way for everyone else to fulfill their roles. The trade or association that is associated with the event operates mostly independently from the event itself. There are exceptions and they’re easy to cite, but even in many of the exceptions, the model for organization and interaction is largely top-down.

An unconference has several flavors and variants, arguably the most common is the BarCamp model. These can be organized by anyone for anyone (or everyone). There’s a lot to cover on BarCamps but the gist is that someone (or some group) convenes the unconference, quickly lays out the ground rules and the agenda is set largely ad-hoc and the participants themselves set and run the sessions or topics organically. There is a lot of work that goes into facilitating the emergent nature of such a conference. Some unconferences recur on a regular basis as a community develops around them.