@KirstenCrannell can we do a survey to gather feedback?
@LandraRobertson can you help me with edits?
We are excited to announce that the highly anticipated 1st annual JMP Predictive Modeling Unsession will take place October 12-2020! We are starting this year to offer you a bigger and better session this year. Like many of you we need to make changes not only to our personal lives but our professional lives due to the COVID19 pandemic.
This is an opportunity to have some fun, interact with others, while attending a virtual event. Additionally, this will allow participation from JMP colleagues around the world during this live event. You will have the ability to participate in sessions as well as present content at the unsession.
Discovery Summit JSL virtual UnConference Unsession details
When: October 12-2020
Register here [ link to the registration?]
Submit a session topic: by September 10 [ link to Qualtrics idea submission form].
What is an Unsession?
Like a session at a conference but only better. Virtual breakout rooms for each individual to share learning, collaboration, and creativity.
How does it work?
The actual agenda-schedule of presentations is partly or likely unknown until participants begin arriving. The scheduling of which talk, on which topic in which room is created by people attending, once they arrive. No session will be voted off or ‘won’t happen’ for some reason. All topics are welcome. We will have a little bit of structure with the survey results to know some of the room topics and potential presenters before arriving.
How do we develop the agenda?
The agenda for an Unsession will be developed by the attendees at the event. Options for creating the agenda
- This year, for our virtual event, we are collecting session topics ahead of time and planning the agenda in advance. That way, attendees know what to expect and can plan their schedules accordingly.
- yellow sticky notes or whiteboards to define the day’s proceedings.
Suggest a session topic
The JMP predictive modeling unsession is open to anyone, and all are invited to: submit an idea for a session [add link to Qualtrics idea submission form ].
When you submit an idea, let us know if you would like to give a presentation on the topic or if you would prefer there to be a group discussion about the topic.
Have an idea for a session, but are not a subject matter expert on the topic at hand? Submit the idea anyway, and if the topic has mass appeal, we will find an expert at JMP who can present or lead a discussion on it.
The deadline to submit ideas for session topics is September 10.
We realize new processes, technologies, ideas, and techniques are being leveraged for your company to support, science, engineering, quality, reliability, sales, education, IT, and all aspects of other types of businesses. We would love to get a whole company perspective to JMPstart discussions and initiatives across industries, engineering disciplines, or regions.
Looking for inspiration?
Here are some examples of breakout session topics from previous JMP Discovery events:
Ideas for a session
- 1:1 with a developer, ask a question get an answer; limit of 5 minutes to allow all participants an opportunity
- 5-15 minute presentation on when you used a technique
- panel discussion
What is needed?
Bring your passion, energy and ideas, and collaborate with colleagues across the world to solve real problems.
What can I expect from the sessions?
The sessions selected will range from the formal to the informal:
- From the well thought out pre-prepared talk reflecting years of research and practice - to the spur of the moment ‘new idea’ that would be fun to talk about
- From the presentation of a working tool to the white boarding of something completely new
How do attendees select a session?
You do not need to do preparation in order to select a session. If you get an idea the day of the event, call a session.
- There is no one ‘right way’ to lead a session. However, more lean towards interaction and discussion.
- Choose any format for your session that will help you achieve your vision.
- Collaboration among participants who select sessions and even merging of sessions on similar topics are both encouraged. If you select a session, the decision to merge with another session will always be yours to make.
Need some ideas for session possibilities?
- A short presentation to get things started. 5-15 minutes of prepared material/comments by the session leader followed by an inter- active discussion
- Group discussion. Someone identifies a topic they are interested in, others come to join the conversation and an interesting discussion happens
- My Big (or Little) Question. You have a question you want to know the answer to, and you think others in the group could help you answer it. This format could also just be the seed of a conversation.
- Show and tell. You have a cool project, a demo, or just slides to show, this can be a springboard for the conversation in the session.
- Learn how to do X. If you’re inclined to teach, this can be simple and effective. Bring the equipment that you need, and have a plan that will let you teach five, ten, or 15 people how to do something all at the same time.
Please do take photos of different elements of your program so you can share them with others either at sessions you lead or in other sessions, post them to twitter, LinkedIn, tik-tok.
Advice about leading a session...
If you call together a session, it is your responsibility to “hold the space” for your session. You hold the space by leading a discussion, by posting a “first question,” or by sharing information about your program. Be the shepherd – stay visible, be as involved as necessary, be a beacon of sanity that guides the group.
- Ask for help holding the space if you need it. You might, for example, put a session on the board and know that you are so passionate about the topic that it would be better if someone else, someone more objective, facilitates the discussion. Choose someone from your team, or another participant who is interested in the topic.
- Don’t assume people in the room know more, or less, than you do. You never know who is going to be interested in your session. You might want to start by asking people to hold up their hands if they’ve been involved with the topic for more than five years, for one to five years, or for one year or less.
- Don’t be upset if only two people show up to your session. Those two people are the ones who share your interest.
- Don’t feel that you have to “fill” up an hour of time. If what you have to say only takes 15 min and the group has finished interacting–then the session can end. At the start of the conference, we will discuss guidelines for how this can happen.
- Don’t feel pressure to have everything take place in “only” 45 minutes . If you start with a short presentation, and then a group conversation gets going, and your discussion needs to continue past the time allotted – find a way to make this happen. You might be able to keep talking for awhile in the room you are in, or move to another part of the conference area. At the start of the conference, we will discuss guidelines for how this can happen.
- Be Brave! Others are interested in making your session work!
- Do think about the ideas that you want to cover in your session, and how you want to cover them. But don’t feel as though you need to prepare a great deal. (If you’re over- prepared, your session might lose energy.)
Experiment with the kind of sessions you lead. There is no such thing as “failure” in an Unsession.
Advice for everyone at Unsession...
- Go with the flow – This event is intended to help you and all the other attendees find the time and space to talk with and learn from each other.
- Follow your passion – Go to the sessions that interest you.
- Take responsibility for your own learning – If there are topics you are really interested in that don’t appear on the agenda at first, you need to put them on there.
Timeline: we have ~10 weeks for
- creation of the survey ( 1 week ) July 29
- edit/revisions of the article ( 2 weeks ) Aug 5
- send a survey and allow for respondents to reply ( 4 weeks ) Sep 2
- analyzing results ( 1 week ) Sep 9
- identification of presenters for suggested topics ( 1 week ) Sep 16
- promotion ( 2 weeks) Sep 23
- Other??
Should have a contingency plan if we don't receive any responses?
