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Hacking the TV Unconference for Fun and Infamy…

Posted on August 31, 2007
Filed Under Conferences |

Yes, I suppose now I’m catching up with the events of August, I can say mea culpa to the crazy hacking of the TV Unfestival organised by the BBC Backstage team.

Now, always remember that one of my rules for attending events is to try and be memorable. This has lead to some rather crazy things (the iPod Shuffle Shuffle being one of the most infamous). The TV Unfestival was held right at the end of the Fringe run, so my brain wasn’t in full ‘be careful’ mode, and on seeing the naming convention of the rooms, I was horrified…

Not to worry though - this is an Unconference. So I added in a session early in the day - “Bring Back British: Supporting UK Television” - which amazingly filled one of the smaller rooms. Where a lively discussion was held, plans were made, and the team exploded out the door with paper, pens, blue tac and distractions to put up some more appropriate room names…

Because of the Un-conference nature of the event, the schedule would shift and change over the day. At one point the room names were hacked into famous British actors sayings, from Buffy Characters.
BBC Backstage Blog

Incidentally, the Unfestival was hacked itself by (we assume) some patriotic TV types who objected to the rooms being named after Buffy characters. Some wag went round relabelling them after British actors…
The Guardian

For the record… Douglas Adams, Neil Innes, Alistair Cooke, Johnny “Think of a Room” Ball, Mr Rigsby, Frank Bough, Bungle and Zippy and The Pike Theatre “You Stupid Boy.”