beCamp 2026 brought together a community willing to share ideas, ask questions, and learn from one another. Across the two days, 100 people checked in and attendees pitched 64 sessions, spanning AI, civic technology, robotics, books, health, careers, parenting, music, and more.
The range was part of the experience. Attendees valued the chance to encounter ideas they might not have sought out on their own, meet thoughtful people, and take part in a welcoming event without a recruiter-focused atmosphere. The reflections below gather ideas from the closing retrospective and the follow-up discussion. They are suggestions for future planning, not decisions already made.
Keep
- The participant-led unconference format, where attendees pitch sessions and help shape the schedule.
- The welcoming opening orientation and history of beCamp, which helped newcomers understand the event and its culture.
- A broad mix of technical and nontechnical topics. Attendees appreciated that the program was not entirely focused on AI.
- The community-first atmosphere, including good food and coffee, the School of Data Science venue, and time to learn from one another.
- Hands-on opportunities, including the robotics community session.
- The no-recruiter feel that helped keep attention on sharing, curiosity, and community.
Change
- Leave more time between sessions so people can move rooms, take a break, and continue conversations.
- Ask presenters to begin their pitches with a clear title.
- Revisit the voting process. Attendees suggested considering more than five votes and ways to make it easier to see the pitches while voting.
- Look at whether self check-in worked well, and bring back name badge tags, such as hiring, so people can find the conversations they want.
- Make it easier for newcomers to understand what they can pitch, how to join the local Slack, and what to expect before arriving. Promote the Cville Slack more widely, too.
- Improve registration and pre-event communication, including confirmation emails and helpful reminders.
- Make fuller use of the venue’s large video wall and ensure rooms have microphones that let everyone hear questions.
Try
- Create more room for lightning talks and consider reserving a few session slots for first-time presenters.
- Encourage people with related pitches to connect and combine sessions when it makes sense.
- Share all pitch proposals after the event, including those that did not make the schedule. Add presenter names and session materials where available, with an opt-in way for people to share contact details.
- Experiment with online voting for pitches.
- Try volunteer note-takers or session summaries to help preserve useful ideas and make it easier to follow up, and consider recording sessions.
- Make it easier for attendees to find each other after beCamp.
- Add more collaborative, hands-on sessions and experiment with creative uses of the video wall.
- Ask attendees whether they would use kid-friendly activities or an optional way to contribute financially.
- Explore promoting beCamp more widely, including through UVA faculty, and whether a shorter gathering like beSwarm could return.
The retrospective also surfaced a larger point: as beCamp grows, the challenge is to make room for more people and ideas while preserving the openness, variety, and personal connections that make the event valuable.
Thanks to everyone who pitched, presented, volunteered, asked questions, shared resources, and showed up curious. Organizing is open to anyone who wants to help shape what comes next; interested people can join the beCamp conversation in the Cville Slack.