EYC unconference this weekend

Briefly summarising a post I've written over on my work blog: the Engage Your Community unconference is happening this Saturday. It's a *free* day-long event for people working or volunteering in not for profit, community or voluntary groups, who want to learn about web stuff, and meet other people working in the sector.

Quoting myself:

An unconference is like a conference, in that it’s a gathering of people interested in a particular topic, who come together to share and learn. An unconference is unlike a conference, in that it doesn’t have a preset schedule of talks that you sit through: instead, the agenda is built on the day by the people who attend. Anyone can run a session, whether it’s to share something they’ve done, ask for help with something they’re trying to do, or just to kick some ideas around. The EYC unconference site has a list of topics people are interested in talking about on the day.

There are still places available - it'd be great to see you there, whether you're learning or sharing (or both).

Engage your community conference, Christchurch

Engage Your Community
Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology
16 April 2010
Registration between $40 and $85

Last year I attended and gave a workshop at the Wellington version of this event. It was awesome.

The Christchurch version looks equally interesting and useful (not to mention cheap as chips). The programme is structured as a series of short workshops, bookended with a presentation and a panel discussion. It looks like a good chance to survey a range of free or cheap web-based services that could help you with internal and external comms, from how to save money on long-distance calls by using Skype, to how to make beautiful word images using Wordle, to how to run a fund-raising campaign on Facebook.

In a little shout-out to my peeps, I'd highly recommend the sessions being run by Christchurch City Libraries staff, and Emma McCleary's Facebook workshop.