Barcamp Guide: How to Pitch Sessions and Organize Your Own Barcamp

Imagine a conference with no program. No speaker list, no set slots, no hierarchy between stage and audience. Instead: an empty board, a room full of people with ideas, and 60 seconds to convince others that your topic is worth a session.

That’s a Barcamp. In the UX community, the format has long been a staple - and it’s one of the most productive formats I’ve encountered in over 25 years of UX work.

In this Barcamp guide, you’ll learn how the format works, how to prepare as a participant, how to pitch a session that attracts people, and how to organize your own Barcamp. Whether you’re from UX research, UX design, development, or product management: Barcamps work wherever people with diverse knowledge want to learn from one another.

📌 Key takeaways

• A Barcamp is an open conference where all participants can propose and lead sessions.

• The program is created on the day itself through pitches and voting.

• The “two-feet rule” allows you to switch between sessions at any time.

• A good session pitch needs a clear question, not a finished concept.

• Barcamps are particularly well-suited for knowledge transfer, community building, and exploratory UX topics.

• The most valuable conversations often happen between sessions.

  
  

What is a Barcamp?

A Barcamp is an open conference format. What makes it special: There is no pre-determined program. Instead, participants bring their own topics and present them in the morning during a short pitching round. A show of hands or a vote decides which sessions will take place. The session schedule fills up live on a large board - visible to everyone.

Three basic principles define a Barcamp:

1. No separation between presenters and audience. Everyone is a contributor. Whoever proposes a session isn’t giving a presentation, but rather opening a conversation.

   
   

2. The two-feet rule. If you aren’t learning anything in a session and can’t contribute, you leave. Without a guilty conscience, without explanation.

   
   

3. What happens is the only thing that could have happened. This guiding principle takes the pressure off. Not every session has to be a highlight. Some are anyway.

   
   

What are Barcamps particularly well suited for?

Barcamps reveal their value where traditional formats reach their limits. Five areas of application stand out.

Knowledge transfer across silos. 

When UX research, design, development, and product management operate in parallel within an organization, a Barcamp breaks down these structures. Sessions emerge from real questions, not departmental logic. A developer asks a question about user behavior, a UX researcher shares her experience with accessibility audits, a product manager wants to discuss prioritization. It’s the mix that makes it work.

Exploratory topics that don’t yet have an agenda. 

When a team faces a new problem—such as “How do we address accessibility in our legacy product?”—a Barcamp provides space to think before anyone presents a solution.

Community-building. 

For years, Barcamps have been a place where junior and senior professionals meet on equal footing. The format’s flat hierarchy lowers the barrier to asking one’s own questions. This is not a side effect, but a core feature.

Internal alignment. 

Companies use Barcamps to gauge sentiment before making strategic decisions. Not as a vote, but as structured listening.

Exchange of methods among practitioners. 

Barcamps work exceptionally well, especially in UX research. Sessions like “How do you facilitate remote usability tests?” or “What tools do you use for prototyping?” thrive on the participants’ experiential knowledge. No set of slides can replace that.

Where Barcamps work less well: When it comes to in-depth knowledge transfer—for example, if you want to learn a new statistical method—the format reaches its limits. The Barcamp principle also loses its dynamism with fewer than 15 participants because there isn’t enough variety in the sessions.

How does a Barcamp work?

If you’re attending a Barcamp for the first time, it helps to know the typical schedule. The details vary depending on the event, but the basic structure is almost always the same.

Arrival and introductions. 

Most Barcamps start with a welcome and a brief round of introductions. At smaller Barcamps, everyone introduces themselves in three words or with three hashtags. At larger events, this is sometimes skipped—in which case the coffee break is your chance to introduce yourself.

The pitching round. 

The heart of the event. Everyone who wants to offer a session steps up in front of the group one after another. 30 to 60 seconds per pitch. Afterward, a vote is taken—by a show of hands, sticky dots, or shouting. Sessions that generate enough interest make it onto the board.

The session board. 

A large board or wall with time slots (rows) and rooms (columns). Every accepted session gets a spot. The board sets the pace for the day. Some Barcamps use digital tools for this, but paper and Post-its work just as well.

The sessions. 

Typically, a session lasts 30 to 45 minutes. Formats are open: short input plus discussion, open Q&A, workshop with exercises, collaborative work on a problem. The variety is intentional.

Breaks.

