UnSummit3 Session Descriptions

We’ve got a session and facilitator lineup that rivals any conference out there and we’re bringing it to you FREE! Please see the schedule page for times and locations of each session.
20 Cheap tools and tawdry tricks for consultants, freelancers and accidental entrepreneurs
(Don Ball)
What’s on your short list of must-have business tools for small business owners? My goal for the session is simply to gather everyone’s favorite tools in each category and find out how people are using these tools. More info
Are you missing the boat on mobile?
(Lisa Foote)
ComScore statistics reveal that Americans’ web access through mobiles grew 34% from July 2008 to July 2009. In an economy in which “flat is the new black,” can you afford to ignore that growth rate? How does your website look through a mobile? How can you engage mobile customers – without spending a fortune? What are the realities of mobile device ownership?
Co-working, Collaboration, Social Entrepreneurial Biz Incubation
(Amy Bryant)
Co-working can be so much more than shared office space. It can be people working independently while sharing values such as: collaboration, openness, community, accessibility and social betterment. Get out of your pajamas and join the conversation. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
Dynamic Relevance or Designing Experiences for the Moment
(Pete Barry)
Semantic, real time, social, mobile and contextual are so last year. Let’s talk about what happens when you mash them all together. I’d like to share my idea of where this is all heading. Not the end of the line but the next stops along the way.
Fail fast, fail cheap
(Arik Hanson, Tony Saucier)
This discussion will center on how organizations/agencies need to adopt this mentality to succeed in today’s fast-paced digital world. We’d highlight case studies and talk about the benefits of failing. Interesting topic given we talk so much about successes but, we rarely talk about instances where we got it wrong. And, our point is, those cases are more valuable because they allow us to learn.
Getting to Done: Productivity and Time Management tools
(Meg Canada)
Share what is working for you to manage time and work.
How to become your own top client: Turning your consulting skills into a viable, standalone business
(Jeremy Gavin)
This session is for writers, designers, coders — really, anyone who sells their skills to clients at an hourly rate and wonders if there’s more? Is it possible to use your skills to create a product or service that earns you an income that is not limited by the number of hours you can work each week? Or, perhaps you’ve realized that as a freelancer, there is no exit strategy. You can’t sell your practice.
Legal implications of corporate social media implementation
(Mitchell Hislop)
This session will be a chat about the creation and enforcement of social media policies. I am not a lawyer, but have spent some time theorizing on how to best protect the company, while also protecting the employees.
Maintaining the line between private and personal space online
(Meghan Seawell)
Where is the boundary between your personal and professional life online? Is there a boundary? Should there be? We will tackle these questions and more, as well as review tips, techniques, and complications of trying to differentiate these two selves online.
Minnov8 Podcast – LIVE
(Phil Wilson, Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott)
See the magic happen firsthand! A live recording of an UnSummit-edition of the popular audio podcast.
Net neutrality and censorship
(Peter Fleck, Jeff Pesek)
Net neutrality has become a big deal since FCC Chair Julius Genachowski spoke in favor of it last month. How would net neutrality hurt or help the Internets as we know them? Will it be the end of innovation and the free net markets? Will a non-neutral net allow AT&T to spoon feed us “approved” data and censor what they don’t like? Will a neutral net allow Google to dominate the world? More info
Pitch Me: Bloggers Bare All
(Tony Saucier, Greg Swan, Christopher Taylor & Jill Lewis)
Curious about best practices in blogger outreach? Ask the bloggers themselves. From product reviews to event coverage, breaking news to crisis communication, it’s often bloggers who are first to cover what’s hot or not. This panel of key influencers in the areas of music, home improvement, mobile educational apps and food share their worst and best pitches and field questions from the audience. Learn how to find the right bloggers to pitch, what to say or write to positively engage with a blogger (and avoid negative backlash), and best practices in dealing with negative posts.
