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A clip from this longer presentation – CareerCamp: New Unconference Methods for Helping People Build the Career They Deserve with Douglas E. Welch
CareerCamp Founder, Douglas E. Welch, shares CareerCamp with the attendees of the California Placement Association at their annual 2015 conference in San Luis Obispo.
He discusses What is CareerCamp?, how it might be used in your organization and takes you through an example of a Day at CareerCamp.
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Transcript:
I do want to reinforce the venue. While we have a near-perfect venue at the University Center at College of the Canyons with electronic classrooms, a nice lobby area, beautiful furniture and a beautiful new buildings, It’s great! It’s not required. It’s certainly not required and I don’t want you to think that’s required. it can happen in the middle of an open field. it really can. It’s the concept of an unconference that’s powerful, not where you hold it. And, you know, sometimes you may have need to start out small. Maybe start out with, you know, somethings that not perfect, but you can build it into something that gains — everything you gain should be important. BarCamps — the one’s I attended — the more general unconferences, got bogged down in this concept that everyone wanted to give a T-shirt away to attendees. Well, that costs money. It started to become an issue. “I don’t need another T-shirt! I just want to go to the conference. Can we just make that…” So, be aware of that. Be wary of those types of things. Don’t add encumbrances that don’t add a value to your unconference. Because that’s really what it’s all about. It’s about what people learn and the people that come.
What is CareerCamp and Career Camp International?
CareerCamp is a community organized, career-focused, unconference which calls upon local communities and people to share their knowledge, expertise and other important information on developing yourself and your career.
What is an unconference?
Unconferences are self-organizing conferences, similar to many professional conferences, but instead of hiring well-known, professional speakers, they call on the attendees themselves to provide the content and focus for the event. Every person who attends is highly encouraged to present on some topic deeply important to them or, barring that, to facilitate an open breakout session or round table discussion or even just to engage and converse with their fellow attendees between presentations. A few organizers band together to find a venue for the event, recruit sponsors and invite attendees, but the focus of the unconference is driven solely by the attendees.
Some might question the usefulness of presentations by their peers, but we have found that there is an enormous amount of real-world expertise available in each and every local community. CareerCamp utilizes a format that draws out that expertise and benefits everyone. CareerCamp (and other unconferences) provide a structure and an opportunity to share this expertise in ways that traditional conferences do not. Additionally, CareerCamps also attract career development professionals who can use CareerCamp as a way of introducing themselves to a new audience of potential clients.
How was CareerCamp developed?
The genesis of CareerCamp was found by attending BarCamp unconferences held around the world. CareerCamp founder, Douglas E. Welch, was a long time attendee of BarCamp, which is an event that embraces any topic, although it often leans toward technology. After seeing the success of BarCamp as a way to illuminate and educate within a community, Welch applied the unconference concept to the specific world of Career Development.
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