An unconference is a participant-driven meeting, structured and led by the people attending it. Instead of passive listening, attendees and organizers are encouraged to present or facilitate a session or otherwise contribute to the event, becoming active participants.
At an unconference, no topics are predetermined, no keynote speakers are invited, and no panels are arranged, and anyone who wants to initiate a discussion on a topic can claim a time and a space. Unconferences typically feature open discussions rather than having a single speaker at the front of the room giving a talk.
The term has been applied to a wide range of gatherings that try to avoid one or more aspects of a conventional conference, such as fees, sponsored presentations and top-down organization.
One popular format of unconferences is the BarCamp, a user-generated conference primarily focused around technology and the web. BarCamps are open, participatory workshop-events, the content of which is provided by participants.
Since the first BarCamp in California in 2005, thousands have been held around the world and adapted for specific industries like banking, education, real estate and social media.
As unconferences are getting more and popular, here are some of the most notable user-generated events taking place in the coming months in Asia in cool not ordinary places such as Goa or Bali. A perfect opportunity to combine this with some holidays!
Fintech BarCamp @ Langkawi
August 9-10, 2018
Holiday Villa Beach Resort and Spa, Pantai Tengah, Malaysia
Fintech Barcamp @ Langkawi is a two-day event focused on fintech taking place in Malaysia on August 9 and 10. The event aims to be fun and engaging, and will feature several unconference and networking sessions, as well as activities.
All attendees are expected to be leading a session or actively engaging during the session. Sessions will be handpicked and selected by the participants. Fintech BarCamp @ Langkawi will be a casual event, so don’t bother bringing a suit and tie.
Until Friday you can even win free tickets including hotel and flight coverage.
BarCamp Cambodia – Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh and Battambang
September, October and November 2018
Venues to be confirmed
BarCamp Cambodia is an international, innovative, and open technology two-day event held multiple times a year across Cambodia. The BarCamp events bring together individuals, businesses, students, young startups and professionals to share, learn, exchange ideas, and connect with one another.
Key highlights and activities of BarCamp Cambodia include keynotes by high profile speakers on the state of technology development in Cambodia and around the world, workshops and presentations, panel discussions, tech talks, a startup exhibition and job fair, and a business idea pitch session.
Upcoming BarCamp Cambodia events will take place in September in Sihanoukville, followed by Phnom Penh in October and Battambang in November.
Awaken – Further East 2018
November 12, 2018
Potato Head Beach Club, Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia
Awaken, the unconference of Further East 2018, is an event focused on luxury travel industry. Awaken promises to bring together Asia’s most innovative luxury travel disruptors and up to 210 luxury travel buyers, 15 influential media, as well as 200 of Asia’s most innovative and iconic travel suppliers.
Coworking Unconference Asia (CUAsia) 2019
February 23, 2019
Goa, India
The Coworking Unconference Asia (CU Asia), organized by Hubud (The Coworking Hub in Ubud, Bali), is the biggest and most important coworking event in Asia Pacific.
The 5-day long conference, which will take place from February 20 to 24, 2018 in Goa, India, is set to bring together the region’s best operators, investors, tech folks, workplace futurists, researchers and members, to have suspiciously important conversations. Attendees will have the opportunity to share experiences and explore the ways in which they can live, work and learn differently in the new collaborative economy.
The event is aimed at people who are passionate about community, the coworking movement, and the co-creative economy. It intends to facilitate meaningful human connections across various fields and industries and get to know the people that lead them.
AgilityToday
February 23-24, 2019
Delhi-NCR, India
AgilityToday is a two-day unconference, focused on Delhi-NCR’s agility needs, that have gathered over the past 3 years via meetups, conferences and webinars.
This unconference aims to offer attendees a platform where they can design their own program to get the best of agile psyche (mindset culture and practice) and geekery (engineering, tools and dev ops) via specially crafted hands-on workshops, case studies, research reports and solution-driving, and topic specific open space.
Featured image via Pexels
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