Tiny House Conference » Ryan Mitchell

Welcome Hari and Karl!

Ryan Mitchell — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 20:59:27 +0000

We have finally rounded out our speaker list for the 2014 conference and we did so with Hari and Karl. They are better know as “The Tiny House Family” that were featured on Anderson Cooper’s show. Hari and Karl along with their two kids live in a tiny house they built themselves for $12,000.

Karl designed and built the family’s tiny house and outbuildings using salvaged, found, donated, and craiglisted items. Karl has consulted with several folks helping them dream up and design their perfect space. He is currently building his family’s mortgage-free bigger house utilizing the advanced framing technique for stick-built homes, allowing for more insulation and fewer materials. He has developed innovative building techniques that allow him to work inexpensively and almost single-handedly.

Come join us in Charlotte to see Karl and Hari’s talk on their experiences. See you in Charlotte!

New Tiny House At The Conference – John’s Housetruck!

Ryan Mitchell — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 17:17:35 +0000

Today we are happy to announce we have added a new tiny house (actually a house truck) to the line up of houses that will be at the conference. A house truck is essentially a tiny house, but instead of a trailer, it is build on a truck bed. In this case it is built on a commercial Isuzu truck and has a lot of tiny house flair.

I am personally excited because this is one of the first house trucks I ever found and I followed it ever since.

See this house truck and many more at the conference! See you in Charlotte!

Tiny House Building Work Bench

Ryan Mitchell — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 04:00:19 +0000

Working on my house for the upcoming conference, I thought I’d share a quick video I shot about how I setup my workspace while I’m building. For me this is the most efficient setup that allows me to get a lot done. Things like this are the interesting tips you will hear from people who have built and lived in tiny houses which make up our amazing speakers.

Volunteer Tickets – Tiny House Conference

Ryan Mitchell — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 19:27:09 +0000

One of the things we realized from the get go is that while we feel like the conference we are putting on is a great value, we know that there are those people out there who aren’t able to save up for a ticket. We also knew that we’d need some help at the event because its going to be big, so we need to be sure everyone has a great time and we need help making that happen.

So that is why we created our “pay what you can” volunteer tickets. The concept is simple, pay what you can within your budget and then we will have you volunteer at the event helping us out to make up whatever the difference is. We want to reserve these tickets for those who are truly not able to afford a full price ticket.

There are some requirements of the volunteer that we have because of the nature of things we need help with.

Arrive on Friday by 6pm and stay until Sunday 5pm. No exceptions.
Be willing to help attendees with a positive attitude
Be able to stand for at least 1 hr at a time, walk, bend, talk, and lift up to 20lbs
Have a working cell phone the days of the event

So if you think you meet the above and want to attend on a volunteer ticket let us know by filing out the below form. There is a limit of 15 slots available and we will review every person’s application. We will select who the tickets will go to in the next few weeks, so tell us why you’d like to come and help us understand your situation.

See you in Charlotte!

Last Day For Early Bird Tickets

Ryan Mitchell — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 18:43:27 +0000

Today is the last day for you get your tickets and save $50! Sign up now and save!

Q: Where & When is the conference

A: The conference will be in Charlotte, NC April 5th & 6th, 2014

Q: What will happen at the conference?

A: We have 12 tiny house experts that will teach you everything from building to living in a tiny house, plus a ton of tiny houses to tour in person, plus so much more! Our schedule

Q: How much are tickets?

A: $250 for early bird, $300 for regular

Q: Where will I stay? Are there campsites? hotels?

A: We are holding our event a McDowell Nature preserve, they have 60 campsites and there are 3 hotels within 5 minutes drive. Reserve your site today, details here

Q: I can’t afford tickets, can I volunteer?

A: Yes, we have 15 “pay what you can” volunteer tickets. These are reserved for those who truly can’t afford full price, they pay what they can afford and then volunteer their time to make up for the rest. More info here We also have a carpool forum.

