So you’re coming to CityCampNYC, welcome! CityCamp NYC is a one-day unconference where neighbors, technologists, community organizers, students, and public servants come together to imagine and build a better city.
At CityCamp NYC, you help shape the agenda. Instead of a pre-set schedule, you will pitch session ideas on the day of the event. This guide will walk you through how to turn it into a CityCamp NYC session that you then facilitate.
The Unconference Basics
The Four Principles
Keep in mind the four guiding principles as you pitch, lead, and attend sessions:
- Whoever shows up to your session are the right people.
- Whatever happens is the only thing that could happen.
- Whenever it starts is the right time.
- Whenever it’s over, it’s over.
The Law of Mobility
Attendees can participate or leave sessions as they feel most comfortable. If they aren’t learning or contributing, they are welcome to leave the session and take themselves wherever they feel they need to be. People can move between breakouts!
Developing & Pitching Your Session
Step 1: Start with an idea
Think about something you’d like to see change or improve in our city. Maybe it’s safer bike lanes, a new civic tech tool to make public services easier to access, or a fresh way for neighbors to connect. Big or small, every idea is welcome.
Step 2: Pick a peer-led session format
CityCamp NYC thrives on peer-led sessions, which means everyone is invited to participate. In this style of facilitation, no one is “in charge” of the content. The facilitator isn’t “teaching,” they’re there to guide by helping the group self-organize, keeping the conversation on track, and making space for every voice.
Check out this list of potential peer-led facilitation activities, or design your own!
Step 3: Assemble your Pitch
At CityCamp NYC, you’ll have a simple form to fill out with three pieces of information:
- Session title (make it clear and fun!)
- Short description of your idea or topic
- Session format (what type of peer-led activity you’d like to run)
Sessions are about 60 minutes. And remember, you don’t need to be an expert to pitch. All you need is curiosity and a willingness to explore your idea with others.
Example of a Good Session Pitch
- Title: Mapping Safer Bike Routes Together
- Description: Many of us want safer, more accessible bike lanes in our neighborhoods. Let’s share our lived experiences, map out problem spots, and brainstorm how we can advocate for change. By the end of this session, we’ll have a community-generated map of safety concerns and ideas for action.
- Format: Idea Storm + Group Mapping Activity
Why this works: The title is clear and inviting. The description sets context, gives participants a reason to join, and hints at an outcome. The format is specific and participatory.
Example of a Decent Attempt (But Could Be Improved)
- Title: Improving NYC Transportation
- Description: Transportation in NYC affects everyone, in this session we can share our experiences and talk about ways the system could be better.
- Format: Group Discussion
Why this is a good attempt: The title is somewhat clear and the description shows intent to focus on lived experiences and solutions. The format invites participation.
How it could be better:
Step 4: Pitch your session idea
Once you’ve got your title, description, and format, you’re ready to pitch!
Session pitches will happen live at CityCamp on September 6 in the morning around 10:00 AM. But if you’d like to share early, head over to our subreddit at reddit.com/r/PublicInterestNYC to post your session, find collaborators, and join the conversation ahead of time. Attend CityCamp NYC if you want to see your session pitch come to life!
Step 5: How pitches are selected
- Write your idea
- Keep it short, clear, and inspiring.
- Half-formed ideas are fine — others may want to co-facilitate!
- Submit your card
- Add it to the Creative Backlog area, ideally within the most relevant category.
- Try to cluster with similar topics to help with idea grouping.
- Be ready to lead your session
- If your idea is moved to The Board, you’ll be the session facilitator.
- You don’t have to be an expert — just help guide the conversation.
Step 6: Running your Session
If your session is selected you will see it posted on The Board (IRL and Virtual) and receive an email with your room assignment.
Head to the room to introduce yourself and check in with your room’s Session Scribe in a blue BetaNYC t-shirt, who will be supporting you.
Kick off your session with a brief introduction of yourself. Invite folks to collaborate with the Session Scribe in the shared Session Notes doc (from The Virtual Board)
Lead a super brief ice breaker (ideally less than 30secs per participant).
(4) Brief Icebreakers to pick from
- Name and Super power: Have all attendees state their name and a super power they’ve always wanted.
- One-word check-in: State your name and, in one word, how are you arriving today?
- Name and Emoji: State your name and your favorite emoji.
- Name and Fav NYC Park: State your name and favorite park in the five NYC boroughs.
