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Open Space Technology flips traditional conferences upside down. Instead of a preset schedule, participants create the agenda during the event itself. Sounds chaotic? In practice, it works better than most planned conferences. Passion over obligation At a traditional conference, the audience sits and listens. Speakers talk about what they decided was important. Attendees pick sessions from a catalog. Often, people end up in lectures they are not interested in at all – because “that’s what the program says.” ...

If you’ve ever been to a traditional conference, you know the pattern: keynote speaker, panel discussion, Q&A, coffee break, repeat. The audience sits and listens. A few people ask questions. Everyone goes home with a swag bag and maybe one or two useful connections. An unconference flips this model entirely. The Open Space Concept The unconference format is based on Open Space Technology — a method for running meetings where the participants create and manage the agenda themselves. ...