Early Bird Tickets End Soon

Ryan Mitchell — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 15:06:02 +0000

I can’t believe how close we are getting to the conference, this is something that we have been working on for so long and in a few short months we’ll be gathering in Charlotte. We wanted to be sure people can get their tickets soon so they can take advantage of the early discount. We’ll see you in Charlotte!

Last week for our Early Bird Tickets – sign up before October 1st and save $50!

Get your tickets today!

Register now!

TinyHouseConference.com

Building A New Life With Tiny Houses

Ryan Mitchell — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 17:38:11 +0000

Tiny houses have long been known for their many benefits such as financial, environmental, and simple living, but even after blogging about it over at The Tiny Life for years it surprised me when I realized how dramatically it is going to change my life once I move into my tiny house. It’s already making a difference and my house isn’t done yet. I have paid my last month’s rent and looking at this coming paycheck, I know almost all of it is going straight to the bank.

Sure I have to buy food, gas, and utilities, and other things, but these expense are pretty small and with the tiny house I expect some of them to get even smaller (utilities). Once I move into my tiny house the financial situation changes so much it means that my job situation can change so I can spend less time working and more time doing things I love.

As I’ve said, even though I knew this impact in my head, the realization that I’ve achieved it is something that has had an unexpected effect, it is a new level that I never really understood until now. It has reaffirmed that what tiny houses bring to people’s lives is magical.

See you in Charlotte.

Making Connections

Ryan Mitchell — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 17:00:14 +0000

One of the most powerful things about the tiny house movement is that it is a community. Meaning we are not only building tiny houses, but we are building community around those houses. There is nothing more inspiring than connecting with people who have done what you hope to do and to meet people who are on the same journey you are.

At events like this conference we are able to find great connections with people that are not only interested in tiny houses, but we often find people who are interested in tiny houses from where we live. This is big. When I started my journey of building my tiny house I was able to find a few local people who loved tiny houses and even one couple who was building a house themselves. This was a huge help to my own process because we could talk about what we were doing, where we found certain materials and tackle problems together.

The connections you can make at events is really amazing because you’ll never find more tiny house folks in one place. So we welcome you to connect with the community. We’ll see you in Charlotte.

Food Trucks For The Conference

Ryan Mitchell — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 21:21:22 +0000

We are going to be inviting some food trucks to the Tiny House Conference and we wanted to see what you all thought about who we should invite! The event is near the edge of Charlotte and pretty close to some decent restaurants, but we thought why not bring the food to us!? Many of these places we have eaten from and we love to support local business while we delicious food. So it seemed like a no brainier! Feel free to recommend other food trucks in the area!

The first one up is a personal favorite, I eat from them every time I go to the farmers market. They always have amazing food. Check them out at: Roots

These folks are another local favorite that many people rave about. Check the out at Pig & Cow

The Tiny Kitchen also pushes out great food around the Queen City, check them out here

So what truck do you think we should invite for our conference?

Open Space – Self Organizing Conference Learning

Ryan Mitchell — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 12:50:31 +0000

A few years ago I was introduce to the concept of Open Space at training I went to and was blow away by its potential. While many people haven’t heard of Open Space, once explained, they intuitively understand it. The concept emerged when some people began to notice that most of the learning and real work at conferences, didn’t happen in sessions or keynotes, but in between sessions, afterwards and on coffee breaks.

From that they developed Open Space – A self organizing learning conference session. We decided to incorporate this into the Tiny House Conference at the very end because people will have all these ideas swirling in their heads and some will want to talk about that one burning question they have yet to get answered. That’s what Open Space is all about!

The process is simple:

Participants take a sheet of paper, write down a suggested topic, question etc
They place the sheet of paper on the wall to determine a place and time for the discussion
They then share with the group what the topic is and where/when the conversation will take place
After the wall is filled, people choose a topic, meet the others interested in that topic, and start talking

What this allows you to do is take control over your own learning, to get all those unanswered questions resolved and meet people who are interested in your interest. Below is a video of how it looks in practice.