Jump into your peer-led Session! As you lead your session, follow two golden rules:
- Keep the conversation moving, progressing, and evolving. Gently redirect participants who go off-topic or dominate the discussion.
- Try to ensure everyone gets a chance to speak. Actively invite quieter participants to contribute.
In the last ~5 minutes, the Session Scribe will support you with a wrap-up, which should include a recap of the conversation and actionable items. Focus on reflections, commitments, and next steps.
If more time is needed, consider moving to the 3rd Floor Commons for follow-up conversations, action planning, and resource sharing.
Examples of Session formats and peer-led facilitation techniques
These are some examples of how to plan a peer-led unconference session. Feel free to build on these ideas or try something new! The key is to make space for everyone to speak and contribute to the session. Keep the conversation moving, progressing, and evolving, and encourage diverse perspectives while making space for quieter voices.
- A short presentation to get things started: 5-15 minutes of prepared material/comments by the facilitation leader, followed by an interactive discussion
- Birds of a Feather (BOF): an informal get-together of people with a common niche interest who belong to a specific community, and who are unlikely to find an event that’s specifically for them.
- Group discussion: Someone identifies a topic they are interested in, others join the conversation, and an interesting discussion happens
- My Big (or Little) Question: You have a question you want to know the answer to, and you think others in the group could help you answer it. This format could also be the seed of a conversation.
- Show and tell: You have a cool project, a demo, or something to show that people can play with, serving as the springboard for the session’s conversation. Alternatively, you can invite others to bring their items to show and tell (perhaps with a theme), with everyone taking a turn sharing.
- Learn how to do X: If you’re inclined to teach, this can be simple and effective. Bring the equipment you’ll need, and have a plan to teach five, ten, or 15 people how to do something simultaneously.
- Round Robin: After introducing a topic, give each participant a chance to speak on it.
- Voting: write ideas about topics on sticky notes or a board, and everyone gets to vote on what to discuss.
- Idea Storm: If there are several topics to discuss, participants can organize into small groups to discuss and come back together to share at the end.
- Reverse Ideastorm: Instead of “What makes a good meeting?”, invite everyone to share “What makes a bad meeting?”
- How-Now-Wow Matrix: Invite participants to list ideas/solutions to the session topic and then vote either with “how”, “wow”, or “now”. The bucket of blue and green ideas creates examples of potential future action.
- Future Workshop: Introduce the session, provide each participant with a paper and pen, ask them to write down pain-points with that idea, then ask them to fantasize about their desired future and share.
- Six Thinking Hats: Introduce a topic, split the participants into six groups who evaluate the topic on the six different “hats” or perspectives. Each group brainstorms and then shares with the Blue hats, going back and forth and trying to create consensus.
- Example Session: Bridging the Digital Divide in Public Libraries
- Description:
- Public libraries are often the front line for digital inclusion, but do they have the resources to meet community needs? This session will explore the role of libraries in closing the digital divide and imagine innovative solutions.
- Format: Six Thinking Hats
- White Hat: Current facts — Wi-Fi access, digital literacy classes, device lending.
- Yellow Hat: Success stories and community benefits of library tech programs.
- Black Hat: Limitations like staffing, funding, or uneven access across branches.
- Red Hat: Emotional experiences — frustration, relief, empowerment.
- Green Hat: New ideas (mobile tech vans, community tech fellows, 24/7 Wi-Fi).
- Blue Hat: Synthesize into a roadmap of practical next steps.
- Brainwriting: Introduce the topic, and each person gets an index card. Each participant writes one idea about the topic on the index card and passes it to the next person. That person writes an idea inspired by what they read. At the end, the cards are read aloud and shared by the last person to have the card in-hand.
- Example Session: Designing Fairer Access to NYC Parks
- Description:
- Not all New Yorkers have equal access to amenities in parks. In this session, we’ll use Brainwriting to imagine ways to make NYC’s parks more equitable by passing and building on each other’s ideas.
- Format: Brainwriting
- Each participant writes one idea for improving park equity (e.g., more shade structures, multilingual signage, community-led programming).
- Cards are passed around; each person adds a new idea sparked by the previous one.
- After several rounds, the final holder of each card shares the full list aloud.
- Skill share/show-and-tell: Invite folks to share their knowledge, skill, or experience on the topic as a conversation springboard