Have you ever been to a boring conference?
The kind of event where you sit there as a (very expensive) presenter beats you to death with a PowerPoint presentation that would sedate an ox.
Would you like to go to a day long un-conference where you can choose from a huge range of topics, presented by people who know what they are talking about, meet interesting people - all for less than the cost of a round of drinks?
ChangeCamp 2009 is an alternative to a big, expensive and boring conference. It's a local event making the best use of the huge reservoir of experience and talent that is in our own neighbourhood.
Rather than treating you as the passive recipient of information from experts, ChangeCamp is designed from the bottom up to encourage active participation among people who care about what they do and want to share their skills and learn new ones.
1. Changing yourself: For people who want to explore their inner life and further develop their skills and resources.
2. Helping others change: For people who work with other people to help them change - therapists, counsellors, educators, health workers, coaches.
3. Changing groups or organisations: For those of you interested in working with groups and teams including team building and change management.
Learning: To facilitate the spread of ideas and skills into areas of people work. Rather than being a passive recipient of knowledge broadcast from the stage, it is possible for people to join in the process and learn from one another.
Connection: Sometimes we may have the feeling that no-one shares our interests about these subjects. It's good to talk with like minded people to find new co-conspirators to a better world.
Community: If we are learning from one another then we are in a learning community. The other role of the ChangeCamp 2009 is to create an opportunity for people who wouldn't otherwise meet to get together to share experience and ideas, and to develop relationships that last well after the conference is over.
Affordability: This event is aimed at professionals, students and interested lay people. To allow anyone who wants to attend the opportunity it is pitched at the lowest possible price. Many of the learning responses will be available online for download after the event.
Presentations: Rather than big name razzmatazz presentations ChangeCamp 2009 encourages a variety of presentations from whoever has something useful to say. Presentations can be in the form of talks, lectures, seminars, workshops, question and answer sessions, discussions or even (if you can figure out a way to do that) interpretive dance.
Room to talk: There will be space to talk, relax, meet old friends, make new ones, meet potential customers and trainers. ChangeCamp is about developing connections and community.
Participation: There are no 'tourists' at a
ChangeCamp 2009. Everyone is involved in some way. To make an event
your own you need to take part in it. Being a spectator may be
engaging, being a participant is a much more fulfilling way to take
part - ask Andy Murray or Barack Obama.
The minimum level of involvement is paying the entry fee and bringing some food on the day to contribute to a shared buffet at lunch time. There are many other ways to take part, by presenting of course, by taking part in presentations to the full, assisting with the running of the day, welcoming party, clean up crew, etc. We'll let you know how you can help out if you would like to do that.
ChangeCamp 2009 is
taking place at Gosforth High School, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK on
Saturday 27th June 2009.
The fee for the day's presentations and events is just £10.
To find out more about ChangeCamp 2009 visit the website at www.changecamp.co.uk