The Online Facilitation Unconference is a highly participant-driven event. Being an unconference, the eventual event agenda will be determined, for the most part, in the moment and by the people who show up.
But before we even get there, there are a number of planning and design decisions the team will need to make over the coming weeks that will determine to what degree the event will actually meet attendee needs.
To that end, we’ve been running a first quick survey for the past week or so seeking input from our subscribers and followers on social media to help us shape the event.
We’ve received about a couple dozen responses so far (which is pretty good, given our small list size) and have decided to keep the survey open for another week or two. As promised, below is a first look at the results.
Q1. Very briefly, what is your background and what brings you to the Online Facilitation Unconference 2017?
Here are just some of the job titles – gives a good idea of who’s showing interest at this early stage:
- Independent consultant & facilitator
- Consultant, trainer & facilitator
- Team and leadership development facilitator
- Organizational development practitioner & coach
- Coach & facilitator
- Facilitator & strategy consultant
- Project manager
- Facilitator & product manager
- Change agent
A number of respondents have experience with online facilitation, covering the whole range from beginner to expert. Almost all of them express a strong interest in learning. A small number don’t have a professional interest but rather encounter the need for online facilitation in their personal or civic lives.
Q2. What do you hope to get out of the event? Feel free to give specifics.
Some of the items that appear to be broadly shared:
- Latest best tools and methods for online interaction and ongoing group development
- Tips and recommendations on software, hardware
- Hands-on experience with online facilitation (i.e., feel how it works)
- New ideas and new techniques
- Share approaches
- International exchange
- Networking
- Learn how an online conference works
This is great confirmation of what we saw in previous years.
3. Our goal is to attract a diverse group of participants from a broad range of professional backgrounds. Is there any organization you can think of – consultancies, technology vendors, communities of practice, industry associations etc. – that would be good to have on board, whether as attendees, contributors, outreach partners, or sponsors? And, would you be in a position to make an introduction?
A number of individuals and organizations have been suggested so far, including:
- ICA in Canada
- American Library Association
- United Nations
Various communities of practice have also been mentioned, and we’ll start to make contact with all of them over the next few weeks.
Wow, this is exciting!
If you haven’t done so already, please take a couple minutes and complete the survey: OFU 2017 June Check-In
We’ll share another post with the updated response data once we’ve closed the survey for good.
Thanks!