When I was aged eight I secretly wrote off to Blue Peter for a kit to raise money for Cambodia.
What I really wanted to get my hands on was the sticker pack with hundreds of stickers with the programme’s cool ship logo.
But when it arrived, my Mum got to the package first. To my horror, I now realised I was committed to running my own fundraiser. Or rather, my parents were. I drew a leaflet, Dad photocopied it at work, me and Mum delivered it to the road I live in and we held a bring and buy sale in our garage. It raised about twenty quid but it got Biddy Baxter off my back.
I thought I’d start this post with an endearing childhood story because I’m going to talk about AI.
The problem
AI is scary isn’t it?. Myself, Bridget Aherne and Mandy Pearce and the CIPR Local Public Services group think we’ve found a way to make it less scary and we’d like you to come along.
There’s a reason that UK Government’s attitudes research has ‘scary’ as the biggest word in their feedback wordcloud.
There are some great minds writing about AI. There is absolutely a place for that whether they be in the UK or the US and long may they continue. But the trouble is, high-level debate when you are in the ‘scary’ club really doesn’t help.
The back story
When social media was new people from the Brum Bloggers group over a pint in a pub came up with the simple idea of putting volunteers who knew stuff in a room with community group members who wanted to learn. So, Social Media Surgeries were born.
Over the next few years, almost 2,000 community groups across 60 locations were helped. I’m proud to look back and say I was one of 400 volunteers who gave their time to share their knowledge.
Nick Booth was one of the driving forces behind the surgeries. He died 18-months ago and is much-missed. I often wonder what he’d make of the current landscape. His idea of putting people who know about things in a room with people who don’t chimed with us. It’s social and conversational.
When you talk to people who are dabbling with AI, they’ll often say they are scared, say they know very little but then they’ll run through this amazing use they’ve discovered. It may be summarising Facebook comments with Copilot to help shape future messaging. It may be using Eleven Labs to voice a training video using a member of staff’s Rochdale accent. It may be using Notebook to precis a whitepaper. Or something else.
All of these little use are gold. This is what you can bring along and swap.
The pilot AI Bring & Buy
The first AI Bring & Buy will be held at Devon Fire & Rescue thanks to the support of Paul Compton and his team. The name? That’s from Bridget. I think it beautifully captures the community feel and the need to make this subject less scary. Bring something and take something away with you.
Aside from the Social Media Surgery there is an element of unconference with it too. That’s where the audience can shape what they want to talk about it. Myself, Mandy, Bridget and Paul will each do a turn with slides to convince your boss to let you go. But I’ll bet its the bargain idea you left with that will make your day.
We’d love you to be one of the 25 people in the room to see if this idea works. You absolutely don’t have to be an expert. If you leave being slightly less scared then we’re all winning, aren’t we?
AI Bring & Buy will be held by CIPR Local Public Services group at Devon Fire & Rescue, Exeter on November 4 between 10am to 3pm.
Creative commons credit: Jumble sale, Memorial Hall, Hayes Lane, Badminton by Vieve Forward, CC BY-SA 2.0.