un-conference

The un-conference was an ok idea and worked, all things considered. It was probably as useful and interesting as your original talk for your audience. You will have learned way more!

Yes, it was a bit half-baked but hey, that's why we were there - to learn stuff.

CBB - could be better.

• the theater seating didn't help - sets audience expectations
• formal presentation with powerpoint before launching into the less structured part - required big shift in audience thinking / participation
• informal chatting with attendees as they came in was good - could segue into un-conference
• pulling up the appropriate slide for the discussion was really good - need to use the outline list to get to slides randomly - less distracting searching would have made that part stronger.
• strong summary / wrap-up - answer question "what did I learn in this session?"

Attendees really liked sessions where there were strategies and examples. Some of this came out in the un-conference portion, perhaps better than it would have in the original formal presentation.

All things considered, it was a pretty good experience IMHO.