Unconference! (Monday)

The Lean Design & Construction Unconference at IGLC 2016 brings together the thinkers and doers of the community in an unconventional environment of open discussion.

What is an “unconference?”

This is not your parents’ conference!

Attendees are empowered to propose the session topics and activities. As a result, every attendee has an opportunity to shape and lead a portion of the unconference. Be prepared to get involved and meet people!

Major themes reflect the backgrounds and interests of the participants. You might participate in sessions about technology, lean theory, challenges, help solve a specific problem, innovative practices, and more.

You can check out the explanation of an unconference at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference

How does an “unconference” determine the topics of discussion?

Leading up to the unconference, we will gather and list proposed topics below. E-mail unconference@iglc2016.com to add to the list! The actual unconference agenda won’t be established until the beginning of the unconference by the attendees present. We’re just listing some proposed topics below so you can begin to see what’s possible at the unconference!

At the start of the unconference, each attendee interested in exploring a topic will fill out information about their session on large sticky notes which will be provided by the unconference. Interested presenters should write the title of the proposed session, a short session description, and their name on the sticky note.

The moderators of the unconference will collect the session proposals and begin placing them on a large matrix of available room sections of the unconference space and discussion times. Attendees who strongly wish to see a particular presentation may make suggestions to the moderators. The more attendees in support of a session, the greater the probability that it will be scheduled.

How will each discussion session be facilitated?

All sessions will be 40 minutes. That will give us five discussion time blocks. We expect five to eight concurrent discussions for each time block. One time block will be devoted to an unPanel.

We will conduct the discussions as open space technology (OST). The discussion leader will kick the discussion off with a big (or not-so-big) question or a three to five minute introduction of the topic. One of the participants will volunteer to scribe the conversation to capture the key points, open questions, conclusions and proposed actions. The notes will be captured and shared with all participants along with plenty of photographs!

What about the unPanel? How does an unPanel work?

The unPanel will be conducted as an open fishbowl. This session will be selected from the topics proposed using dot voting. Our open fishbowl will have six chairs in the center of the room surrounded by concentric circles of seating. One of the chairs will be empty. Any one from the audience can come join the unPanel by sitting in the empty chair. When that happens, one of the other unPanelists will self-select to empty their seat.

Be prepared for a fast-paced experience and ideas that you might have never expected would be discussed at a Lean Design and Construction conference!

UNCONFERENCE SCHEDULE

1:00pm – 1:20 pm            Introductions; fill out proposed discussion cards; populate discussions matrix

1:20pm – 4:40pm            Sessions every 40 minutes, including the unPanel

4:40pm – 5:00pm            Closeout plenary discussion and Open Awards