On Friday i attended the second Likeminds event in Exeter. This post will purely be my first thoughts and reflections as i know from attending the first event last year that many more thoughts will evolve, along with blog posts over the coming weeks.
So here goes with the random thoughts and observations and in no particular order:
Don’t become a friend of a brand, local government knows this all to well a previous post and Dave Briggs will always say this if you hear him speak. Why would you become a friend of a council or local authority
Acknowledgement is key to building connections and valuing people – One of the key take aways from Chris Brogan
Government is one of the hardest places to do social media (Thanks to Olivier Blanchard for acknowledging this), so let’s celebrate those that have done excellent work in the sector.
We need to remember that strategy development is game play and we need to model future scenarios more
Olivier Blanchard‘s talk on operationalising social communications was excellent and very relevant but social communications is too narrow a term for government at this point in time – what should it be?
Joanne Jacobs is inspirational, Australian and managed not to swear
Jonathan Akwue understands the challenge in government and has done real grassroots stuff with netmums around service design.
Chris brogan reminded us that we all want to feel special and that we all want to be noticed – acknowledgement
Where is learning from all sectors being collated and shared?
If local government became social how would comms, PR and marketing deal with the devolution of messages?
The role of councillors is challenged in a social organisational structure – More to come on this subject over the comin weeks along with some thoughts and reflections on the Virtual Town Hall Pilot Project.
Will government be left behind because of all these challenges or will the change be forced and be even more painful for those who haven’t engaged?
Internal comms is dead, internal community management is now critical to organisations. Managing internal information and knowledge flow is critical for managing external social media usage. You can’t effectively deliver external engagement without solving internal communications an offering a social hub to support the knowledge sharing across silos.
We need to start really exploring the wider business impacts of adopting social media in local government and sharing the thinking around this subject.
Social media should plug in and add value and not your brand or org plugged into social media missing the point
What really is a conversation in this space and can orgsanisation be part of that – no – but the people in organisations can be part of that.
Still a huge challenge for some people around the issue of personal vs business profiles.
Young employees might understand the tools but may not understand the business – critical to connect people internally.
Our thinking is that what we need to realise is that as organisations and as people we are all at different stages, quite an obvious view to take but one which is not often presented up front and in your face when it comes to events.
In my view most events seem to pitch at “anyone interested in topic a” instead of saying. If you are interested in topic A and have this level of awareness and understanding and need this kind of knowledge to help you progress then this is your event”. Now i’m not an event organiser but i suspect this might be a costly approach as it will not bring in the large numbers to make the bottom line look sexy.
Lets think about what these levels might be – These are adapted and based on the Kolb Learning Cycle
Level 1 – Eye opener – This is the first step on the “i want to find out more” and “what have people done so i can show others” - This is the level that requires people to share their experiences of how using twitter has improved relationships or how Facebook has connected them to new networks etc. Anything more than this at this stage would essentially be too much and will start to disengage as it will be a step too far.
Level 2 – Baby Steps – This level will cover people who are actually using social media for business purposes, and would start the raise the “why is this important and how does this fit into the wider context of strategy in my organisation”. The event offering here would essentially be providing you with context, strategic alignment, business benefits and most importantly time to think and reflect on where this fits in your organisation.
Level 3 – Preparation – This level is about focusing on how you will plan the implementation of social media in your organisation, you KNOW how it fits and are simply interested in making it happen and want to explore different frameworks, patterns and the sort of issues (cultural, technical and organisational) that you might come across. – The event offering would be a practical small-scale facilitated workshop which gave you the plan to take home. This would include peer review from other participants and support and guidance from experts in the field.
Level 4 – JFDI – This level is essentially about you doing it and you are sharing your learning real-time via a community of practice and feeding back into the previous levels – People here may well be considered the experts in the previous level. There is no real event offering at this level because Social Media can not be simulated, however you can offer a a space for practitioners to share experience and resources.
The key aspect is that learning is a continuous process….
I’ve started to notice a huge increase in hashtags in twitter later, it seems everyday there is an interesting conference or gathering of “experts” talking about various topics related to web 2.0, gov 2.0, democracy 2.0, participation 2.0, enterprise 2.0 , leadership 2.0 – i think you get the trend here. There is also an increase in the many smaller gatherings on a more local basis based around the traditional ( i say that reluctantly) tweetup format. Most of the time, i’m wishing i was there with everyone else, but instead generally settle for the twitter stream.
After a recent Exeter event #tags which essentially built upon the existing Exeter tweet-up – but wasn’t a tweet-up in itself, more of a informal “experience sharing” (i must confess i’ve never actually attended one – shame on me i know). It was after the event that some interesting discussion started on twitter – it wasn’t making any waves (not the google kind) and it wasn’t particularly controversial, but it did get me thinking. How do the many different types of meeting title differ in reality, or are they all just the same but “branded” to position it as something “different”.
