Event Camps: Hang On And Learn From The Ride

Posted by: Tahira Endean

Thursday, September 15th, 2011

As some of you know, I liked Event Camp so much when I attended Twin Cities 2010 virtually that I became part of the valid virtual statistic that shows virtual attendance piques interest in f2f attendance and I attended Chicago in February 2011. It was engaging both in presentations and the people present, and I returned rejuvenated and wanting more.

After asking enough times about when it would be on the West Coast (imagining myself in California in the winter) it turns out that enough people in Vancouver thought it was a great idea, a host committee was born, support from around the globe in the Event Camp community was given freely, and in November ( 4 – 6) we will host Event Camp Vancouver simultaneously with an Event Camp in DC.

Naturally we watched avidly and participated with a small pod for ECTC11. The philosophy that was never strayed from was that it was good to take things apart / break them, try new things, experiment freely, and failure was ok in the name of innovation. In a word, BRAVO!

Innovation comes only from readily and seamlessly sharing information rather than hoarding it. Tom Peters

This is something that Sam Smith and his team of campers did fearlessly and thoughtfully. Nothing was hidden, it is all there for public consumption, review, criticism and praise. Thank you for taking these risks.

Strategy is not something that’s done in a box by one person with only a rational hat on. It needs to be visceral, human and often emotional – and everyone must be involved in creating it. Robert Stone

The overriding strategy for Event Camp is to fearlessly share information on social media, innovation and technology, and to do this in a variety of ways that make it accessible for learners, with a primary focus on the meeting and event planning professionals who have the opportunity to use these tools in their daily lives to impact literally thousands of people every day, with every meeting that happens.

That sounds simple, but it is incredibly complex to put together a program that will form the base for collaborative and meaningful learning. We are all focused on the same end goal – to push barriers and discover together innovative solutions for improving our meetings. Whether it is happening in the East, West, Midwest or Europe – if you have the opportunity to attend, I can highly recommend it, and I think if you asked anyone they would agree.  As my lovely friend Kiki L’Italien says “it fills the well”.