The biggest get-together of folk in the UK with an interest in how the public sector uses technology happens on Saturday, just 5 sleeps away. The list here says 204 people are coming, not counting our sponsors and hosts. Gulp. It’s just as well we have a proper grown up in charge of getting us all organised for the opening session.
Here’s a few things you might find useful in the meantime:
- Stay tuned to the UKGovcamp site and jump into the UKGovcamp 2011 group or follow the #ukgc11 hashtag on Twitter where people are starting to talk about session ideas and more.
- In terms of logistics: yes, there will be wifi and should be projectors in most rooms. Remember to bring a Mac->VGA adapter if you’re presenting from a MacBook, and people with spare 4-way extension leads are likely to be very popular.
- The event registration opens from 9.15am, with kickoff at 10am, and will run until around 5pm. The venue again: Microsoft UK Customer Centre, Cardinal Place, 80 Victoria St, SW1E 5JL (that’s the entrance near Pizza Hut, not the one nearest Victoria Station)
- The day itself will be run on ‘open space’ principles, without a pre-planned agenda etc etc. But given some of the people who’ll be there, we’re keeping one room aside this year as a ‘Demo Room’ with a bit more of a schedule. So for example, if you’d like to see Huddle in action, or kick the tyres of Delib’s CitizenSpace you’ll be able to go along at a predefined time and chat to the team behind those great apps. If you’d like to demo an app, it’s not too late – just drop me a line and we can get you on the running order for that room.
- For years we’ve banged on about ‘but how do we get this stuff in front of the real decision-makers?’ To an extent, I’ve always tended to feel we should just get on with it for now, and those guys can catch up in their own time. But we’ve got a great bonus opportunity this year to showcase some of the ‘highlights’ from GovCamp to an invited audience of senior IT folk in government, at a smaller, separate follow-up soirée on a weekday evening hosted by Microsoft during February. So keep that in mind if you lead or participate in a great session on Saturday…
- I’ve put together a quick aggregator for UKGovcamp stuff, and we’re hoping to be able to livestream the main room during the day for people who can’t be there in person. Fingers crossed on that one.
Finally, spare a thought and a click for our tremendous sponsors – 16 so far – who have really stepped it up a gear this year. The great news is that as well as having the normal Govcamp experience with t-shirts, nibbles and all that jazz, we’ve been able to build up a little kitty to keep the Govcamp love going on throughout 2011. Under the auspices of MoreOpen, we’ve been able to help our friends at ShropCamp get off the ground, and we’ve got a thematic Govcamp on email marketing in the public sector on the cards for Spring too thanks to the generous GovDelivery. But there’s more in the pot, so if you find yourself inspired to Govcamp in your part of the country or part of public sector, let us know and we might be able to help get the ball rolling.
Remember, if you now can’t come to UKGovcamp but have a ticket, please let us know and we’ll offer it to someone from the waiting list.
Phew, I think that’s it. See you there!