The annual SocMedHE conference is very much a learning community event, it offers deliberate focus for a vibrant community of academics, educational developers and students (among others) to explore ideas, progress pedagogic thinking and make sense of using social media for the purpose of learning.

At #SocMedHE17 we will build on the value experienced by delegates at #SocMedHE16 and the Key-Not, and harness the power of our community, using the morning as a forum for participant led discussion and discovery, inviting you to Build Your Own Conference (or BYOC 🙂 ), before moving into a set programme of workshops and papers in the afternoon, which will be enriched by the ethos of the morning.

The BYOC will be an excellent opportunity for students to get presentation practice, those sharing early work that isn’t yet ready for formal submission, those who want feedback on ideas, research or projects; anyone who wants to start a challenging debate, or who may be looking for potential collaborators.

So! For the uninitiated, our BYOC will use the established un-conference model – and it will work like this:

• ahead of the day we all propose topics, ideas and activities we want to discuss/share/explore in a live, shared doc that will evolve as we move closer to the conference.  As long as it aligns with SocMedHE – anything goes..
• we convene on the day, together rapidly finalise the topics and approaches against time slots and rooms on a planning grid
• and then we dive in, showing up for the elements that interest us the most..

Get started on the Proposal Google Doc, or if that all feels a bit too simple to be clear right now – there’s plenty of information on the web about the approach – whether it’s Un-Conferences or Bar Camps, and we know some other high profile educational conferences have already dipped their toes in the water with this style of event. Here’s some principles and practicalities we’ve gleaned from elsewhere that will help shape the day:

• all proposals and suggestions are valid
• polished presentations are NOT required, – prepare something if you need or wish, but it’s not a necessity
• if you suggest a topic consider whether you want to facilitate it
• you don’t have to propose a topic, it’s OK to just turn up, as you would any other conference – simply be open to the idea of contributing, or taking something from the day
• social media tools can be used to break the conference fourth wall
• we decide together as a conference on the day which suggestions we’ll focus on, can be combined, discussed elsewhere, which need larger space, and which may need an informal chat between 2 or few like minded folks
• when we move into the afternoon, keep that un-conference ethos with you

That’s it! There’s a bit more info on the proposal Google Doc to help you articulate your proposal if needed. Or if that’s not enough, please feel free to email socmedhe@shu.ac.uk with BYOC in the header with your queries.

Enjoy planning 🙂