Lessons from Weekend Camp: EventCamp

I went to camp on Saturday – the EventCamp National Conference in Chicago. But I didn’t fly to Chicago; I enjoyed the hybrid conference from the comfort of my home office.

What is EventCamp?
Event Camp, aka #ecnc (its Twitter hashtag), is “an evolving community of like-minded individuals with a passion for the events business” and “an interest in technology, alternative event design, and improving adult education.”  The community was born out of the #eventprofs Twitter chats. It’s an online and real-life community, self-organized by its members, not by any association. The first EventCamp was held in New York in early 2010 and was followed by Camps in Minneapolis and Philadelphia in late 2010.

What the heck is hybrid?
A hybrid conference “combines a live in-person event with a virtual online component.” Done successfully, it provides a valuable and enjoyable experience to both audiences.

But what if…?
The unasked but pesky question always is: Won’t a hybrid conference cannibalize our on-site registration? No. If it does, you need to look at the value you’re offering attendees, because something’s wrong there.

Think about it. What makes a conference stand out for attendees? It’s not just what we learned but how we learned. It’s the people we connected to and collaborated with in the hallways and bars, at lunches and social events. Nothing can replace that face-to-face experience. Although I learned a lot at EventCamp on Saturday, I missed the deep connections and extra brain-tickling I would have had in person.

Hybrid experiences give people like me a taste of your event and, more importantly, of your community. Until now I never would have considered going to EventCamp. I was aware of it but I didn’t think it had value for me. However, schedule-permitting, I will attend in the future. Why? I know now it’s worth my time. The education was top-notch, but I want the on-site energy of that community.

What does hybrid feel like?
On Saturday I watched six live sessions online. Video windows displayed both the speaker and the presentation. Later, upon the suggestion of the virtual audience, a camera also panned the audience occasionally. It wasn’t like being there but it was way better than a webinar.

EventCamp was the best virtual event experience I’ve ever had because Glenn Thayer, our virtual concierge, took care of us. He chatted with us on Twitter, relayed our questions and comments to the speakers and attendees, and hosted special interviews just for us. During participant exercises, he came on camera, often with someone else, to do the exercise with us and share our answers with the room.

When the day was over, I felt like I had been somewhere as a participant without ever leaving my house. It was that good.

A few conference tips from Camp
Open your online community several months before your conference. Collect and share attendee and speaker Twitter handles and blog links. Give your attendees plenty of time to get to know each other because relationships need time to develop. Follow your attendees on Twitter so you can provide customer service privately during the event.

Help virtual attendees organize online viewing parties so they too can have the opportunity to deepen the conversation and make new friends.

Crowdsource a few session topics to ensure timely and relevant content. Erica St. Angel went an extra step and used Google Moderator so the on-site and virtual audience could vote on content focus during her presentation.

Keep asking yourself, what’s best for the attendee? I’m positive that’s what EventCamp organizers did. When something wasn’t working, they made adjustments. When someone had a suggestion, they responded. It was all about us, the attendees on site and at home.

Want to learn more?
EventCamp organizer Jeff Hurt’s blog, Midcourse Corrections, provides a lot of resources on live, hybrid and virtual conferences.

Mike McCurry, another EventCamp organizer, writes about the new hybrid frontier.

After EventCamp Twin Cities, Jenise Fryatt compiled a list of posts that dig deeper into hybrid events and what made that EventCamp a success.

Liz King shared her immediate take-aways from Saturday and Sunday at EventCamp with a promise of more to come.

ECNC photo: published with permission of Justin Love (flickr wondible)