Unconferencing the Unconference

Hmm, Le Web, Paris, is over. And boy, did it throw up a storm, which I've touched on and don't want to repeat here. There's plenty of commentary all over the web, even from Americans who went to a wedding instead (a wedding?). My view is not specifically that the organisers blew up their own conference, but that they never really tried to understand what a conference at this point in time should and could be - a 2.0 Conference maybe.
The organiser, Loic Le Meur proudly and repeatedly told us how many countries were represented (37?) and how quickly it was put together (ten weeks?). But he never really acknowledge that there was an audience who were more knowledgeable and more interesting and more excited than the rather tired conference speakers manged to be. And that was before he introduced the politicians.
You'll hear a lot of people at these events saying how it's really the neworking in the corridors that makes it worthwhile to attend. And that is certainly true, though probably only because the 'big name speakers on stage' format has got so tired.
What isn't acknowledged here is that the attendees (who pay for the privilege) generate the real content of the event. In other words, they should benefit from being content providers. I see a lot of startups that offer to share advertising revenue back with visitors and contributors to sites. But I've never seen a conference that does anything but take the attendees fees - and then sell those attendees to the Sponsors and pile their money on top of the fees.
How about a conference that foregrounds the attendees. That understands that they bring the content, the User Generated Content, and rewards them for this. How about some tools to put into the hands of conference attendees so they can really leverage their time and attention. How about sharing the sponsorship and advertising revenues with the attendees. How about charging the Press and letting Bloggers in for free? How about trying a bit harder:

Give all attendees a small stand to occupy for part of the event. I'm fed up with a bunch of pointless stands occupied by Orange/Nokia/Microsoft/SixApart/et al. I'd like to mix with a few hundred people who were standing by thier own mini-stands - maybe just a plinth or lectern - pitching for attention.
Give attendees the option of a sandwich board or a protest banner on a pole to carry around, setting out what they are there for and what they want out of it - or whatever.
Draw lots for speakers. Anyone attending can pitch to speak, even if it's to read Howl or  announce their startup. Speakers are drawn from a hat.
Give everyone a simple conference address (email, web, blog) and print it on their badge IN BIG LETTERS (at Le Web you couldn't even read the names on the tags). Let them put what they want on this page in a simple and quick manner. Then, when we pass someone in the hall or overhear their name in someone else's conversation, we can track them down.
Better still, give us some real time networking tools so we can sift and filter and suggest and follow and meet and greet and engage with eachother. Currently it's a bit like playing blind-mans-bluff. You know there are a lot of interesting people around and you hope to meet some of them, but you might as well put on a blindfold and grab people at random.
Make the WiFi work. Put the director of WiFi on stage in stocks and hand out buckets of rotten fruit. We'll soon voice our opinion. (Oh, and if the audience shouts that the WiFi is down, don't laugh at them. They are in pain and you know nothing).

This may sound like a recipe for chaos, but I guarantee that it would make an incredibly exciting conference.

Comments

[Jose A. del Moral]

You are right, but having the big names is also a key for success. The Conference was mainly 1.0, but a great 1.0 conference, though, with the exception of the political talk.

What I would change:
- A program committee
- World politicians, not local ones
- Less stars and more questions from attendees
- Fixed cables and no wi-fi, as always seems to fail (also in SF)
- More debates with Marc Canter. He animated the first day

[Stuart Bruce - BMA PR]

Great idea to give attendees a cut of the proceeds. Only problem is that for every conference that succeeds and makes money, there are others that don't and make a loss. Therefore the attendees would have to take a share of the risk as well. I can't imagine that working.

On your second idea there are lots of ways to make networking more effective - from the high tech to low tech. I've seen wireless PDAs that flash up a photo and details of people in your immediate proximity (at Yorkshire International Business summit last year - a Swiss company whose name I can't remember). A low tech idea is flags on tables at lunch/break to identify a topic/issue people can congregate around.

[Nicole Simon]

Totally agreed on this.

This is what barcamp as a concept does much better - it puts the people back together.

It is not so much about this unconferencing part - a good unconference needs organizing as well. It is just that the level shift is there and we should make use of it.