7 Lessons We Learned After Hosting Our First Unconference for The Community Community
Guest Post from Amanda Petersen, Jocelyn Hsu, Nikki Thibodeau
“What do y’all think about hosting an unconference after CMX this year?” With a simple question, Nikki Thibodeau kicked off what became The Community Community’s first in-person event hosted exactly one month ago in San Mateo, California.
So, how did we go from this nugget of an idea and general excitement from community members to an actual event with attendees? We started planning. A core group of us — Nikki Thibodeau, Jocelyn Hsu, and Amanda Petersen — met async and started discussing what success would look like. We knew it was needed, we committed to funding it ourselves, and we got to work.
Why an unconference?
As seasoned community pros, we go to sessions, we participate in workshops, we attend conferences, and we watch webinars. Many of them miss the mark.
Jocelyn pointed out, “I remember last year, during CMX Summit, there were a lot of conversations about how the content wasn’t particularly relevant for senior community professionals who already knew the basic principles. There was a desire to talk more deeply about challenges we were facing in specific situations.”
This isn’t just a CMX issue. The more experienced you are, the harder it is to find education and events that fit your ongoing needs.
That’s where unconferences — a participant-driven event that gives attendees the ability to tailor content to their needs — come in. By choosing this format, instead of a typical conference, it gave our community members — senior community professionals — the ability to drive the discussions. It also gave us the opportunity to focus the event on our mission to gather The Community Community members and have authentic conversations we cannot have anywhere else.
1. Trust the format
What do you mean people just show up and create the agenda? What do you do if no one has anything to talk about? What if people don’t want to facilitate sessions?
The hardest thing for our team to do was to trust that we had set the stage for our members to take control and shape the event the way they wanted it to be and to believe that it wouldn’t fail.
Nikki noted that this part was especially hard for her, “but it created space for others to shine. It’s part of what makes unconferences magical.” There were moments when we repeated the unconference guidelines to each other to remind ourselves everything would be okay. Amanda pasted them into our collaborative documentation.
Our 4 guidelines were:
Whenever it starts it is meant to start.
Whoever comes is meant to be there.
Whatever is spoken about is what was supposed to be spoken about.
It ends when it ends.
We also had the rule of 2 feet, 4 wheels, 2 feet + mobility devices, which means that if you aren’t vibing with a topic or getting value from a discussion, head somewhere else.
“A lot of the time, your attendees can help each other through problems, by giving them permission to “get value” through the law of 2 feet/4 wheels/mobility devices is magical. If you’re not getting or giving value - move to another space.” — Nikki
Jocelyn added, “Even if you aren’t planning an unconference, give control and choice to your members and let them help you craft your event. It’ll go so much better, and it’ll be more valuable since they told you what they want to see and do.”
The value that your members/attendees get when they get to create the schedule based on their current needs will surmount any pre-planned ideas.
2. Focus on the people
Because the Unconference format is participant-driven, the key part is the people coming to the event. For the first TCC event, we didn’t know who would come from where, but we knew if people started to see who was coming, we would get more participation.
We made a choice early on to set up an unconference channel where people who were signing up could come and post questions, thoughts, and vibes. This not only gave us a place to share announcements, but it also allowed everyone to start connecting with who is coming,
It’s almost like we replaced focusing on the talks with focusing on people.
“Keep in mind who you invite, why you are inviting them, and how you are inviting them. Unconferences work because of the people who are there.” — Amanda
We were surprised by how many people registered and attended! 28 people came — the perfect size for our first event. Some people came from Europe and Australia!
3. Be thoughtful about when & where to host it
We decided to host the unconference the week of CMX Summit because many TCC members were traveling to California for it and we wanted to take advantage of that.
Nikki shared, “TCC is a very distributed community, and knowing that there would be a density of our members in California for CMX, I wanted to utilize this as a moment to bring us together in a meaningful way.”
Plus, people didn’t have as hard of a time justifying the expense since they were already traveling for a better-known event. Local members could attend as well, even if they weren’t going to CMX. This worked out well since we have a cluster of senior community professionals in the Bay Area.
That said, it was a choice. “Pairing it up with CMX allowed for a geographically diverse audience, but it was a busy long week,” Amanda added. Folks were tired from attending the conference and all the satellite events.
Select the time and place of your event carefully. There were definite advantages to hosting our first in-person event after a well-known community conference, but there were disadvantages as well.
In the future, we’d consider hosting it before CMX Summit, if we still want to take advantage of this travel time, or at a different time and place altogether! We also want to get invites out earlier, so people can plan for travel in advance.
4. Set the stage, don’t run the show
Going in we knew that we wanted to make sure we prioritized accessibility both in terms of the physical space and the food we offer but also making good fiscal decisions.
We found an apartment clubhouse for rent on Peerspace. It was a little bit tricky because we weren’t able to view the site before the event, so we chose based on information from the host and pictures.
