One of the Green Business Camp organizers, Bill Baren, explains the Unconference idea:
"One of the great advantages to being a small business in the ability to be flexible and change direction easily and quickly.
We just took a major turn in our direction with Green Business Camp. And, since we want Green Business Camp to be based on collaboration and knowledge-sharing, we want to tell you what we did and why.
As you may have noticed, we’ve dramatically changed our pricing structure. Originally we were going to charge $125 (with a 25% early bird by April 10th), since full-day events like this are typically charging $95-$295. But just recently decided to change our strategy and charge $25 to reserve a spot. At the end of the event we’ll ask attendees to give what they think the day was worth to them.
It’s definitely a drastic change and we know it might sound crazy.
But, we did this for two reasons:
(1) We wanted to make the event accessible
We wanted to make sure that Green Business Camp was accessible to all small business owners. And, with the current economy we realized that the small amount of $125 might make this impossible for some people.
(2) Innovation is key during economic challenges
Bill and Patrick (two of the co-organizers of Green Business Camp) often advise their business clients to innovate in the way that they package their services and to re-think how to provide value in a tight economy. So we decided to practice what we preach.
With that said, sign up for Green Business Camp and collaborate with other green business on your mutual success!
See you at Green Business Camp on April 30th."
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Cris Bisch says:
As a follow up, here's a link to the Ecopreneurists' article about the Unconference, the Green Business Camp by Paul Smith, May 14, 2009: "What do you get when you cross Burning Man with a Green Business Conference?" @ http://tinyurl.com/pnqabh.