Thank you for participating in the 2024 Burning Man Camp Symposium!
The morning plenary session featured insights from Burning Man leadership, including learnings from BRC 2023, placement trends and plans for 2024, and more. In the afternoon, we dove deeper with 14 breakout sessions covering topics from leadership to acculturation, sustainability, tickets, emergency planning, Placement office hours, and etc.
Learn more about the 2024 Camp Symposium Breakout Speakers, Presenters, and Moderators HERE!
Check back in April 2024 for live recordings of each session!
PLENARY SESSION
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- Learnings from BRC 2023
- Placement Trends and Burning Man Project plans for 2024
- Center Camp Central Plaza / City Plan updates
- Panels on Burner Cultural Stewardship and Volunteerism
- Emergency planning for the next storm
BREAKOUT SESSION 1
- Burnout-Proof Camp Leadership
We’ll explore how to create a well-balanced, burnout-proof leadership structure for camps of all sizes. At the heart of every great camp are members who are committed to the principles of communal effort and participation. In that spirit, we’ll explore strategies for getting enthusiastic involvement from all campmates from the moment they join your camp to the last post-playa unpacking and decompression. - Efficient Camp Layout and Design
What’s the best way to lay out a camp? In this breakout, a panel of experienced camp leads present solutions so that everything is positioned to maximize interactivity, efficiency, and sustainability, given the space allotted by Placement. We welcome your ideas and questions. - Sustaining & Surviving with Solar-Hybrid Power on Playa
Electricity powers our life on the playa, yet the rain in 2023 and dust in 2022 reinforced our need to be prepared for anything. This session will focus on how hybrid power for camps and artists — combining solar, batteries, and generators — can provide safe and sustainable energy in any weather. Topics include lightweight yet rugged multi-use solar structures, portable battery systems, and minimizing fossil fuel generators. - Resilience Through Acculturation
What makes a Burner? How does one learn to live the 10 Principles of Burning Man, especially in the crucible of Black Rock City? How can Camp Leads help to acculturate new Burners into a lived experience of our culture, especially when the sh*t hits the fan? Join us for a lively discussion with a panel of new and experienced Theme Camp Organizers to talk about how they became Burners and how they support new campers. - Tackling Tickets and Tracking Targets
Predicting your camp population for tickets and budget can be tricky to do by the Stewards and Main Sales. Tickets often seem scarce early in the season. What happens if the demand for tickets evaporates late in the season? How do we manage this uncertainty? How do you time your plans so people are fully committed? How do we onboard new campmates and incentivize volunteerism? Join us to discuss all this and more! - Support Sparks: Igniting the Flames of Camp Collaboration
Discover innovative ways support camps can actively engage with and contribute to their neighborhood. From offering services to sharing resources and launching collaborative art projects with neighboring camps, learn how to support camps and elevate the community vibe. - Placement Team Office Hours
Come chat with Level (Associate Director of Placement) and members of the Placement team. Got questions about the placement process? Wondering how to handle village transitions and hubs? Want to talk about ticket demand and sizing your camp? Join us for a session to help you think about your camp’s plans for the year and its future.
BREAKOUT SESSION 2
- Authority Distribution: Unseen Stars in Camp Dynamics
A workshop on maximizing the star power in your camp. Everyone has unique and preferred ways of plugging in. Join this breakout session with Harley K, Dubois, BMP Co-Founder, and Chief Culture Officer, and discover how to harness the power of individual strengths through trust and respect and how informal roles fueled by intrinsic motivation will lead to a successful camp experience. - Camp Creativity Sparked: Design, Frontage, Interactivity
Join us for an enlightening session to explore the theme camp criteria of design, frontage, and interactivity in depth. Theme Camp Leads will share their insights into how they’ve successfully implemented these elements in their camps, while Placers will offer valuable perspectives on “what we are looking for” from the placement team. Discover why these elements are essential for creating a camp experience and learn how to infuse your camp with creativity, innovation, and a healthy dose of playa magic. - 50 Shades of Shade
Rain, heat, dust, wind, mud? No problem! Three camps will share how their structures performed in all kinds of unexpected weather events. We’ll also take a closer look at the different types of shade structures, ground anchors, and material options. Our drag queen hostesses Anita Douchalott and Pholicia Phishsauce will lead Q&A and maybe throw a little shade! After the presentations, you get to decide what shade structures work best. Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines. Let the best shade structure win! - Greening Your Burn with BLAST!
BLAST (Burner Leadership Achieving Sustainable Theme Camps) is a green camp rating system that offers a framework for energy and resource-efficient, environmentally conscientious, and regenerative theme camps. Learn from our high-scoring camp leads for ways to up-level your camp’s sustainability on playa! We will cover 5 key focus areas, sharing best practices for each – Food, Water, Shelter, Transport, and Waste. This session is for anyone interested in sustainable efforts, from beginners to experts. - Be Curious, Not Judgemental
As TCOs, we hold the torch of fun, service, and acculturation. Let’s explore how we foster a culture of acceptance and understanding within our camps. Come learn strategies to acculturate your campmates and inspire curiosity without judgment. Let’s create a space where openness and exploration thrive. - Emergency Planning…Or Not!
This breakout offers practical applications for camps and campers to weather dust, mud and multitudes of chaos. We’ll hear from Temple Burn Crew, VW Buscamp, AEZ, Barbie Death Village, Whiskey and Dust, Costco Soulmate Trading Outlet, Orphan Endorphin, and more! Bring your stories, too. Make peace with uncertainty. Anything can happen! - Open Playa Art: How Theme Camps Support Artists
Come and hear from Burning Man Project’s Art Department! Learn about art on the open playa and how one can register. See how other theme camps support artists and be part of the art of open playa, plazas, and more! And you might want to stay for a sneak peek at the end…
To view content from previous Camp Symposiums, visit Burning Man Project’s YouTube channel. There’s a lot of great information from former years that are still useful today!