UKGovCamp 2010

Writing this blog whilst on the train to work on a cold Monday morning. Normally I'll still be quite dead to the world and running on auto-pilot. But this morning I have a strange buzz about me. The reason for the buzz was an event I went to on Saturday. UKGovCamp was billed as an un-conference and it certainly lived up to its billing. With most conferences you attend, you are given a fixed agenda before hand. You can see exactly what you are going to get out of it and which part of the day you could have a quiet nap in whilst you wait for the bit you are really interested in. We'll this is not like that at all. To start off all delegates were given the opportunity to 'host a session' and talk about some aspect of Local Gov web that interested them or they were having issues with and wanted to chat about it with others that have been or are going through the same stuff. Talks about the future were also discussed. The session leaders then added their sessions to the agenda (post it notes stuck on the wall to you and me ) and off we went. You picked a session you wanted to attend off you went. Laptop in hand so we could tweet about the session, record notes etc. The sessions I went to were

Local Gov Web group - Hosted by Jan from Lancashire Council, seems she was just starting on the Web 2.0 route and was daunted by the road ahead and trying to persude the council that it was correct was to go. Hopefully the advise we gave her was useful.

Then off to one about gov data, but wasn't quite what I expected so off I went and joined one on social Internal Comms, not really my area but interesting to hear that other councils can make a good go at social internal comms.

Goggle Wave - I made a point of attending this session as I feel I should know more about it, but don't. Didn't get as much out of this as I hoped. The session leader was obviously a fan of Google Wave. Another thought it was 'crap', where as most were in the middle. Yes it can be useful but it's too complicated to use, and if us geeks are having trouble with it then what chance have normal people got of using it.

Then off to a session where Michele from Cambridgeshire talked about one of their project to help communities in the north of the county, where there is high unemployment, those that are in employment are in low paid agricultural work. The project is trying to connect communities on-line and raise the status of the area. Interesting stuff.

Finally, how to made Local Gov Web more exciting. Hosted by Liz from Camden Council, who is the most passionate person about Local Gov web of anyone I've ever met. Her enthusiast was infectious. A lively debate ensured about the rights and wrongs of page design, reaching out to the local community etc. It was great to see that others think like me and are facing and have overcome similar issues. We all agreed that the SOCITM reports are good but only look at one aspect of Local Gov Web, data, but don't look at design at all.

To me there were also two other sessions that were equally as important as those mentions about. Lunch and in the pub after the event. Now I know that those of you who know me well will think that I like the former due to food and the latter due to beer, especially as I now write my Beer Blog. But no its wasn't like that. Lunch time I chatted with two guys who I've tweeted with before but never met and we has a great conversation and the ideas for projects I got from them were great. Ideas that I can also use in my other capacity as webmaster for the Bournemouth Aviation Museum. Many thanks to Dan from Walsall and Al from Newcastle. Great stuff.

The evening session in the pub was good. Finally caught up with Sarah from Derbyshire, who again I tweet with but never met, together with Dan and Al again there was more inspitring stuff and just a generally chin wag about council stuff. The beer was nice, Doom Bar (4% ABV) from the Sharps Brewery in Cornwall. A 'perfectly balanced and complex blend of succulent dried fruit, lightly roasted malty notes and a subtle yet assertive bitterness' , so says their head brewer. I agree this, well nice beer, subtle yet assertive bitterness.

But that's not the end of it. Not by a long way and maybe that's what's giving me a slight buzz. I know that when I get to work there will be messages tweeted about the event, blogs written, photos and videos published etc. And those excellent conversations we had on Saturday will continue. I'm sure you are like me and after a conference think of some question you wish you could put to someone at the event. Well I have such questions and now, thanks to the way the event was set up, with blogs, twitter and its own website I can ask those questions, so the conversations will go on and that I what I think I'll gain most from this event. The networking side, cementing friendships I already had on twitter and meeting new people. There is a great community spirit in the group. Thanks to all who organised and took part in the event.