Full Circle Associates

More and more, online events seem to be gaining ground. Where for-fee events were nearlly unsupportable 18 months ago, they are regularly showing up. Producers seem to be developing patterns that make the grade with participants. Yesterday I was pointed to NMC Series of Online Conferences, and I was intrigued by this one "NMC Online Conference on Educational Gaming" December 7-8, 2005 -- via the Internet.

Educational gaming has seemed tantalizingly close, yet somehow not quite within our reach for a number of years. The singular focus of the Online Conference on Educational Gaming, part of the NMC's Series of Online Conferences, is to explore the state of this art, where things are heading, and what might be on the horizon.

This unique online event will include sessions on topics from using games in practice to gaming research, from gaming and engagement theory to implications for multimedia and web design, and more. The event will be conducted entirely live and online using conferencing tools and real time facilitation approaches provided by NMC distinguished partner LearningTimes."

The folks at groups like Learningtimes and iCohere (disclaimer: I have business dealings with both of them) look at online event design from both a techno and social perspective. These online events in theory and often in practice provide more opportunity for interaction by participants with presenters. In some cases, I've seen the participants become the show, much to my joy.

So what happens if we have a "Camp" style conference all online?

Categories: unconference, onlineevents, camp