In brief

Don’t worry. It’ll all be fine. It’ll be better than fine: it’ll be fun. Just make sure 1) that everyone has a chance to help create the schedule together, 2) that there is at the same time at least one person in charge of the schedule who tracks the group’s decisions and creates the schedule, and 3) that the opening session of THATCamp leaves sufficient time for the group to make a schedule: about 60-90 minutes.

Why wait so long to schedule sessions?

The fact that no one knows exactly what will happen at THATCamp until they get there is often the most worrying part of the event for both organizers and participants. It’s therefore worth noting here what you’ll gain from leaving the agenda-setting until the first hour or two of the event:

• Participants, instead of carefully preparing what they will say (or staying up late the night before to finish a presentation, which of course we here at THATCamp have never ever done, not once), must perforce speak spontaneously. This usually leads to greater candor and more admissions of uncertainty, which in turn leads to problem-solving instead of posturing.
• Proposing, voting for, sorting, and discussing sessions together in the first hour or two is a great ice-breaker; it means that campers must engage with one another right away. It’s a bonding thing; it’s a collaboration thing; it’s a getting to know each other thing.
• Topics and tasks will be current. Things emerge, change, and disappear fast in technology.
• Everyone will have a chance to make sure the schedule is strong: that the sessions are of interest to everyone and that there is as little redundancy and schedule conflict as possible.
• The schedule, having been so quickly and casually arranged, can be just as quickly and casually disarranged. A last-minute schedule is more flexible: sessions can be eliminated or added (especially if you make sure to leave a few slots free) depending on interest. It’s a very frequent occurrence at a THATCamp that a session is going so well that participants clamor for another; this way you can accommodate them.

Even if you have asked (as many organizers do) for some initial ideas for sessions from THATCampers, you will likely find that not everyone has proposed something, and you will subsequently find that it doesn’t matter. As long as you ask again when THATCamp begins, and as long as you have a reasonable system for tracking and sorting the ideas (more on that below), an agenda will inevitably emerge. Just trust the process.

One final note: the process described below is a set of guidelines more than a set of rules: if you want to alter it in some way, please go right ahead.

The blank schedule online

Create a blank schedule online that lists time slots and rooms. Many people have used Google Docs spreadsheets for this with great success: see for instance the schedule for THATCamp Canberra. Here is a sample blank THATCamp schedule done in Google Docs for you to copy if you like. Publish the Google Doc spreadsheet by going to “Share > Publish as a web page”; you can also embed it on your THATCamp website by choosing “Get a link to the published data > HTML to embed in a page.” You can also create a blank schedule in a simple list on your THATCamp website with both time slots and room numbers listed, or in an HTML table.

The blank schedule on-site at your THATCamp

For the first session of your THATCamp, you will then need some way to create a big empty grid IRL (in real life). Suggested supplies:

• A large whiteboard, chalkboard, an easel, or sheets of large white paper that can be stuck to the walls with tape or similar
• Markers or chalk
• Post-It notes

Before THATCamp begins, draw a blank grid (or list) on your whiteboard, chalkboard, or empty piece of paper with the same number of cells (spaces) as your schedule grid. Before or during the first session, as people are gathering, ask them to write a word or two describing their idea for a session in one of the cells (or on a Post-It note that they can put on a cell). Ask them also to put a hash mark or other indication of interest beside sessions they are interested in attending; you could also do this with a simple show of hands for every session. Cells can have more than one proposal, or none at all. Give everyone a chance to propose a session, and give everyone a chance to vote (some, of course, will choose to abstain from the former and perhaps also the latter). Afterward, you’ll have a board that looks something like the one of those pictured on this page. Here’s a picture of the schedule board (with Post-Its) at THATCamp Bay Area:

Finalizing the schedule

Once you’ve gathered session proposals and votes, you can begin a process of light editing. Session proposals that are of little interest to participants can be combined with other, related sessions, or eliminated altogether. Popular sessions can be assigned to larger rooms. Sessions can be arranged so that sessions on related topics are not happening at the same time. A few empty time slots are a boon rather than a curse; it means that exciting conversations that happen during the unconference can be given a time and place to continue. If the discussion about the schedule threatens to exceed the time allotted, you can always schedule the sessions in the first time slot first, send participants off to their sessions in that first time slot, and continue the process of creating a workable schedule.

After this editing is more or less complete, fill in the blank schedule online. The schedule should be left up on a prominent screen so that participants can refer to it as they begin the day. It’s also a very good idea to print copies of the finalized schedule and post them outside the session rooms, or at least to write down session topics on pieces of paper with their time slots and post those at the session rooms. Participants should also be encouraged to contact the scheduling person with additions and changes as the unconference continues, or even to make changes themselves if you want to allow them to do this.

Additional tips

• It’s always a good idea to schedule wrap-up sessions of at least fifteen minutes for all participants at the end of every day. People need closure. Organizers may also need to make logistical announcements about road conditions, food, social events, and the like.
• Same goes for introductory sessions at the start of each day.
• Scheduled “free play” sessions are also a good idea, sessions where people can try out new technologies they’ve learned in a hands-on way and/or continue discussions they’ve had in the sessions. It might sound like a contradiction in terms to schedule free time, but time is like lunch — it’s never really free.
• Even at an unconference, some of the best conversations take place in the hallway. Leave time between sessions: at least ten minutes, or fifteen, or even thirty.

One final picture of a schedule board, this one made with tape and paper on a glass wall, from THATCamp Research Triangle Park in North Carolina: