A traditional conference has a few selected speakers, pre-arranged presentations, and a large, passive audience.
FashionCamp is different.
At FashionCamp, there is no line drawn between presenters and participants. Anyone with an idea is welcome to present, lead a workshop, or organize a panel discussion. One of the main tenets of FashionCamp is that everyone is expected to participate: it can be by presenting, volunteering, or by being an active part of a discussion.
Sessions at Fashion Camp tend to fall into three categories:
- Lecture-style presentations with a single speaker (e.g., “Buying Strategies In a ‘Down’ Market”, “History of Tech and Fashion”)
- Panels with few speakers and sometimes a moderator, (“Life As An Indie Fashion Designer”)
- Hands-on workshops where people make and learn things (“Open Sewing + Tee-Hacking Workshop”).
What should I present on?
Some People have a clear idea of what they want to present. Other people know they want to present, but aren’t sure what to talk about. Lots of people are terrified at the idea of getting up in front of a room of people and talking about fashion. We built a tool to help. We’ve set up a voting board at http://ideas.fashioncamp.org. Anyone can post an idea for a talk, and anyone can comment or vote on the ideas. The voting is non-binding, and meant to help gauge interest and start conversation. If you have a few things you might want to talk about, list them all and see what people are most interested in. If you’re not sure what to talk about, go check out the ideas page and see if you want to team up with someone else for a panel. A title and a sentence or two are all you need. This will let people know what to expect, help you find people who want to talk about the same thing, and get you thinking about your talk. The talks tend to be pretty casual, but it helps to think about what you want to say. Lots of people bring slides, demo Web sites, or show off the jewelry and clothes they design.
How do I get picked?
Each morning at Fashion Camp starts with a quick meeting with all attendees. Then, everyone who wants to run a session will write their name and the topic of their presentation on a sheet of paper. There will be a grid set up on the wall in the main area, where the different rooms are plotted against the time blocks. The speakers will take their paper and post it on the wall in any open spot in the grid at whatever time they wish. Right before each time block, all individuals who are about to lead sessions are given 30 seconds to give an elevator pitch for their session. Everyone then disbands and goes off to the session they wish to attend.
