Attendee guide

Collaboration is at the core of every SRCCON event. As an attendee, you’re here to explore questions, share skills, and help build this community.

• About this event
• Participation tips!
• About the audience
• About the space & session rooms
• About the schedule

For information on venue, hotel, transit, and more, see our conference logistics page.

About this event

SRCCON:PRODUCT might feel different than many conferences you’ve been to. It’s a hybrid event, with scheduled sessions on the agenda as well as space to add new topics together as a group. It’s intentionally small, making it easy to connect with other people. Most sessions will be hands-on and conversational, not focused on presentations. Events like this work well because we all get to learn from each other and share what we know.

Participation tips!

SRCCON events are highly participatory and inclusive, with programs built around listening and sharing. None of us knows everything, but together we know a lot. Prior SRCCON participants shared tips of their own on our attendee info sharing document, which also includes an in-progress list of attendees.

Here are a few principles that can help you make the most of this event:

• SRCCON events work because we learn from each other.
  • Our collaborative program will help other people learn from your experience. Experiments you’ve tried, places you’ve worked, communities you’ve been part of—all these things give you something unique to contribute.
  • If you have a session idea, bring it with you! The schedule includes space for “unconference” sessions, and we’ll finish building that part of the agenda together when we open our day.
  • There are many ways to get involved. Facilitators will invite you into conversations, small-group work, and other learning exercises. And if you’re up for it, some may even need help keeping track of time or taking notes for the group.
• SRCCON events support people and help you connect with a community.
  • The schedule is intentionally designed with open space, so you don’t have to cut off great conversations just to rush off to the next thing. We want it to be easy to meet new people, find folks you talked to earlier in the day, or even to step aside and take a break if you need one.
  • Make room for others. We like to follow Eric Holscher’s “Pac-man rule”: If you’re standing in a group, make sure you leave space for someone new to join the circle.
  • Our code of conduct helps us all take care of each other. It’s backed up by a safety and support plan—if you see something or need any kind of assistance, you can always reach out to a staff member or volunteer.
• Take care of yourself.
  • We’ll have plenty of snacks, drinks, and other supplies available so you can find what you need when you need it. We encourage you to listen to what your body is telling you: Feeling an urge to stretch? Want to go for an impromptu walk? Do it.
  • Follow “the rule of mobility:” If you aren’t in a session you want to participate in, you can (and should!) move somewhere you can contribute. You don’t have to ask or apologize. Just get up and go.
• Think about what you want to take home!
  • Session facilitators design in-depth conversations, demos, and workshops with practical outcomes in mind. (And our After Party Toolkit is full of resources that can help you bring what you learn back to your own organization!)
  • Events like this can also help you develop a network of support that you can turn to later on. You’ll meet people facing the same challenges you are, and be part of building a community that continues to learn from and lean on each other.

About the audience

SRCCON:PRODUCT will gather about 150 people working at the intersection of product and journalism. Some will be part of product teams as managers or developers. Others are bringing those strategies to newsrooms that don’t have “product” in a role or title yet. As a group we’ll represent a huge variety of backgrounds and experiences to learn from, united by wanting to better understand how organizing around product can shift the way news organizations operate.

Our schedule will have four to five sessions at a time, so most of the time you’ll be in workshops with 20-30 people. Every session size has its own strengths. Smaller discussions can be especially productive because you can go in-depth or dig into personal examples, and larger groups can give people access to a wider range of perspectives.

About the space & session rooms

SRCCON:PRODUCT takes place in the Student Center at Temple University, 1755 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia.

• Underground A&B will be our main space to gather as a full group, and we’ll divide it into two spaces for 35 and 50 people during sessions
• the Cinema will have seating for 150, and is where we’ll schedule sessions heavy on show and tell
• Room 220 will have tables and chairs for 35
• Room 223 will also have tables and chairs for 35

Each session room will have post-it notes, pens, scratch paper, and other tools for creative discussions and problem-solving.

About the schedule

We’ll have four 1-hour session blocks throughout the day with four to five sessions running at a time. Some sessions will be pre-scheduled, and others we’ll add to the agenda that morning as a group.

• 9am: registration opens, we’ll have breakfast and start creating the schedule together
• 9:45-10:15am: welcome and introduction to unconferencing!
• 10:30-11:30am: first session
• 11:30am-noon: break, with snacks and conversation
• noon-1pm: second session
• 1pm-2:30pm: lunch
• 2:30-3:30pm: third session
• 3:30-4pm: break, with snacks and conversation
• 4-5pm: final session
• 5:15-5:45: we’ll gather as a group to close the day
• 6pm: SRCCON:PRODUCT closes