Case Story: FringeEvent

Summary	Successfully organising an event within and event.
Group / workshop	Planet team	Status	seed
Project details...

Situation

What was the setting in which this case study occurred?

ALT-C conference 2008. This is an annual conference targeted at largely UK based researchers and staff working in the area of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL). It attracts over 600 participants for 3 days of presentations, workshops, demonstrations and symposia.

Task

What was the problem to be solved, or the intended effect?

To run a fringe event that used the gaps and spaces in the programme to address, in a non-formal way, key issues in TEL. The idea was to break the standard formal conference style and provide a channel for conference participants to attack 'real' issues of concern and the latest topics using an argumentative discussion approach. In other words to use unconferencing guerilla tactics to undercut the staid 'show and tell' and 'stand and deliver' standard conference format.

Actions

What was done to fulfil the task?

A core community of those interested in coming together and driving the 'unconference within a conference' were drawn together using two key social tools - Twitter and a Wetpaint wiki. Both of these were used to co-operatively plan and organise a programme of discussion topics and venue locations and keep the core community informed of where and when the 'events' were happening.

Results

What happened? Was is a success? What contributed to the outcomes?

The F-ALT event ran throughout the conference with varying levels of success. The pre-organisation went smoothly and a programme of activities were scheduled in advance. There was some resistance from the ALT-C conference organisers who were wary of the F-ALT group disrupting the planning and running of the main event. The actual sessions were convened rapidly using a mixture of Twitter, paper-based fly-posting and word of mouth to get interested participants to gather at the appropriate times and locations. The main problems experienced were in the locations. With rapid planning occurring it was not always possible to choose suitable spaces with good acoustics. The keys to success were therefore: location, numbers (no more than 30 people for each session), topic, and format of the session.

Lessons Learned

What did you learn from the experience?

Using a social space in advance of the event is key - for both organisation and generating interest.

This type of enactment - standing up in what amounted to public spaces and holding debates was very much like holding ad hoc performance theatre and when thought of in this way have some resonance with "Pattern 123 - Illegitimate Theatre" from the Liberating Voice pattern language. See http://www.publicsphereproject.org/patterns/print-pattern.php?begin=123

Licensing

This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.