Why am i even posting on this subject, well, for me it is about managing expectations and in a more socially connected world we can share or expectations and we can also report when something fails us or doesn’t deliver what it promised. I also think that the fact that these kinds of meetings have evolved out of these connections is something that needs to be maintained and if new opportunities for connections are identified then we need to be clear about what the focus is and what is expected of the people attending.
Another reason why i think it is important is that we need to be clear that anyone can initiate a meeting, based on their network, so you can have more than one type of tweet up in a locality, obviously it could benefit people to connect those tweet ups but it may not, groups may have a particular reason for coming together. I am assuming here that if people interested in a particular topic, lets say “eLearning” want to connect in a tweet up format then that is perfectly normal. If i’m not interested in elearning then i wouldn’t attend, or if it was related to a particular music band, again unless i’m interested i wouldn’t attend.
So i guess i’m kind of arguing for some consistency in how events are communicated (i say that instead of marketed for a reason as they should be inclusive and participative) and not “sold” to me as must attend event. After all social media puts you and me in control – we have the power to choose and more importantly influence.
OR this could all be worthless as i have asked myself “does it really matter what its called?” as long as it delivers value.
Ok lets starts: NB, this is not an exhaustive list and is only meant to stimulate conversation, if you disagree, comment, if you know of others, comment, either way don’t stay silent if you have something to say )
Tweet-up
As every good researcher does nowadays – I did a search on google for “what is a tweet-up” and found an excellent definition, which for me sums up exactly what a tweetup is supposed to be about, so i won’t try and reinvent the wheel here, but the thing to remember i believe is that it is about meeting up with people because they are on twitter – hence tweet-up – obvious but still needs to be said.
A tweetup is an event where people who Twitter come together to meet in person. Normally we connect with our friends online after we have met them. At a tweetup you meet the people you might only otherwise know virtually. Like finally putting a name to a face, a tweetup is a great opportunity to really connect with the people in your network and share just a little more than 140 characters at a time.
I’m assuming that this is only related to twitter and that if you were a Yammer user you might well attend something called a “YamJam” or something like that. But i could be wrong, i don’t use Yammer, so i’m only guessing, but i definitely like the sound of a “YamJam”.
Twestival
The best explanation comes from the twestival website itself.
A Twestival or Twitter-Festival is a global series of events organized by volunteers around the world under short timescales, which bring people offline for a great cause. Twestival is run 100% by volunteers and independently from any not-for-profit; although the organizing teams do work closely to outline an achievable and measurable fundraising target. Twestival also sets out to identify key skills of volunteers and match these with the needs of the cause; particularly communications strategy, tech integration and social media training.
Again a search or two later on google and it seems the consensus is that a Social Media Cafe is a place for ALL people interested in social media to gather, get acquainted, and to plot, scheme, and share.. emphasis on open and interesting conversation!
There are some great examples of Social Media Cafes around the country Birmingham, Manchester and of course London, which in fact calls itself the “Tuttle Club“. If you want to know a bit more about Social Media Cafe’s and the Tuttle Club then check out this video by Lloyd Davis.
Closer to home Cornwall has a Social Media Cafe as does Devon, But again i’ve not attended either, this is mainly due to the fact it has been in Plymouth, and my view is that they should be locally based. Devon is just too big or a county to easily get around to organise a Devon wide Social Media Cafe – perhaps we need to consider a sub set e.g. Exeter, East Devon, Torbay, North Devon and of course Plymouth, but that has to be a crowd driven process. by posting this , I have now just made my contribution to the discussion.
Barcamp
Slightly more formal and an informal way then the events above (< does that even make sense!!). Anyway the definition of a barcamp is a user generated conference (or unconference), which is open and participatory. It also relies on the participants to provide the content.
I’ve attended 2 barcamp events (UKGovWeb and LocalGovCamp) and they were both excellent, in my view this is the best type of event to attend for learning and exploration around particular issues. It doesn’t rely on any key-note session or “expert” analysis. It simply relies on the collective knowledge of those participants who have attended and the willingness to share the knowledge and learning they have. The key aspect of both of these events were that they were free to attend (funded by sponsorship and volunteers) and they were on a Saturday. This in my opinion made sure that those who attended had a real interest and willingness to share and connect with others. That for me is a true test, would you connect even if your work weren’t paying you?
In my opinion it is the most inclusive and interactive of this style of event. But i would say that as i used to work in the Local Agenda 21 arena (from 1998-2003 ) and Open Space Technology was very much part of the community consensus building process. It assumes that the community or participants are best placed to resolve and answer their own issues and questions. If not then action is devolved to people to find out and report back. Why i think it works so effectively now is the tools for collaboration are easy to access and the sharing of information pre and post event is easier.
