[cross-posting from the TechSoup blog]

Next week, I'll be attending The Online Community Unconference (OCU), along with my TechSoup community colleague, Susan Tenby. The OCU is a gathering of online community practitioners - managers, developers, business people, tool providers, investors - to discuss experience and strategies in the development and growth of online communities. Those involved in online community development, for-profits and nonprofits alike share many common challenges: community management, tools, marketing, business models, legal issues. And often the best source of information on all of these challenges is other knowledgeable practitioners, which is what makes the OCU a rewarding event.

"What's an unconference?", you say? Well there's a good description of it here and a detailed FAQ here. Suffice to say, you won't be seeing the usual powerpoints and formal presentations, but instead the sessions and topics are proposed and chosen by the users. Topics might include online community metrics, new opportunities in social media, online community challenges in an economic downturn, building leaders in the community, and community management best practices. I was fortunate to attend last year's OCU and found myself inspired by all the interesting people I met and walked away with many new ideas for TechSoup's community and social media efforts.

Discounted tickets are available, including special deals for recently laid-off online community professionals. You can find more event information, or information about sponsorship opportunities here. And you can tweet about the conference and follow the action on Twitter using the #ocu2009 hashtag.