the-post-it-unconference.md

The Post-it Unconference

Post-it style unconferences are an great way for small groups to share ideas, vote on topics they want to discuss and schedule based on the general interest of the group.

Recommended group size: 4-10

Prior to the meeting:

1. Buy a stack of post-its and a few sharpies, ideally with differing colours. Each person in the group should have a small half-stack of post-its and a sharpie.
2. Have a whiteboard or an easel pad available. These are invaluable both for scheduling talks and for jotting down or visualizing ideas during a discussion.
3. Give everyone a heads up that they should come to the table with discussion topics or ideas they want to bring to the group.

At the meeting:

1. Each person in the room gets 10-15 minutes to write down their ideas on the post-its in front of them. Ask everyone to stick them on the wall (or a whiteboard/easel pad). Do NOT sort at this time
2. First pass: comb through the post-its and come up with some general categories (or "themes") which the post-its can be categorized into. Don't worry about being perfect, the names can change and themes can be added/removed ad-hoc as you sort. This is also a good time for a quick coffee break/lunch break.
3. Second pass: After everyone's back, start going through the list of post-its and move them into the correct categories. Ask for clarification on post-its if you're unsure about the topic, and ask the group where it should go. If there are duplicates or similar post-its, group them by stacking them on top of one another, much like how you would in a game of Solitaire.
4. Ask everyone in the room to vote on post-its they're most interested to talk about. A loose rule of thumb is to give people enough votes to vote on about 25% of the available post-its. For example, if there are 20 unique post-its on the wall, everyone should get 5 votes. Each person votes by marking a dot (".") on the post-it. They cannot vote twice on the same dot.
5. Count the sum of the dots on each post-it. You'll then have an idea on what topics people are most interested in, and what topics people are not. Try to spread out the popular topics throughout the scheduled time; those are usually full of high engagement and require more brain-power. Optimally, coffee breaks in-between those topics are best.
6. Schedule the talks into 25-minute slots, with a 5-minute break in-between. Give your attendees a brain break before moving onto the next topic

During a talk:

1. Start by writing the title of the talk on the easel pad/whiteboard so you can identify the pictures later.
2. Give the user that proposed the idea the floor. Let them give a mini speech about their talk, write down their thoughts on the easel/whiteboard, or ask questions to the group.
3. As a moderator, if the talk is about an idea or a proposal, try to see if you can coax the group into putting down an action item or two as a deliverable of the discussion. If it's a general discussion/rant/"look at my cool stuff" talk, try to suss out if there's anything actionable from the discussion.
4. It's a good idea for someone to take key points from the discussion for future reference. See if you can coax someone to take notes.
5. After the discussion is over, make sure to take a picture of the whiteboard or easel and share it with the group. Save the easel pad for reference if you want, but pictures are more portable for long-term storage.
6. Rinse and repeat.

After the meeting:

1. Go get coffee, you all deserve it.
2. Make sure to share the pictures taken during the meeting with the group.
3. Write up a summary on deliverables, and give everyone a virtual high five for all their hard work and thinking.
4. If deliverables have not been assigned to someone, either put them in the backlog, or assign someone to those deliverables.

For writing ideas:

• Encourage people to not overthink their ideas. The idea is to get raw topics out there.
• Notes should usually be one to five words. Just enough to convey the general idea
• Don't worry about duplicating others' ideas. That gets sorted out later
• Sometimes it's really useful to go way out into the weeds on these topics. Some of our best ones have been about things like feeling discouraged/underappreciated/stuck, rather than about finding the next big thing.
• There's no "right number" of topics to suggest. Some people do two or three really well considered ones. People like me vomit a dozen or so.
• Sometimes it's useful to remind people that they're not generating "click bait" titles, but rather suggesting a possible thing people might like to talk about.