Making the Most Out of Unconferences
Posted December 6, 2010 in Lifestyle, Marketing
It’s my favorite time of year right now, not only are we in the middle of the holiday season, but we freelancers have another season to celebrate–unconference season!
If you’ve never heard of an unconference before, it basically entails Barcamp, Podcamp and WordCamp. Unconferences are informal get togethers where freelancers and web professional come together to network, attend informative 25-minute talks and come out with some neat swag.
Most cities offer these unconferences once a year and they’re the perfect place to get out there and meet your community. While I don’t go there expecting to get any work out of it, I find these are important events to attend–you never know when someone local will need your services. Plus, the cool swag and t-shirts are too awesome to pass up
So how can you make the most out of these unconferences and use them to your benefit?
Note–I recently attended WordCamp Louisville!
Business Cards
I never ever use business cards–except for unconferences. You’ll be meeting a ton of awesome people, from business owners to fellow freelancers and business cards are still the easiest way to keep track of those you meet after the event.
In order to make use of your business cards though, you need to make sure you actually use them. As you introduce yourself to a new person, hand them a card right away. This makes sure they remember who you are and allows them to take a note or two about you. However, make sure you don’t talk too much about yourself and NEVER “sell” your services to anyone at any unconference. There are hundreds of people who attend these just to find some work and they end up being the annoying guy no wants to talk to.
Similarly, make sure you get a card from everyone you meet as well. Make sure you follow up your talks after the event with a quick “was nice to meet you email”. I’ve actually been able to make some close relationships with local businesses and freelancers this way, and have been able to connect people as well as get some local work from it.
Attend the Speaking Events–Only If You’re a N00b
The main feature of the unconferences are the speaking events. There are normally several rooms dedicated for people who give around 25-minute talks on some kind of web-related subject. While some of these speakers are pretty awesome to listen to every time, more times than not, the talks center around pretty basic concepts that you probably already know about. Many of them are simply on social media and how to use it for your business.
The best part of an unconference isn’t in one of the speaking rooms–it’s in the halls or main hang out room. This is where all of the cool contests and networking goes on. This is where you’re likely to meet some colleagues or help someone out. Stay in the main rooms as much as possible.
Speak at the Unconference
I admit I’m too shy to do this myself, but if you’re braver than me, speaking at one of these events is the perfect way to get noticed. I know several of my colleagues who actually travel around the US speaking at different unconferences–and that makes them very well known and recognizable, which is a must for any successful freelancer.
What should you speak about? In my opinion, the best speakers are those that pick a niche topic, something that isn’t general and is unique. I love listening to Justin Davis‘s talks on user experience. This guy has to be an awesome speaker if he can keep someone like me from falling asleep. He interjects jokes, varies his pitch and uses other techniques to make his talks interesting. I suggest watching a few of his videos to get a feel for how to be a great speaker.
Sponsor If You Can
If you have the budget for it, sponsoring the unconference is another great way to get your name out. Depending on the event itself and your level of sponsorship, you can get your logo on the event’s t-shirts, on swag and on the several cards, banners and promotional materials around the event itself. It’s also a great way to support your local web community.
If you do decide to sponsor, I suggest you also add something neat to the swag bags to give away. Emma in Nashville always has the coolest swag, including their famous Emma face moustache pins. The cooler the swag, the more of a chance you have that the attendees will both use your swag and check out your company.
For example, CarlSays sent a giant green octopus to our Barcamp last year–he was so awesome I decided to check out and sign up for their service. Make sure you do something funny and memorable.
Your Thoughts
Do you attend unconferences? How do you make sure you get the most out of them?
Image by Lisa Brewster
Related posts:
- Getting The Word Out – Making Word Of Mouth Happen
- Making The Most Of Your Website
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- Making Your Code as Beautiful as the Design Itself
About the author: Amber is a freelancer with over 10 years of experience and specializes in clean, semantic and valid HTML5, CSS3 and Wordpress development. She also writes a web development blog at www.amberweinberg.com and just launched a web app for developers at www.codesnipp.it.
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29 Comments
Chris
December 6th, 2010 at 9:09 amI’ve never been to a unconference but I will have to keep my eye open for some near me. I have been to some different chamber of commerce events where they bring in “social media experts” to talk. We provide SMM services already, but I just go for the networking opportunity. The last time I went I found myself sitting in a group of people in the back of the room that we really interested in doing SM but were very, very confused. They asked me if I understood what was going on, I said yes and that we offer these types of services, plus more…handed them a card, and said if they had any questions or would like to set up a meeting then to give me a call. I did this with a few people around me and it has worked out well so far. I also talked to a few of the people that put it on to speak at the next one.