Day of, we worked as a team to ensure the meals and conversation timings kept the day going. It was a lot of work that happened while people were in discussions.
Before the event started, a lot of people arrived early and helped us set up. As Jocelyn noticed, “The community was community-ing before the event even started!” Next time, tapping day of volunteers to help with set up, check-in, meals and snacks, will help the event feel even more community driven.
The other note on accessibility is the space was incredibly loud, which for some of our members made the day a bit inaccessible. Next time, we’ll add a question around noise to our event requirements.
5. Ask for support
We came into the Unconference planning expecting to pay for the event ourselves. As we were doing the organization work, we asked ourselves, “Should we ask for sponsors?”
We knew we wanted to keep the first event focused on our attendees and didn’t want to give out their information to sponsors. We also didn’t want sponsors to attend the event since it was a more intimate setting.
With this in mind, it was especially important for us to articulate why this unconference was important and what value it’d bring to the profession. It also meant that our sponsors were aligned with our vision and values.
We were pleasantly surprised when folks agreed (and were excited to) sponsor the unconference. This gave us more freedom to create a great experience for our attendees, and not just provide the basics but also think about different needs and thoughtful touches. For example, we had snacks and drinks throughout the day, instead of just lunch, and had pipe cleaners for folks to fiddle and play with while discussing.
We did have a slight miscommunication with one of the sponsors so going forward we’ll work on sharing more clear expectations and communications and partnering with our sponsors to make sure their needs are met as well.
We’re extremely appreciative of our sponsors, Gradual and Common Room, for believing in us and The Community Community. Thank you!
6. Stay focused on the purpose
As we worked on the event and the format, we ran into choices that could change the direction of the event we were planning. For example, as we were looking at spaces to hold the event, we noted quite a few hotels with 1 big conference room that could host us. We opted for a clubhouse with fun art and multiple gathering spaces because it was better suited for an unconference and for the culture of our community.
It’s easy when doing something different to accidentally replicate tried and true methods of organization and structure. So, each choice must get filtered through the purpose of the unconference: Member-driven conversations that can’t happen anywhere else.
At one point, we had multiple conversations around if the hosts should facilitate the sessions or if members who raised the chosen topics should host them. Amanda shared her experience with facilitation at previous unconferences, Jocelyn and Nikki shared their thoughts and questions, and we worked together to ensure that we kept the spirit of unconference. We decided to empower the group to facilitate and supply backup facilitation as necessary.
7. Embrace the unexpected and learn on the fly
The three of us showed up to a space we had never been, to do something we had never done together, for a group of people we like and admire. The unconference ran smoothly, and we were all pleasantly surprised by the depth and richness of conversation.
We talked about data and community, job hunting, program management, diversity, equity, and inclusion in our industry, and so much more. Topics we were a little worried would dominate the space didn’t take up as much room.
At the end of the day, we built in something called “Get What You Need Time.” People co-worked, collaborated on projects, paired up for intimate conversations, and headed to the airport.
But what really surprised Nikki and Jocelyn is that 10 people — after a 2-day conference and another full day of conversation — wanted to talk about the future of The Community Community.
Nikki reflected, “The talk we had about the future of TCC left the biggest lasting impression on me. I started TCC to help Senior Community Professionals grow together. However, the reality is that our members see TCC as more than that. That’s the baseline, not the stretch goal.”
“I was surprised by some of the things that TCC members said they envisioned for TCC. It was a lot bigger and bolder than I ever imagined or considered, and that’s really inspiring. I carry that with me whenever Nikki & I talk about TCC or plan for the future. Thank you all for that energy!” — Jocelyn
We honestly didn’t want to force everyone to have a discussion about our goals as a community, but by giving the space, we learned that the community wants to drive.
An unconference gives power to the people
What started as an idea, bloomed into a thing that our community made beautiful and impactful. If you’re considering an unconference for your next event, go in knowing it takes work to plan and make sure it’s thoughtfully designed for your members, but it’s so worth it!
There is such a need for these types of events and building the structure so it’s volunteer-led and member-driven is so exciting. What can we do and build as community pros and how do we make it last? These are exciting questions that we’re looking to tackle.
We, and the rest of the community members, are looking forward to our next in-person event. It just might be another member-driven one.
~Amanda, Jocelyn, Nikki
Are you a senior community professional looking for a space to grow and learn with other senior community professionals? Apply for The Community Community here! We review applications on a quarterly basis and the next cohort will be onboarded in January 2024.
Thank you Amanda, Jocelyn & Nikki!! Such valuable info here…AND it’s the first-ever guest post on All-Things-Community!
So grateful to be a part of this, and thank you for the behind-the-scenes summary, too! I loved this highlight: "The value that your members/attendees get when they get to create the schedule based on their current needs will surmount any pre-planned ideas. "