Off the beaten track: five guideposts for your first unconference

10 April 2026

Ruxandra-Laura Bosilca:

With the Communication Leadership Summit in Brussels taking place on Friday 17 April, Ruxandra-Laura Bosilca introduces the event’s “Unconference” format, and identifies some ways participants can get the most from their participation.

You’ve signed up for your first unconference, and a nagging question quietly settles in: What’s it going to be like?

You walk into the room. The rows of chairs you expected aren’t there. Instead, they’re pulled into a circle, waiting for the conversation to begin.

It kicks of with a “Marketplace” – where your fellow participants start pitching breakout sessions that they’d like to host.

Neon sticky notes cover the walls. The slots for the sessions fill up. And then it’s time for the conversations to begin.

It feels like stepping off the trail, and you’re the explorer drawing the map as you go. It’s thrilling, yes. But it can also be intimidating.

Over time, through my experience and dozens of chats with other communication professionals, I’ve found that a little preparation goes a long way. A few simple practices – what I like to call guideposts – can help you stay curious, present, and at ease when the path isn’t marked.

Here are 5 tips to carry with you.

1. Bring your curiosity

Most conferences feel like hiking a well-worn trail. The path is clear, the guide sets the pace, and the schedule is neatly planned. You already know where you’ll end up and what you’ll see along the way. It’s predictable, safe, rehearsed.

An unconference is different. It’s more like venturing off the path with a small group of fellow explorers. There’s no trailhead sign, no map, no guide. You step into the unknown and start piecing together your route: the steep climbs you’re struggling with, the hidden corners you’ve been curious about, the vistas you’ve heard of but never seen. You decide where to wander, which conversations to join, when to speak – and when to pause. Together, the group maps the terrain in real time. Flipcharts fill with scrawled ideas, half-baked thoughts, and looping question marks.

Curiosity is your compass on this journey. Here’s how to put it to work:

• Take 15 minutes before the event to jot down 3 work problems that keep you up at night. Don’t overthink. Write them exactly as they come to mind.
• Reframe each challenge as an open-ended question others can explore with you. For example, “Our employees ignore newsletters” becomes “What happens when employees stop listening altogether, and how do you rebuild trust?”
• Read your questions out loud. If they make you pause, reflect, or spark excitement, they’ll likely resonate with others, too.

2. Do a (micro) listening tour

Before the unconference, take a few minutes to check in with people about what they’re struggling with. Call a friend and ask, “What’s the hardest part of your job right now?” Ask a client the same. Reach out to a colleague in another industry. Scribble down whatever comes up.

One communication director, sitting at his cluttered campus office desk, told me, “Our teachers get so many emails that by Friday they’ve just stopped opening them.” A hospital manager admitted that nurses had given up on the intranet entirely and started a WhatsApp group because, as she put it, “at least it works.” And a social media manager at a global foundation confessed with a wry smile, “I spend more time troubleshooting Facebook ads than actually building strategy.”

Carrying stories like these into the room does two things. First, it widens your perspective: you start to see how peers in schools, hospitals, nonprofits, tech giants, and government wrestle with similar communication questions in very different ways. Second, it keeps the conversation grounded. Instead of drifting into vague talk about “alignment” or “engagement”, you can anchor the discussion in real experience: a teacher drowning in emails, a nurse bypassing broken systems, or a non-profit leader tangled in glitchy software.

Try this as you prepare:

• Talk with one peer inside your industry, one outside it, and one client or partner. Ask about their struggles, messy middles, stumbles, and experiments. A wider lens gives you a richer picture than your usual circle.
• Notice the small wins, too. Bright spots often point to new ideas you can bring into the room.
• When someone shares a challenge or success, lean in. A simple “tell me more” can uncover surprising details.

3. Embrace the “law of two feet”

One of the guiding principles of unconferences is the “law of two feet”: if you’re not learning or contributing where you are, stand up and walk to another session.

It sounds simple. But it isn’t always easy. Many of us were taught to sit politely, nod along, and take notes even when our minds have wandered off.

