Unconferences – Why you should attend

image courtesy of Hugh McLeod @gapingvoidart

Conferences.
Can be expensive.
You sign up to a timetable. You go and listen to a “sage on the stage” – sometimes a brilliant one – and you take notes, nod… frown a bit that their version of a story sounds a bit easy, but if you are anything like me, you are generally appreciative of time to think and being offered a new perspective.
You won’t talk much during the sessions.

Exhibition time & coffee…. Next Session…. More listening….Lunch & exhibition time….Next session: Workshop – you do stuff and talk through stuff, it’s more invigorating than listening… Break…. Next session, more listening….Closing Keynote. More listening….

You are kind of mostly on receive mode.

Learning more about L&D Connect – 20th Feb, Edinburgh

Bringing the L&D Connect Unconference North is an experiment.

Last January, I went to an L&D Connect Event in London. It was organised by a group of Practitioners, Freelancers and Consultants who wanted to create somewhere for Learning and Development or Organisational Development Professionals to have the time and space to discuss the issues that matter most to them and their organisations. Sukh Pabial (@sukhpabial) describes the aims and intentions perfectly here.

I was invited by David Goddin (@ChangeContinuum)  part of the organising team and whose judgement I trust wholeheartedly. So I was curious.