How does this "unconference" work?

Think about it - on professional development days, what are the times you find most productive and valuable? The time you get to spend with your colleagues, simply chatting and sharing what you do well, what you need help with, and what you want to do together. That's exactly what this conference format is - as a group, we decide on the topics we want to chat about, and then participants help guide the discussion.

A former EdCamp participant and organizer put together this great EdCamp 101 video to provide a brief introduction about how to participate.

Will I have to participate in or lead a discussion?

Absolutely not - everyone is encouraged to participate to the level with which they are comfortable. However, the design of the unconference is not a "sit n' git." The value of Edcamp Forsyth comes from being able to actively share ideas with your colleagues, and to learn how things are being done at other schools in the district and elsewhere.

​Some participants will be asked to volunteer as discussion leaders, but they don't need to be the experts in the topics they're discussing - they just need to help facilitate the discussion between everyone in the session. They're welcome to share what they know, express doubts about what they don't, and ask questions they want answered for the good of the group.

What do I need to bring?

You will definitely want to bring something to capture the discussions you're involved in. A notebook or legal pad and writing implements for taking notes is the recommended bare minimum, but because of the connectedness of EdCamps, you'll probably want to bring some kind of BYOT device - laptop, tablet, etc.

Another thing that may be helpful is to have access to some of your teaching materials. If you tend to operate off of a jump drive or external hard drive, you may want to bring that along. Alternately, if your district has remote access to a network drive (through something like Citrix or a VPN), you may want to brush up on how to access that. You can also load files onto a Google Drive or Dropbox to access materials from the cloud.

​And, of course, comfortable clothes and shoes.

This sounds great! What can I do to help?

Help us get the word out!

You can Tweet at us @edcamp_forsyth and use the hashtag #edcampforsyth to spread the word on Twitter or check us out at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edcampforsyth/.

And you can make sure to bring a friend! Remember, if you bring a friend with you, you get in free!

Are you going to feed me?

We have some very generous sponsors who help feed our participants very well. Come for the food, stay for the learning.

Is this an annual conference?

Yes! If you can't make it this year, check us out next year!