We are so proud to have been part of GovCampCymru 2016

Photo by Nigel Bishop used under a Creative Commons licence (by-nc-sa 2.0).

What did you do on the weekend?

On Saturday around 100 people committed to improving public services gathered in the Pierhead Building in Cardiff Bay. They were there for GovCampCymru: an unconference that we’re very proud to be part of organising.

What’s an unconference?

Unconferences are open space events built on the idea that people can self organise given a set of simple rules. We find open space events can be powerful ways to share knowledge, inspire people and create new connections.

There were 20 topics discussed at the most recent event ranging from how open data can help with the implementation of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act, through asking whether Wales has got what it takes to be an innovation nation to ways to bust jargon in your organisation. These topics weren’t decided by an organising committee in advance. They were decided on the day by the people who came to the event because they saw them as relevant.

What’s the point?

Here at Satori Lab we see events like GovCampCymru as a model for the way public services could (and should) develop in Wales. We had people from UK government, the Assembly and Welsh Government, the NHS, local authorities, housing associations, charities, social enterprises, private companies and people identifying as citizens. We had senior managers and frontline staff. We had elected representatives and their electors. We had people with strong skills in health, social care, public policy, digital service development, accessibility of services, using data, scrutiny, legislation, and the list goes on and on. All of these people came together to listen to each other, to talk and to try to develop new ways of delivering services to people across Wales.

From today (Monday) those people will be back in their organisations bringing with them new perspectives, new ideas, new ways of thinking about problems. More than that they will bring with them access to a community of people from across Wales and beyond who want to work together, to collaborate, to build effective, sustainable, excellent public services for this generation and future generations. You can join that community too. Sign up here to join the GovCampCymru community on Slack.

Thank you sponsors and volunteers

It’s worth stressing that GovCampCymru is only possible because of the generosity of a wide range of sponsors who backed the event and thanks to the hard work of a dedicated group of individuals who are so committed to improving public services they volunteered not just on the day but in every area of planning, marketing and delivery in the run up.

We are really proud to be associated with this event and, crucially, to be part of the community of people who want to work together to improve public services across Wales.

You can find out more about GovCampCymru over at govcampcymru.org