I think business cards are very important for companies/freelancers. You never know when you will run into someone that could turn into a potential client. You should always have at least 10 cards on you at any point in time. I have a metal business card holder and I make it a habit to grab it when I head out the door – similar to grabbing you keys, wallet, and cell phone.
Besides conferences/speaker sessions, you should also look out for local meetups or business networking groups. These are also great places to pick up some additional work or show what you can do.
Richard Arblaster
December 6th, 2010 at 9:56 amI’m not sure whether they have these events in the UK. I’ll have to do some digging.
Amber Weinberg
December 6th, 2010 at 10:32 am@Richard I believe they do. If not, the UK has a ton of awesome events, normally through by Carsonified.
Otto
December 6th, 2010 at 12:24 pmI’ve been to three WordCamp’s and a BarCamp now. Probably will have to come up with a presentation or two for the next WordCamp I go to. :)
Srinivas Rao
December 6th, 2010 at 1:12 pmAmber,
Thanks so much for this post. I’m working on planning an unconference in LA so this kind of information is exactly what I’m looking for.
WBS
December 6th, 2010 at 1:14 pmWhat a great idea! I like that they stress the social aspect of attending events and ask everyone to participate. That is the best part of attending a traditional conference, but unfortunately it’s not always easy to do when your racing from panel to panel trying to get your money’s worth…
Nirav Mehta
December 6th, 2010 at 1:27 pmI’ve attended (and spoken at) a variety of events. Business cards is surely one thing, and like Amber mentioned talks at unconferences are typically basic (do attend the business talks if you are a developer though!). Meeting and talking to people should be the biggest action item on your list.
We are building a deck of cards to help people make the most of conferences! The content and the app are still in the making, but you may want to checkout http://www.clustercards.com/app/ (via Chrome / Safari. Firefox won’t work) for some quick tips!
Cheers!
Holli
December 6th, 2010 at 3:37 pmI went to my first unconference this summer at WordCamp Birmingham. I learned some things because I was a N00b at WordPress and connected with some really interesting people in my area – for not much expense at all. It hasn’t resulted in any work yet, but I stay in contact with many of the people I met through Twitter, and you never know where something might lead! They’re fun, and I think they open up a lot of possibilities.
Stephanie
December 6th, 2010 at 8:51 pmHere in the Philippines we only have two unconferences being advertised on the web: one hosted by DigitalFilipino Club and our own WordCamp Philippines. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend any due to time constraints and the expensive prices that we have to pay to register and attend. Seats are limited as well so it’s a tough competition for those who would like to attend.
But despite the limitations, I’m making it a goal to attend at least one unconference by 2011. :)
Kelsey
December 6th, 2010 at 10:24 pmI went to a Podcamp a few weeks ago and it was really helpful. I met some colleagues. The only thing I would do differently would be to wear a t-shirt with my blog’s logo on it. ;)
Sal
December 6th, 2010 at 10:55 pmAmber,
Do you have any links to go about tracking down unconferences in your (well, my) area? How do you suggest I go about searching for different ones around me? When I search for unconference, I get a lot of U.N. conference listings that apparently, at one point in time or another, happened in my city – not quite what I am looking for ;)
Thanks.
angelee
December 7th, 2010 at 3:55 amGreat read!
@Amber, are Meet-Ups consider as part of the unconference as well?
hey @Stephanie, we could’ve met when Matt dropped by months ago.. haha..
Amber Weinberg
December 7th, 2010 at 8:58 am@angelee meetups are smaller get togethers, but the same rules can apply :)
Danielle
December 7th, 2010 at 2:44 pmI will have to research some of these…I would LOVE to attend one, and eventually speak!
Vivek Parmar
December 8th, 2010 at 12:37 pmonly get a chance to attend blogger’s meet and got something from there. looking for big meet-ups like barcamp or something new and big as compared to bloggers meet
Gregg Masters
February 17th, 2011 at 10:42 pmSpeaking of Barcamp, Podcamp and Wordcamp, add HealthCamp.
HealthCamp San Diego will be held March 20th, 2011 at the Rady School of Management on the campus of UC San Diego. We are part of the Health 2.0 Spring Fling. Consider joining us, better yet consider leading a session.
After all some day, we’ll all be patients! Lets level the playing field.
http://healthcampsandiego,org
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