Don’t underestimate them. The conversations between sessions are often just as valuable as the sessions themselves. Many Barcamp veterans deliberately schedule their breaks.

Closing round. 

At the end of the day, there’s often a brief reflection: What was the best session? What was surprising? What am I taking away? Some Barcamps turn this into a session of its own; others keep it brief.

How do I prepare as a participant?

The short answer: Come with an open mind and your own questions.

That’s enough.

The slightly longer answer: A Barcamp rewards active participation. That doesn’t mean you have to lead a session. But it does mean that a purely passive attitude misses the point of the format. You’re not an audience member; you’re part of the program.

Here’s what you can do specifically before you go: Think about which topics are on your mind right now. Not as a finished presentation, but as questions. “How do you solve the problem with X?” is a perfect starting point. If you realize that a topic interests you enough to talk about it for 30 minutes, then pitch a session. More on that in a moment.

Bring business cards or a QR code to your LinkedIn profile. Barcamps create connections. But only if you can maintain them afterward.

And bring something to write with. Whether it’s a notebook or a tablet doesn’t matter, but the ideas that emerge in Barcamp sessions disappear quickly if you don’t capture them.

How do I pitch a session that attracts people?

The 60 seconds in front of the group decide whether your session takes place. That sounds like pressure. It is—but the hurdle is lower than you think.

A good pitch has three elements.

First: a clear question or a specific problem. “I want to discuss with you how we can get stakeholders to watch usability tests” works. “I’m doing something on stakeholder management” doesn’t work. The difference: one sparks curiosity, the other remains vague.

Second: specify the format. Do you want to give a ten-minute presentation and then discuss it? Moderate an open Q&A? Work together on a problem? Say so. People want to know what they’re getting into.

Third: Honesty about your own situation. Barcamps reward vulnerability. “I have a problem and am looking for ideas” often attracts more people than “I’ll explain to you how this works.” Both are legitimate, but expectations must align.

What you should avoid: Turning the pitch into a mini-lecture. Don’t explain the entire topic; instead, give the one reason why it’s worth entering the room. Also important: Don’t be afraid of rejection. If not enough hands go up, that’s not a judgment on you. Maybe the wording was too broad.

Maybe there’s a similar topic that can be combined with yours. Some of the best sessions come about exactly that way.

Bottom line: Just do it

Barcamps aren’t a complicated format. The rules are simple, the barrier to entry is low, and the results are often surprisingly good. What you need isn’t a perfect plan, but the courage to ask a question.

If you’ve never been to a Barcamp: Go. Find one in your region or industry and sign up. Make it a point to pitch at least one session. You’ll be surprised how much you get back when you give something.

And if you want to organize your own Barcamp: Start small. 30 people, half a day, four session slots. That’s enough to experience the format and learn what can go better next time.

The best thing about Barcamps isn’t the individual session. It’s the feeling that everyone in the room has something to contribute and that the format gives them the space to do so.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About Barcamps

Do I need prior experience to participate in a Barcamp? 

No. Barcamps are explicitly open to newcomers. The only requirement is a willingness to get involved. This could be hosting your own session, asking a question during a discussion, or simply listening actively.

What happens if no one is interested in my session? 

That’s not a problem and happens from time to time. Sometimes the topic is too broad, sometimes there happens to be a similar topic that attracts more interest. You can adjust your pitch, join another session, or still hold a session with the few interested participants. Small sessions are often the most intense.

How large does a Barcamp need to be to work? 

With about 20 participants, there’s enough diversity for parallel sessions. With fewer than 15, it gets crowded. There’s no upper limit—but for your first Barcamp, 30 to 60 people is a proven framework.

Can I also host a Barcamp remotely? 

Yes, you can. Remote Barcamps use video conferencing tools and digital whiteboards (e.g., Miro or a shared spreadsheet) for the session schedule. The dynamic is different than in person—the informal break-time conversations are missing—but the format works digitally too, provided the moderation is right.

Are Barcamps only for the tech industry? 

No. The format originated in the tech community but has become particularly well-established in the UX scene. Beyond that, industries such as education, healthcare, public administration, and the creative sector use it. Anywhere people with different knowledge come together and want to learn from one another.

Is a Barcamp worth it for UX teams in a company? 

Absolutely. Internal UX Barcamps are excellent for sharing research methods, discussing design decisions across teams, and winning stakeholders over to user-centered work. The open format ensures that it’s not just the loudest voices that are heard.

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