Today sees a bit of an experiment in bridging the gap between the suits and the innovators.
Or, in other words senior managers and people doing some bright ideas, not because they’re in their job description but because they care.
Innovation and Efficiency West Midlands stage their annual event at Warwick University aimed at chief executives and senior managers.
Fort the first time there’s going to be a slight unconference element to it. There’s a live blog too: http://www.iewm.net/.
It’ll also be on Twitter @iewm with the hashtag #allchange11 and I’ll be chipping in with some social reporting on the day together with a handful of others.
It’ll be interesting see how the flat heirarchy of the unconference works amongst senior officers.
What’s an unconference? The agenda gets decided on the day by the participants.
Terrifying if you like you like meetings with apologies for absence, AOB and over laden powerpoints.
But if you put enough bright people together creative sparks fly and good ideas can emerge.
Ever wanted to stick your hand up mid-presentation and ask a question? Or suggest a better way? That’s an unconference. But rather than being a rude interjection its part of the process. It’s highly democratic.
Hats off to the organisers for allowing the door open.
Of course, as a believer in the the unconference approach I’d argue more events should be run on these lines.
Is this the first to bridge the divide? No. Nick Hill and Dave Briggs staged the Epic Social Media event in Glasgow which straddled the divide rather well.
Well done Ken Eastwood of Digital Nomads and Kevin Campbell-Wright for getting the live blog going. Pete Jackson too.
What can you do?
Follow the discusssion on #allchange11 on Twitter and drop by the liveblog. If you’re in local government shout about what you’re doing. If you’re not, tell us what we should be doing.
Creative commons credit:
Space suit http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/6334927117/