Potential models for Baltimore Interactive

[Adam Bachman]

In the interest of seeking to clarify what The Event is going to look
like, I'm curious to hear what other folks have in mind when they
think of "Baltimore's answer to South by Southwest."

Potential Models (not a complete list):

1. One track, pre-planned presenter / session focused. Everyone hears
every presenter.
a. multidisciplinary: allow participants to get insight into fields
they might not otherwise encounter. More interesting to more people.
http://www.ted.com/
b. single discipline: keep it tightly focused to avoid over extending
coordinators. might be a better project for a more tightly focused
audience.
http://webdesignday.com/
http://www.seedconference.com/

2. Multi track, pre-planned presenter / session focused.
Multidisciplinary by default, but keep tracks single-discipline so
it's easier to keep track of what's going on.
http://sxsw.com/interactive/

3. Completely open unconference. Come with a presentation or topic
you'd like to share. Planning happens first, then presentations,
sessions, and panels follow. Instead of everybody sitting, everybody
is *doing*.
http://barcamp.org/
http://barcamp.org/BarCampAustin4
http://is.gd/onqn (http://webworkerdaily.com)

4. Blended unconference + pre-planning. Invite and seed tracks with
interesting speakers--perhaps as keynotes--but leave a dedicated track
or chunk of the conference for unplanned, serindipitous encounters.

Proposal:

I think a single-track, multi-disciplinary conference with great
speakers would be awesome to attend, but seems like it would require a
lot of lead time. It also seems like it would be higher maintenance
for the administrators.

Unless we take Ignite Baltimore to be an example of the format at one
extreme (very short presentations, relatively short total event time),
in which case we could do a lot worse than follow in Ignite's
footsteps. BUT, Ignite is Ignite. We're probably all going to that
already, why burden ourselves with planning "the long version".

I lean towards number 3. SocialDevCamp (and a lot of barcamp events)
are heavily technical in focus, but good examples of what the format
looks like. This format also lends itself well to a very wide ranging
set of topics and formats (performance art and web marketing under one
roof? that's unpossible!), if that's the direction we end up going.
This format also puts a lot of the success of the event in the hands
of the participants. Planning and execution are still non-trivial, but
the potential is not boxed by the topics and speakers chosen in
advance.

Mostly, I think the more opportunities for connection and
participation we create, the more everyone will get out of it. People
will *always* be more central to the success of any conference than
topic or format.

Model 4 is intriguing. I don't have any good examples of conferences
run like this, but I think it might work well given that there are a
lot of things happening in Baltimore that could be highlighted (art,
media, entertainment, design, technology), and being more intentional
about finding at least one presenter for each would make sure the
interested communities show up.

Question:
What do you have in mind? Everyone (probably) has a vision of what the
event will end up looking like, but it's hard to express. I've laid
out what I'm hoping for (multidisciplinary unconference), and I'm
interested in hearing what other people want to see.

(I didn't suggest much in the way of specific topics, but I don't want
to start making a list of who's not invited to the party until I have
a better idea of what kind of party we're throwing.)

[Adam Bachman]

I just reread Jamies' post from the thread at
http://groups.google.com/group/baltimore-interactive/browse_thread/thread/997612792276be22

Another potential format:

5. Gallery based, multi-disciplinary, geographically dispersed.
Participation is not limited to a single location, track, or topic.
From the examples, it seems to be a format well suited to the art end
of the spectrum.
http://confluxfestival.org/
http://bostoncyberarts.org/
http://www.school33.org/highlights/OST/OST_2008/OST2008.html (similar,
already happening local event, [almost] exclusively fine arts)

This format lends itself to the idea of The Event as a festival much
more than 1-4, which are heavily influenced by thinking of this as a
conference. The reach and scope of something like this could be much
larger, since performers, presenters, exhibitions, and discussion are
not required to all happen in the same place. Upside: everyone gets a
say because if you want to do something, you just do it. The format
also highlights more of the city. Downside: dispersion of participants
decreases direct interaction, with a short lead time it may be
difficult to get participation.

- Adam

>  http://is.gd/onqn(http://webworkerdaily.com)

[Daniel (@dwplanit)]

I really like the idea of a geographically dispersed festival, with a
few central activities at certain times. I think if we could pull in
enough partners/organizers, we could find hosts for specific topics
that might relate to the host (MICA could hold something on
interactive art, the Beehive could hold something on technology
entrepreneurship, etc.).

I do think that an interdisciplinary approach is the way to go.
Perhaps, to try to encourage cross-pollination, we could hold an
interactive scavenger hunt-type game where people have to visit a
variety of locations/events to get clues or something.

Lastly, I think that we should choose a format that reflects the goals
of the conference. SXSWi is designed to showcase cutting-edge
technology to trend-setters. Is that our goal too? Or is it to
showcase Baltimore talent--and if so, to whom? Or, is it just to have
a cool conference and party (which is good in its own right)?

Daniel

On Mar 21, 11:35 pm, Adam Bachman <adam.bach...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I just reread Jamies' post from the thread athttp://groups.google.com/group/baltimore-interactive/browse_thread/th...