A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending The Unconference hosted by Connected Path. The event invited 12 industry experts to prepare talks around sub-topics that aligned with one overarching theme - the marriage of service and technology: destined for love or divorce? Throughout the evening, the audience voted in real-time for the speaker they wanted to hear from the most. I was lucky enough to be part of the 12 selected but would I make it through to the final six speakers?
Hosted at David Game College near Aldgate, people from across the industry came together to enjoy the event. One of the best things about the experience was the range of people in attendance. Having been to dozens of industry events over the years, you often see the same faces, but at The Unconference, there were specialists there outside of the traditional affiliate marketing world.
The Organisers
Anthony Clements and Anjulie Blunden opened the event by explaining the premise and thanking the audience for coming along to this inaugural event. Anjulie also highlighted a topic that's not often discussed within the media industry: mentorship.
Drawing from experiences of others, Anjulie explained the importance of mentorship within other industries and how this is often over looked in digital marketing. The audience were then introduced to a new app called MenteeMe.
The Master of Ceremonies was Simon Hofmeister. If you’ve never met Si, he's best described as a Global Affiliate and Partnerships Lead by day and stand-up comic by night.
The Speakers
The voting format meant that there was a great flow of speakers as it allowed for a nice mixture i.e. you could have both Paul Stewart's presentation,“Separating Service and Technology - Lessons from the credit crunch”, and a lighter topic that preceded or followed. Unfortunately, on this occasion, my number wasn’t selected. However, I didn't feel let down as there were some great conversations and quality presentations from the other speakers.
Curtain Close
Overall, I appreciated the invite and enjoyed being involved. If you have the opportunity to attend an Unconference, I thoroughly recommend it. And if you happen to see my face on the speaker line-up, pop over and say hi. Also, feel free to give me your vote!
Thanks to Anthony, Anjulie, Simon and everyone else who made the event a success.