Local variations have now started to appear in the form of LocalGovCamp Lincoln and i hope this continues and develops across different sectors. Perhaps we should pull together and organise and BarCampDevon and look to the voluntary, public and private sector to collaborate on improving services for all. If you are interested let me know via the comments section, as i’d be keen to explore the practicalities of taking this forward.
Likeminds
Ok, not strictly an event format or style as such, but i can’t write this post without at least referencing the recent likeminds event in Exeter. What was interesting about this event was that it was organised, promoted, marketed and pretty much run on occasion did sneak into the more traditional formats of having key-note speakers and panelists (i was even one them!!). It did go to the next step however and integrated social media into the event itself using twitterfall for audience feedback, and ustream for live broadcast (over 550 people watched live). As much as i enjoyed the event, i met some great people, connected dfaces with twitter ID’s and it is rare such as well attended event happens in Exeter – it didn’t provide me with the same opportunities that a BarCamp style event would have.
It did however generate huge twitter interest and even within hours of being raised during the event, started promoting t-shirts – surely that demonstrates the power of these tools.
So what?
Like i said earlier, why do i really care bout this, well for me, the type of event will determine whether or not i will attend (shallow i know but i’m pretty busy like most and if i don’t think i’ll gain from something i won’t attend). My preference of course as a participant is the inclusive barcamp style and i’m convinced that any participant of a barcamp style event will probably say the same. I have and will attend an event regardless of format, just to meet people – after all it is in those connections that i learn the most. I’ve also (recently in fact) sat through nearly 30 hours or death by powerpoint and i did learn, but i didn’t feel like i participated in an event, i felt like i was talked at and too most of the time…took me back to my school days.
So what about all the new events that are popping up, well for me, they are starting to take some of the “open” and “inclusive” principles away and are reverting back to more traditional styles of conference delivery. It may well be that this is what people are seeking and i have nothing against this approach. But i just don’t think it is in keeping with the ethos of the social web as a whole, which is inclusive, equal and participative, knowledge is shared and is not considered as “power”.
These are only my views and my opinions and on that note – Enough said. :0
The event is looking like a “not to be missed event” especially if you live in and around the South West of England – but don’t let distance put you off if you live further a field – you will always be made welcome in Devon.
The website explains better than i could where and what it is all about
A Like Minds conference was initially conceived after a chat between Scott Gould and Trey Pennington, after Trey travelled across the atlantic to attend a tweetup. In August 2009, Scott and Andrew Ellis co-founded Like Minds, after Andrew had a vision for something far bigger than just a conference.
Like Minds has become “a discovery service for identifying new stuff; including movies, books, music, people and places, with the help of other like-minded people.”
What you’ll find is relationship amongst innovative thinkers, collaboration on projects and campaigns, and the synergy that creative endeavours bring amongst people. What you won’t find are elevator pitches, uncomfortable networking meetings, and old thinking.
Our inaugural event is on Friday October 16th, focussing on the subject of ‘measuring social media.’
If you are available on the 16th October then you should really be considering going to this event.
Yesterday i attended Public Sector Online 2008, this time though as a speaker, which was exciting and challenging even to me, who can talk for days on end about anything really (given the chance).
However, whilst the conference was great and very valuable, i found the previous nights conversation over a few beers near Piccadilly Circus with Jeremy Gould (Whitehall Webby) personally more beneficial. I say this because whilst the conference gave lots of varied perspectives and information, a one to one conversation for about 3 and bit hours was naturally better and more free flowing….anyway on to the conference itself. Not being a formal delegate did mean that i could float around a bit, not sure if that was what they wanted me to do but it was great to go where the conversations were leading me.
The agenda as like most was speakers for most of the morning with a couple of breakout sessions before lunch and then more breakout sessions after lunch (mine was at this time) and then final speakers and closing remarks….nothing different there then…
The chair for the day was David Dinsdale, Director for Businesslink.gov.uk. This was a really interesting opening session not just because of what he was saying about increasing customer satisfaction but looking at my notes i have clearly written in big bold letter “HEINZ IS THE BENCHMARK FOR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION”.
This was because David was explaining that in the USA Heinz was the highest rated company for customer satisfaction over and above Amazon and other big players like eBay.
Personally i have never been dis-satisfied with a tin of baked beans or any other Heinz product. The lessons are that how do they achieve that and how can we in the public sector evolve and perhaps shift our thinking to increase the satisfaction ratings and in particular online?
Another note which stands out is “IF CARLSBERG DID WEBSITES”….one to think about i guess, the concept not the beer itself.
Next up was Sharon Cooper, Director, Proposition Strategy and Product Design – direct.gov.uk
My first thought was, I love the job titles and the level of importance they place on the web channel, i think we need to raise the level of corporate web managers or at least responsibility within local government to ensure that it is at least 2nd or 3rd tier management. Something to think about anyway.
