GovCamp Cymru

Many of my friends wondered why on earth we decided to organise and facilitate the first GovCamp in Wales last month – an unconference for people working in or with government who want to make a difference looking at how technology, new thinking and public services can improve society.

They thought we were setting ourselves up for a fall – organise something most people in Wales had never heard of, where tickets are free and attendees can expect to be kept alert with a constant supply of caffeine, lunch and not forgetting the free t-shirts, lanyards, stickers……

So here’s why…..

This GovCamp thing has been going on elsewhere in the UK since 2009 and for a long time Wales has needed a platform for these kinds of conversations and to make these valuable connections.

It isn’t just about the day itself, it’s about what happens afterwards. The connections made and the ideas shared and discussed on 27 September were just the start.  Here is a short video of the day.

The day wasn’t just enjoyed by those 100 or so present in the room. There was a frenzy of activity on the twitter hashtag #gccy14 with an estimated reach of 300,000 twitter accounts and 2 million individual impressions.  Here are a few of them (Storify).  The event also moved some people to blog about the things they discussed – all the blogs related to GovCamp Cymru can be found on this Pinterest Board.  Thanks goes to Dyfrig Williams at Good Practice Exchange for those.

The Satori Lab was only founded in January, so whilst we don’t have oodles of cash to pump into something like this, we do have the ability and the opportunity, at the moment at least, to input our expertise into running these things and hopefully, some people will have noticed that we did a good job!

The open space format is good at surfacing problems and ideas, so rather than having to drag comments and input out of people, attendees feel motivated to contribute because they only attend the sessions that interest them and can operate the rule of two feet and leave the room should they wish.  Also, the equality given to all attendees allows everyone to have a voice, including those who in other formats may not feel moved to contribute.

This format can also be useful in engaging front line staff – those at the sharp end, who have contact with citizens or service users on a daily basis and who have ideas for service improvement, yet in a traditional hierarchical organisation don’t feel empowered to say anything about it.
The subjects discussed at GovCamp Cymru ranged from the very specific – “Loos by Design – Ideas Please!” to planting questions on a particular theme such as “Online Democracy”, with a follow up blog post by Dave McKenna, to the more strategic “How can Wales learn from Government Digital Service (GDS) / GOV.UK and what can they learn from Wales?”, which felt more like the start of a movement to start a GDS for Wales. That idea isn’t as crazy as it might sound – Mike Bracken, Executive Director of GDS (now a 650 people strong army of digital do-gooders) came back to UK GovCamp in 2012 to thank them for starting the movement to get GDS going.

None of this would have been possible without the sponsors and supporters – Unltd, Good Practice Exchange, Good Practice Wales, FutureGov, Employ Media, Office of National Statistics, Urbanistas, UK GovCamp, DXW, Delib, Public-i, AES, Newport City Homes, Nesta, Comms 2.0, Richie Turner, TYF, DemSoc, WRAC, Five Simple Steps, Cake.com, Rose Innes Design and Marshall & Hicks to whom we owe a great deal of thanks.

Sketchnotes produced by mearso.co.uk

The value of the format has been realised by certain sectors within government – you can now go to Blue Light Camp, Local GovCamp, TeaCamp, Social Innovation Camp, Rocket Camp and CommsCamp. We have planted a flag for a general government unconference in Wales……what next?

We have committed to organise the first 3 GovCamp Cymru events to get the movement going. If you’re interested in coming next autumn please sign up to the mailing list here.