PowerPoint Karaoke
(hosted by Craig Key)
Imagine this: You have to deliver a PowerPoint presentation about an unfamiliar topic, with slides you’ve never seen, to an audience eager to heckle and laugh at you. If you’re in your underwear, you’re having a nightmare. If you’re clothed, it’s called PowerPoint Karaoke. You think your Bullet Points are Deadly? We have 5 slots open for Unsummit3, and participants can win prizes up to $5,000!
Psst, Your Balls are Showing (aka fake it ’till you make it)
(Kim Opitz)
As a writer who left a fulltime job to launch a new creative business, I find myself alternating between extreme courage and sheer terror. But I have my reasons for taking this leap, and above all I want to inspire other newbies or re-invigorate the ones who already succeeded. I think if we work towards a collective success we will all make it to the next level!
Rearranging Pixels: What Design Does and Why It Matters
(Brock Ray)
Graphic design is often considered the ugly step-child of web development, and is frequently relegated to a second-class status. It’s either considered to be all about pretty pictures (which everyone wants, but no one wants to admit to caring about), or it’s only about usability. But effective design can speak to your audience and communicate meaning far beyond mere words. So what is the proper place for graphics design in the world of web? How should web designers and web developers work together to achieve better results? This session would be an opportunity to discuss the good and bad of the web design process, as well as to contribute suggestions on how to improve the process for all.
Rock-and-Roll in the Digital Age
(Toby Cryns)
My band is currently working on our second indie rock release produced in the Internet age. In this session, I will talk about how online social media and the Internet have changed and shaped the way that me and my band create music, and how Apple’s GarageBand has made it possible for anybody to create amazing music.
The Role of Social Media/the Interactive Space and Human Rights
(Judy Abel)
This is a discussion about the two sides that social media is currently playing in the international relations space. On one hand it is helping human rights through giving people a voice and connecting practitioners. On the other, criminal/terrorist organizations are using it to violate human rights and connect on an unprecedented international scale.
Social Media Reality Check
(Phil Wilson)
It’s been over a year since we looked at what real people knew of this thing called Social Media. Flashy graphs and a Keynote presentation is secondary to your comments and discussion.
Social Media & The Enterprise
(Rick Mahn, Nathan Eide)
We’ll talk about the challenges involved with using social media type concepts, tools and methodologies inside an organization. With large or high-profile brand reputations at stake, the effective use of social media becomes less clear and more involved. The idea is to talk through these issues that big-brand social media champions need to think about and deal with to successfully get start using social media.
Telling Better Stories
(Jake Nyberg)
Essentially a response I’ve been formulating to the myriad requests we get to help clients “go viral” with a video. A great idea, in theory, but not always a best (or necessary) approach. In fact, many times a failed attempt to create buzz/community around a brand can be more harmful than doing nothing. My discussion would (hopefully) foster a conversation where honest gripes, constructive criticisms and noteworthy victories can all be shared as we explore a path to better, more authentic content.
What Should Today’s Agency Model Look Like?
(Joe Rueckert, Rohn Jay Miller)
How will agencies and clients evolve what they do — individually and in collaboration — over the next 5 to 10 years as the social Internet changes the media landscape?
YOU: Unplugged
(Kirk Horsted)
Are you “connected” 24/7? Do you sleep with your digitalia? Does anything else turn you on? Does your commitment to SM compromise your relationships IRL? Can you even envision YOU without IT? Join Kirk Horsted, purveyor of radical ideas like escaping and unplugging (makeyourbreakaway.com) to discuss (or is it debate?) the value of constant connectivity, hyper social media, brazen self-disclosure and overall all-at-onceness. Maybe—just maybe—we’ll also shoot the breeze about silence, Sabbaticals and the art of Being Here Now.
Flickr photo by Zeusandhera
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What's an UnSummit?
UnSummit is an alternative, "unconference,"
not unlike a BarCamp. That means full participation, full dissemination and free admission — all the things that traditional conferences are not. This blog is the collaborative product of the Unsummit attendees and organizers.
Join us at UnSummit5 on in the fall of 2010!












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