GLASGOW LIST: 19 thoughts after commscamp scotland

In the finest post-unconference tradition here’s a list of things I learned at commscamp scotland.

1. It worked as an event. But of course it was going to work as an event.
2. The most popular football team in Glasgow is Pollock Dynamo AFC.
3. The Queen Margaret Union in Glasgow was a great choice for the event.
4. There is creativity, determination and ideas amongst Scottish public sector people that I’m consistently blown away by.
5. People are starting to engage with AI at this unconference for the first time. The last time it was on the agenda no more than four people came.
6. The debate about quitting X, formerly known as Twitter, is ongoing. The questions for me are if your audience is there and is it a safe space rather than whether or not you like it. 
7. Linking back what you do as a communicator to what your organisation’s priorities are is not a one and done thing it is painting the Forth Bridge. It never ends.
8. Everyone’s experience of an unconference with 25 sessions and 135 attendees is going to be unique.
9. Car parking in the west end of Glasgow is rubbish.
10. Small teams and solo operators need their own network for their own unique extra set of issues.
11. The newspaper landscape has changed. It’s long since been more than cuttings and how much you report these can be an impediment to progress.
12. The ability to say NO and prioritising links through to knowing what the organisation’s priorities are.
13. There are people in junior positions who make valuable points and are five years away from getting near the agenda of a traditional conference.
14. If you’re at the start of your career, network, ask questions, approach people you don’t know and ask if they have half an hour spare to tell you how they did that amazing thing.
15. The principles of an unconference are that whoever comes is the right people, whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened, whenever it starts is the right time and when its over its over. I sincerely hope that people loved thinking and acting differently. They can carry on with this after the event. 
16. David Grindlay, Leanne Hughes and the volunteers did a great job.    
17. I’ve enjoyed that people in the aftermath of the event have put their thoughts onto LinkedIn when once they put them onto Twitter. 
18. Lloyd Davis was right when he said that an unconference should take you out of your comfort zone and put you somewhere more comfortable. 
19. There should be more of these.