An unconference asks something different. It invites you to notice when your focus drifts, when you’re no longer present, and then to move. Not as a rejection of the speaker, but as a way of honouring the gathering itself. Leaving one circle opens space for someone else who might get more from that conversation. Stepping into another gives you a better chance of finding a place where you can fully engage.

Priya Parker puts it beautifully in The Art of Gathering: “Gatherings crackle and flourish when real thought goes into them, when (often invisible) structure is baked into them, and when a host has the curiosity, willingness, and generosity of spirit to try.” The law of two feet is part of that design. It keeps unconferences unexpected and full of possibilities.

Here’s how to get started:

• When the agenda goes up, don’t just pick your top session; choose a backup too. That way, if the first session isn’t grabbing you, you already know where to go next.
• Before joining a session, ask yourself, “What do I hope to notice or take away?” Setting an intention helps you pay attention and contribute more.
• If you catch yourself scrolling your phone, zoning out, or sneaking a “quick email”, trust the cues. Your two feet are your permission slip to move toward the conversations that matter most to you.

4. Plan your energy

Unconferences can look deceptively calm. There’s no stage, no spotlight, no agenda flashing on a screen. The air feels easy, the pace unhurried. But beneath that surface runs a steady stream of choices: Which sessions should I join? Do I put my idea on the wall? Should I speak up or just listen? By mid-afternoon, the added weight of these tiny decisions can leave you feeling like you’ve been hiking uphill all day.

Psychologists call this “decision fatigue”. Our minds, like muscles, tire with use, and clarity begins to slip. Here’s how to protect your energy:

• Pick one or two sessions that matter most and let the rest go. Focus on what will give you the most insight, spark, or connection, rather than trying to soak up everything.
• Step outside for a few minutes: grab some fresh air, stretch, or take a short walk. These micro-breaks will help you reset and recharge.
• Remember, you don’t have to speak in every circle. Listening is a contribution too. If you’re feeling drained from constant interaction, give yourself permission to be the thoughtful observer.

5. Sketch your takeaways

Here’s a little trick I like: before you even step into the room, imagine you’ve already left. Picture yourself back at your desk when someone asks, “So, what did you get out of it?”

Write the answer now. A sentence. A few bullets. Maybe it’s “three practical ideas for showing comms impact”, “two new connections outside my industry”, or simply “a fresh sense of energy for my work”.

This small act of imagining primes your attention. Suddenly, you start noticing topics, people, and conversations that line up with the outcomes you’ve already named.

Start small with these:

• Set aside one page in your notebook just for insights, so they don’t get lost in a sea of scribbles. Leave plenty of room around each entry so you can add your thoughts and connections as they pop up later.
• When something clicks, write down the example, anecdote, or image the speaker shared, not just the abstract point. Stories stick better than facts.
• Keep track of the people you met and note what made each conversation interesting. These details make it easier to follow up later. That’s how you open doors to new ideas, projects, and discoveries long after the event ends.

Unconferences rarely go the way you plan. Topics merge and split. Focus shifts. Some of the best conversations happen in circles you hadn’t intended to join, or in the narrow stretch of hallway between rooms.

The unpredictability is the point.

But waking into that kind of looseness without any preparation can feel unsettling, like heading out on a hike with no map. You might stumble on a breathtaking view. Or you might circle the same path again and again, confused and frustrated.

This is where the quiet work comes in: the questions you jot down beforehand, the stories you dig up, the choices about what you’re willing to give and what you hope to take. These are your guideposts. They don’t lock you into a strict route but rather help you find your way when the trail bends, disappears, or opens into views you never expected.

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Limited seats remain for this year’s Communication Leadership Summit in Brussels – to join us, visit https://strategic.global/Communication-Leadership-Summit-2026/

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Ruxandra-Laura Bosilca, PhD, is a global communication leader with over a decade of experience across EU institutions, international nonprofits, and research organizations in five countries. She currently serves as a Board Director for IABC EMENA.