It has almost been a week since we had our long awaited BarCamp and therefore it’s time for reflection. The feedback of the participants was very positive but, as we know from the success measurement session, if we want to measure the success of an event, we first have to set our goals and further decide if they are achieved.
Firstly, they were to impart knowledge in a playful and creative way and by interactive self-development which is the best way to learn and take away something positive. Secondly, it was to try out a new type of conferences that could cross our paths in our future working life. This means to organize and evaluate this alternative meeting model in order to decide if it’s appropriate for a certain target group and topic. An additional benefit is that our event course at least organized one event during three years of studying at the same university.
So did we learn something on the EventCamp process? Personally, I can say in any case! The knowledge transfer enables to learn and understand the contents much easier compared to regular lesson with the flood of information that is writen down and sometimes can’t be assigned to the real world. In our sessions we really get confronted with the topics, even developed them by ourselves and put them in new contexts. No monologue – it arises a dialogue and as we learned in the dramaturgy session- this is the most adequate way to create valuable and memorable events. Further on, are we able to evaluate and select this meeting type for a certain occasion? We do, because we know how to perform it and we even experienced it. In my opinion, the goals are fully met and 100% of the participants that valuated the event indicated to revisit our event.
Of course there are critical points that have to be improved, for example the size of the groups. I recognized that in the big discussion groups some people didn’t get the chance to speak. This might be enhaced through smaller groups where everyone is able to say something. Advertisement also should be spread so that more external people are attracted and it should be explained what a BarCamp is in forehand in order to motivate some of the participants to present their own topics. Nonetheless, perfectionism doesn’t exist and the BarCamp even exceed our expectations. We are glad to have a lecturer and a university that enables us to perform this event. Besides all of this, I learned how to cook chilli con carne for 80 people and solely this was worth it!
Elena Roch
#imEventCamp 