Imagine there’s this event you really want to organize. There’s no event like that yet. How to get 200 visitors, location, reporting and organize it for…free?
In the end of 2009 some people from Be More, Frivista and 1%CLUB came together. Because of personal motivations we wanted to get things done by connecting people and at the same moment do ‘something fun’. It was clear it was going to be an event. So, we already had those two, main important, ingredients:
- An idea
- The right people
Let’s get started.
On January 22nd for the first time ‘UZ‘ took place. Why ‘UZ’? It’s not about them, it’s about UZ. With a budget of 50 euro we brought together 200 people who joined the Open Space sessions. During these sessions people had 2 possibilities: ‘I’m here to ask help for …‘ or ‘I’m here to offer …‘. Nothing more, nothing less.
All sessions were on the subject of sustainability and everything in the wider range of ‘a better world’.
So there was John who asked people to have a brainstorm with him how he could make the best use of solar energy in Kenya. Or Jaap. Jaap is journalist and offered to give a workshop about what the best way is to write and distribute a press release. And Tatiana, she was was looking for expertise to make a draft for a online game for her project in Colombia.
So, how to organize an event with a budget of just 50 euro. Well, here are the two, main important, ingredients:
- An good idea, that people love to share
- The right people, with the same passion
Seats2Meet.com was willing to offer its beautiful location, for free. And photographer Jan Willem Groen liked UZ that much that he offered to make a photo report. And the rest? Well, all of us (UZ) was doing just the thing (s)he liked to do. Where the passion is. And what expertise you got. And some time you offer to make it true: we organized UZ besides our regular jobs and activities.
Tomorrow UZ#2 will take place. How will it go? A new challenge will occure: this time we pay a fee for the location. Instead of charging admission we ask people afterwards what they think it was worth for them. What’s (the idea of) UZ worth to you?
