unconference

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ conference.

Noun

unconference (plural unconferences)

1. (informal) A conference that attempts to avoid the traditional drawbacks of conferences, such as high entry fees, excessive formality, and bias due to sponsors.
   • 1973, Texas A&M University Dept of English, CEA Critic:

     Think of the Kalamazoo unconference, assuming that the official videotape tells it like it was.

   • 2008, Shel Holtz, John C Havens, Lynne D Johnson, Tactical Transparency:

     As a marketer, the unconference tells me more about what's hot in the marketplace than any other tool I have.

   • 2008 October 20, Kim Hart, “Twittering Types Share Ideas Offline”, in The Washington Post‎^[1], →ISSN:

     But the fact that there were predetermined sessions went against the whole "unconference" idea, a few attendees said. For them, it was still too much structure.

   • 2011, Marjorie J. Porter, Sigrid E. Kelsey, editors, Best Practices for Corporate Libraries, Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 101:

     Unconferences differ from conferences in the way they are organized and the way in which participation takes place. In a traditional conference, there are typically hundreds of attendees. Unconferences, however, have participants who also contribute to the unconference by initiating a discussion, sharing their own experiences, debating, and so on.

See also

• unmeeting