The most significant thing for me hearing Sharon was probably something, she hadn’t intended to be a key point but it really struck home and i believe can help shift local government websites into a more service focus. Sharon stated “DirectGov is a Service Website and not a Political Website”. This is the reason i believe directgov works for many people, it only has services and things to actually do on it. It isn’t cluttered up with pages and pages of political information, which is important but not something you are interested in when wanting to report a pothole or pay school meals. Contrast that with the huge list of expectations put on a local authority website and in particular the homepage.
Perhaps what we need to do in local government is to separate our websites or main navigation options and provide one which is clearly about the organisation and the political aspects, decision making, democracy, participation etc. The other would focus only on transactional services for audience types. I’m not sure how this would work in practice, but it could help drive take-up if people could easily find and use these services.
We were now on a bit of a roll and it was the turn of Robin Christopherson, Head of Accessibility Services, AbilityNet. Now i’m not sure what to say about this bit, because it was so visually powerful watching Robin, who is vision impaired, demonstrate websites and some web 2.0 functionality using the Jaws screen reader. If you get a chance to speak to Robin i would recommend it. In the spirit of what Robin demonstrated i have managed to locate some videos on youtube that go some way to demonstrating Robins simple but powerful points. We ALL need to take accessibility more seriously.
Caroline talks about her experience of using a computer – abilitynet
A screen reader user on equal access to the web – abilitynet
Web Accessibility – through the “eyes” of a screen reader – designforusers
Vicky spoke about the work that socitm have done in measuring take-up and satisfaction of local authority websites. Interesting stuff and one comment in particular again struck a chord. This is my summary – the web channel should be managed by the head of customer services to ensure that all channels are managed and co-ordinated together. Customer Service Centres can provide opportunities to feed the website design and to support the overall strategy to reduce avoidable contact.
Mid morning arrived and tea/coffee was very much in demand.
On to the first of the breakout groups, i decided to choose the workshop “Delivering value through web 2.0 technology and Communities of Practice (CoP)“, mainly because i met Steve Dale, who leads on the CoP for the IDeA and he was running the workshop.
Steve gave an introduction to what CoP was and that it was free for people to register providing they were in the public sector. After all we already pay for it through the top sliced funding to the IDea anyway – Steve also highlighted some key components of a what makes a “community”
People
Domain of interest
Place to meet
Someone to Facilitate (i believe not all communities require this aspect, but it does help to keep things going)
This session was then repeated but i decided to prepare for my session. So i sat down with Jeremy and we chatted about what we both might say later.
After lunch it was my turn, my session was entitled “Implementing Social Networking”, the interesting aspect to this was that the organisers decided to record the speakers so that they could be accessed by all after the event. More to come on this once i find out if i can share the login details via this blog.
My presentation is below and the video clip of Phil Norrey Chief Executive of Devon County Council talking about our use and progress is available below as well
Implementing Social Networking
Phil Norrey, Chief Executive Devon County Council – Video clip
On a personal note, i really enjoyed the session, i hope that the people who attended managed to gain some insights and learning from what we are doing, it is hard to try and pitch a presentation which can be broad enough for anyone in the public sector as well as being specific enough for those in local government to take stuff away. I hope i succeeded.
The last session of the day contained 2 sets of speakers, first up was Stephen Dodson, National Director DC10Plus.
I was a bit late to this session due to conversations about the presentation i did.
a few keys points i made a note of.
lost opportunity to provide a connected digital provision when set top boxes were not installed with a 2 way connection
pay your car tax online cost 38million pounds?? still it is probably one of the best online services around, we recently did this ourselves and i must admit, it was excellent and the tax disc arrived in the post 2 days later… I wonder whether the expectation is so high because before it was soooo painful and time consuming!!
The last bit which was interesting was a 3 c’s concept – connectivity, capability and content. ok i suppose but where would community fit with this.
Willie was up first and was explaining what “new” means and how this fits with “new” web 2.0 technology stuff.
Jeremy did a traditional speaker role and had no slides and talked about people, community and participation and not about technology, web 2.0 and solutions. This was a great contrast to most of the day and one which i thought summed up how for most people, there seems to be a seduction by new technologies for new technologies sake. What Jeremy was saying was focus on the people and the problems and use what is appropriate. Try these new tools for yourself before you tell other people to use them, know what it means to blog, twitter, flickr etc.
Henry talked about the Cancer research science blog they have set up. It is great to see such positive use of blogging tools and one which for me seems to play an important role for those who have questions around cancer. I can’t recommend this blog enough, go and visit it and see how it helps and complements their work and other websites.
As part of the closing remarks it was mentioned that Kable the event organisers will set up a Community of Practice, where the discussions started at teh event can continue. why don’t you sign up and contribute as well…
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