10 March 2009 | Freelancing Tips | Danalyn

As the economy dwindles and layoffs continue, job fairs are becoming increasingly popular. But what happens when there just aren’t enough companies hiring at these job fairs and the results turn out to be more depressing than the recession itself?

People turn to each other for support and that’s what Laid Off Camp is all about!

Technology enthusiast and freelance consultant Chris Hutchins decided to hold an “unconference” to lift spirits and discuss alternative means of income. Instead of paying large sums of money to attend a conference only to have someone talk at you, the idea behind the ad-hoc “unconference” is to let everyone have a chance to speak.

The inaugural Laid Off Camp was held in San Francisco on March 3rd, with the Dallas Laid Off Camp following closely behind on March 6th. oDesk had the opportunity to both sponsor and participate in Laid Off Camp at both the San Francisco and Dallas gatherings, which brought in over 500 participants combined.

Freelancing and Social Networking

While countless people shared tales of woe, there were also some very inspirational success stories were told that gave many of the recently laid off participants a glimmer of hope: self-employment.

In light of the recession, many people have been able to earn income outside the traditional workplace. Some have gone on to form consulting agencies, while others have turned to freelancing (including me).

From software developers to writers to marketing professionals, many have been able to leverage the setbacks from layoffs by working for themselves. Whether they used online job boards or word of mouth to obtain work, one thing was obvious: social media plays a big part in it all.

In fact, the camp itself relied heavily on Twitter and Facebook to get the word about the event out. The date of the Dallas gathering was only announced the week of the event but, with the help of Twitter, the turnout was great.

Laid Off Camp in Dallas

At the Dallas Laid Off Camp, I had the opportunity to speak about how oDesk has helped me when I found myself jobless last summer. I’ve met a lot of people, both buyers and sellers, who have never heard of oDesk, but were very interested in what we have to offer. In fact, people were so interested exploring oDesk and freelancing as an alternative income stream that what was initially supposed to be a 20-minute speaking session turned into a 3-hour engagement!

Among the interesting people I’ve met was Vicki, a graphic designer who was recently laid off from the Dallas Morning News (newspaper), and Connie, a technical writer for Nokia who was laid off in January. Both women are extremely talented and have tons of experience. As we’ve seen in our oConomy, these job fields can be very lucrative for talented providers. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to give them (and many more) a complete demonstration of how oDesk really works – from signing up to getting paid.

We weren’t able to get any video footage of the San Francisco Laid Off Camp, but here are some of the introductions from the Dallas Laid Off Camp, which was organized by Cone Johnson and Neils Brooks.