Spreading the GovCamp love

A quick cross post of something Steph put up on the MoreOpen blog, highlighting the great events funded in part by UKGC11.

At the beginning of March, we announced a small grant scheme using sponsorship from the UKGovcamp in January 2011 to help seed-fund a batch of further such events around the country. We had some great applications, and here’s the list of who we’ve funded so far:

We Are What We Tweet
8 April 2011

As part of the Social Media as Practise course as MA students of Social Media at Birmingham City University, the class staged a one day event looking examining the context of social media use and how it can bring governments and citizens together.

Recipient: Chioma Agwuegbo
Received: £300

ShropCamp
19 April 2011

Focused on communities and services. How can we use social media and open data to help service providers to work more effectively at a local level?

Recipient: Ben Proctor
Received: £600

MailCamp
12 May 2011

MailCamp is a free, one-off show & tell event on 12 May for people interested in how the public sector uses email marketing, newsletter and alerts to engage its audiences.

Recipient: Steph Gray
Received: £600

YouthWorkOnline unconference
21 May 2011

This one-day free open space event brings together practitioners from youth work, participation and voluntary youth projects with digital media developers and experts to share ideas and practice, to explore what the digital world means for young people’s lives, and for services seeking to support young people as they navigate growing up in a connected world.

Register at: http://cgen11.eventbrite.com/

Recipient: Tim Davies
Received: £600

Localgovcamp
18 June 2011

LocalGovCamp is coming back to its spiritual home, Birmingham, this June – and it’s going to be bigger and better than ever. 200 of the most innovative and creative people in the local government sector will be coming together on a Saturday to talk about making things better – sometimes with technology, sometimes not.

Register at: http://localgovcamp2011.eventbrite.com/

Recipient: Dave Briggs
Received: £1,000

LearnPod
13 July 2011

LearnPod aims to debate the use of technology and innovation in learning, predominantly in the post-16 education context.

Register at: http://learnpod11.eventbrite.com

Recipient: Kevin Campbell-Wright
Received: £500

QuangoCamp

July/August 2011 TBC

A one day pratical & sharing event for those who don’t quite fit in with central gov, are a long way from local gov and also don’t quite click with the events in higher education, museums or the charity sector. Reclaiming the word ‘quango’ for a positive, rather than a focus for scorn.

Recipient: Matt Jukes
Received: £400

ScotGovCamp
September 2011, TBC

ScotGovCamp is a self organised unconference for people who work in and around government in Scotland.

Recipient: Lesley Thomson
Received: £500

North London LocalGovCamp
TBC

A North London localgovcamp event, inviting people who are involved with related projects, focusing on North London boroughs – Camden, Islington, Haringey, Barnet, etc.

Recipient: Anke Holst
Received: £300

RuralCamp
TBC

Recipient: Dave Briggs
Received: £200

Ten spin-off projects ain’t bad going, touching maybe another 1000 people and keeping the govcamp buzz and optimism going through the year. Good luck – and thanks in advance – to the organisers above, and another big thank you to the original sponsors of UKGovcamp whose patronage helped all of these get off the ground via MoreOpen. An organiser of one of the events reported:

You were the first people to offer us sponsorship and that managed to convince other people to take us seriously. Without your help we probably wouldn’t have been able to deliver the event at all.

There’s a few quid left (really, not very much) so if you’re inspired to run your own event and would like a bit of help getting it off the ground, you know where to go.

 

Fancy sponsoring LocalGovCamp?

LocalGovCamp isn’t far away – just over a month. So far 150 tickets have gone and we have another 50 which we are looking to distribute in a new way to get a few different faces along!

So we’ll have 200 of the most innovative and creative people in local government in one place, on a Saturday, ready to talk about how we can improve the way we do things. It’s going to be ace.

One thing we do need though is money. Bringing the event out of London made finding a free venue impossible, and so we face a bigger bill than usual from the get-go. On top of that we have some extra money to find for some unexpected expenses.

So, if you would like to help this event out and ensure it’s the success it ought to be, please get in touch with any offers of cash you might have spare.

  • £250 gets your logo on the website, the ability to bring a pop up stand and some marketing literature with you, and lots of vocal thanks throughout the day.
  • £500 gets you all the above plus a logo on the t-shirt.
  • Anything substantial over the £500 mark means I’ll also give you a piggy back around for the day (or something).

Thanks go to those who have already put their hands in their pockets: the MoreOpen fund, Huddle, LGIU and Podnosh. Also Digital Birmingham who have helped massively with organising things. Oh, and Kind of Digital of course 😉

LocalGovCamp tickets available!

LocalGovCamp is coming back to Birmingham on the 18th June!

200 of the most innovative and creative people in the local government sector will be coming together on a Saturday to talk about making things better – sometimes with technology, sometimes not.

LocalGovCamp is an unconference – basically a conference that’s fun. There’s no agenda until we sort it out on the day – which means no keynoters, no grandstanding and just good conversations.

Grab your ticket on Eventbrite while you can.

We’re also still looking for sponsors, so do get in touch if you’d like to help out.

Digital engagement workshop, Peterborough, 25th May

Introduction to Digital Engagement Workshop

Wednesday, 25th May, 2011 – The Bull Hotel, Peterborough

We are delighted to announce this workshop introducing local authorities to the opportunity offered by the web and social media to enable effective engagement with citizens and communities.

Facilitated by Kind of Digital’s Director, Dave Briggs, who has a wealth of experience advising government on digital engagement at all levels – from small local authorities to 10 Downing Street – attendees will come away with a full grasp of the background and potential of this work as well as a practical toolkit to get underway.

The agenda, a blended mixture of engaging talks, group discussion and practical exercises, will include the following sessions:

  • How local authorities can use the web and social networks to engage citizens and communities
  • Case studies of good practice use of emerging technology to engage by those involved in local government
  • How to develop a digital engagement strategy for your work
  • Choosing the right tools and approach to meet your objectives
  • Getting around organisational barriers to implementing your plan

Further support

As well as the training on the day, attendees will benefit from post-event support and learning. This includes exclusive access to a follow-up web conference and an online support forum.

Prices

If you book your place before 6th May, you receive the benefit of an early bird discount, so don’t delay!

  • Early bird price – £125 + VAT
  • Standard price – £150 + VAT

Book now!

Find out more details – including a full agenda – and book at www.kindofdigital.com/pboro25may now!

Alternatively, get in touch:

Phone: 020 3286 5186

Email: hello@kindofdigital.com