Events

LocalGovCamp very close indeed!

I can’t think of much other than LocalGovCamp now. Am literally widdly with excitement at what will be a fabulous day.

Despite the disappointment of a few folk having to drop out at this late stage, the demand for places has been such that substitutes have been found – we’re looking at over 120 people turning up to Fazeley Studios on Saturday morning. Fabulous.

Even better will be the great range of talks and discussions taking place. The beauty of open space events is that the agenda is decided by the people attending, so there’s no arbitrary decisions around what people might or might not find interesting. Some of the stuff includes:

  • How to engage online
  • A sneak preview of Help Me Investigate
  • “Encouraging active citizenship may be seem like a good idea, but it isn’t really”
  • The pros and cons of open source
  • Better use of Google Analytics
  • Is twitter worth bothering with
  • The Public Sector Web Professionals group
  • A social media toolkit for local gov
  • Debategraph
  • Less local government, more social innovation? From local government as an institution to local government as a community

…and many others. All of these sessions will be run by people like the people attending them practitioners talking to practitioners, nobody calling themselves experts, just lots of people with a desire to learn and a desire to share.

Don’t forget that even if you can’t be at the event, you can still join in via the blog, the Google Group, twitter and plenty of other online places. Remember, if you are creating online content, make sure you tag it with localgovcamp so we can bring it all together.

I’ve also started a twitter list of everyone attending, so that those new to twitter can find a bunch of useful people to start talking to. If you are coming, please add yourself. If you aren’t, then start following those on the list so you can keep up with what’s happening!

Finally, a few thank yous to people who have been so remarkably helpful in putting this event together: Vicky Sargent of Boilerhouse and Socitm; Nick Booth; Sammy Williams of Birmingham City Council; Kate Manion at Fazeley Studios; and of course everyone who has contributed via the Google Group or on Twitter.

Massive thank-yous as well to the supporters of the event, without whose sponsorship, this would simply have not got off the ground. You can find them listed on the blog’s supporters page. They are all good people, and should be praised for associating themselves with an event which is quite different from most others.

I doubt I will be back here again until after Saturday. Hopefully then I will be writing about what a success the day was, and where we will be going next with this.

Catching up

Has it really been two weeks since I last posted here? Well, I’ve been busy, doing stuff. I promise.

Here’s a quick roundup of some of the stuff I would normally have been writing about here during the whirlwind of the last fourteen days…

DIUS and BERR are no more, and will now be called BIS. BIS already has a corporate website set up, within days of the creation of the department, all thanks to WordPress. Steph explains how. Neil Williams also played a big part as the other half of the BIS digital dream team

A bit of work I have been doing with Neil at what was BERR and now BIS has been involved with the Digital Britain report, and some of the online engagement around the development of that. This included the live blogging at the Digital Britain Summit a little while ago, and now incorporates a whole host of online stuff to do with the launch of the report next week, as I wrote up on the DB blog.

Following the fun of the PSFBuzz event in Manchester, another one is now planned in Newcastle in July. Once again, it has a stella array of speakers, and as no one else has volunteered, I’ll be chairing again. All the details are on the PSF events page.

More PSF news comes in the form of the PSFBuzz Government Web 2.0 Awards, a gloriously bonkers idea to reward the best in interactive government web stuff at a ceremony in December this year. Sounds like it will be a lot of fun, not least because I’ll be among the judges!

Very sad news that Tom Watson has resigned from his position as Minister for (amongst other things) Digital Engagement. He pushed this agenda much further than any of his predecessors, perhaps because he was the first to truly understand the brief, and what was required. Am sure this will not be the last we hear from him, though, and I’m excited to find out what he will be doing next.

The fact that Sir Tim Berners-Lee is helping out on ‘public information delivery’ has got to be a good thing, though.

LocalGovCamp is now exactly a week away and to say that I am feeling excited about it is something of an understatement. We have a full house of delegates, a load of interesting ideas for sessions and now a gang of people are organising social events for the Friday and Saturday night. Thanks, guys.

Even more exciting is that fact that Google have offered to support the event, and will hopefully be sending some of their guys along to help out with some of the sessions which involve their stuff.

Finally, if you are interested in how press offices can incorporate social web stuff into what they do, Emma’s post is essential reading.

LocalGovCamp group

Much planning is afoot for LocalGovCamp, the unconference for local government which is taking place on 20th June in Birmingham. All tickets are technically sold out, but if you are desperate to come, email me.

I took a wander around the venue – Fazeley Studios – last Friday and have to say I am really, really impressed. Plenty of space, light and airy and lots of blank white walls for projectors or post-it notes!

Remember – what is keeping this event free, and ensuring it is happening at all, is the terrific sponsorship we have received from a variety of sources. Check out the supporters page for more information on who is involved.

Anyone wanting local information about where to go and where to stay can find it on Jon Bounds’ excellent post.

To get some more discussions going around various issues at the event – including people putting forward ideas for sessions – I’ve created a Google Group for email based conversations.

All those with a ticket should have received an email invite. If you would like to join in the group – even if you can’t make the event – sign up below. Everyone is welcome. Well, not everyone. But you know what I mean.

Google Groups
Subscribe to LocalGovCamp
Email:

Visit this group

Even if you don’t fancy joining this group, I’ll still be pinging the odd email to the attendees list on Eventbrite and adding updates to the main blog, so don’t worry!

WordCampUK 2009: 18-19 July

WordCampUKWordCampUK – the only event in the UK dedicated to the joys of WordPress – will be taking place in Cardiff this year, on 18 and 19 July. You can find out all the details on the official blog, which has been beautifully put together by Simon Wheatley and Laura Kalbag.

To find out what some of the sessions will likely be about, check out the wiki page which lists the ideas that people have had.

The two big draws for me will be the chance to hear from Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress and the company that supports it Automattic. The other will be my old friend Simon Dickson, who will no doubt provided another of his highly motivating rants.

If you are interested in finding out more about WordPress and its possibilities, there is no easier way of finding all the people that matter in the same room. Well worth £35 in my book (and only £25 if you’re quick!). Book here, now.

And yes, I am aware that this blog has become rather event-heavy of late. Sorry. Normal, more creative, service to be resumed shortly…

Fresh ideas for tomorrow’s people

I had the good fortune to finally meet Mary McKenna at the PSF event last week. Mary is the MD of Learning Pool, e-learning providers at large to the public sector. She is also on Twitter, and therefore must be a good egg.

Mary and her team have been jolly supportive of LocalGovCamp, and a delegation from Northern Ireland will be making their way to Birmingham next month. I therefore thought it only reasonable to point DavePressers to Learning Pool’s own event, which takes place later on this month.

Called Fresh ideas for tomorrow’s people, the event promises to

benefit smart organisations who want to find out how to use new media to create efficiencies and service improvements.

Having a well trained and motivated workforce is the key for the future. This interactive, fun and unstuffy conference featuring speakers, interactive showcases and masterclasses exploring new media, will generate practical ideas to help make this happen.

You can find out more on Learning Pool’s blog, and book your place on the event page.

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