Another little piece adapted from Mark’s Derry News column...
How To Have an ‘Un-Business’
As most of you will know, we’re in the process of organising BarCamp Derry – an ‘un-conference’ on the themes of digital media, the web and technology in general.
The idea of an unconference is to avoid many of the attributes normally associated with a traditional conference – like high entry fees, dull presentations or unnecessarily formal dress codes.
In order to attract a market that would normally avoid conferences like the swine plague, we’re creating a conference that does whatever it can not to be a conference.
Presentations are developed by the attendees themselves, the event is completely free, T-shirts and jeans are the order of the day and we even considered hiring a bouncy castle to keep proceedings lively.
Based on the success of similar events across the country, we’re expecting 100+ attendees from as far afield as Dublin and Limerick to make the trip for what is as much a social event as it is a business conference.
Now I didn’t come up with the idea of an unconference, nor did I dream up the idea of OpenCoffee.
In fact, the whole idea of an ‘un-event’ or an ‘un-business’ has been around for a long time. The punk movement could easily be described as the ‘un-band’ movement. Open source software is often described as the ‘un-copyright’ movement. Green businesses are based on ideas about ‘un-global warming’. The slow food movement; ‘un-fast food’. Fast food; ‘un-slow food’.
A Business in Opposition to the Status Quo
By simply defining an idea in opposition to the status quo, you naturally attract customers, clients and supporters who are dissatisfied with that standard. With that in mind, starting an ‘un-business’ or creating an ‘un-product’ or ‘un-service’ begins with an understanding of exactly what is wrong with how things are currently being done.
This isn’t about gradual improvement or incremental change, this is about wholesale revolution – which means finding something that really doesn’t live up to the needs of your chosen market.
That last point is key. For the most part, existing products and services aren’t that bad for most people. That’s why they’re the status quo. But for one particular audience they may simply not fit.
Business conferences and networking events are fine for many but there’s a growing market of business people in search of a less formal, more collaborative approach to doing business.
For them an unconference works – for others, a plain old conference is fine.
So how can you start an ‘un-business’?
Find a group of people or businesses for whom the status quo in your chosen industry simply doesn’t work. Make a list of all the things about the staus quo that don’t connect – the more they annoy people the better. Now create your business in opposition to those points.
Do it sincerely and do it well and you’ll have a built-in groundswell of support that truly wants you to succeed.
