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Smarter Government – Microsoft to host UK GovCamp Conference in London in January 2011

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The fourth UK GovCamp (un)Conference will be held at the Microsoft Customer Centre facility in London on Saturday January 22nd, 2011. If you are not sure what GovCamp is or why it should interest you, read on.

 Set up by volunteers, the first ukgovcamp took place in January 2008. The 2011 conference will be the fourth year in succession for an event which gets bigger and better every year. In a nutshell, ukgovcamp is an unconference, or a conference without a predefined agenda, where the sessions are proposed and agreed at the start of the day. They’re posted as a big grid on the wall for the participants to choose from, and there’s plenty of time for the informal hallway chats which, let’s face it, are the best bit of any conference.

It’s run to the rules of open space events, where the Law of Two Feet applies: people move freely between sessions which interest them, tweeting, blogging, snapping and filming as they go. What emerges is always a high-energy, dynamic event which leaves people buzzing with new ideas and connections.

The 2011 event will be massive: almost twice as big as 2010, with the first tranche of tickets already snapped up in a few hours.

What you will get out of attending GovCamp 2011:

  • 250 of the most motivated and dynamic people in the government 2.0 space in the UK. In one place, both at an event and online
  • An informal, friendly culture. Not a big conference run as a commercial enterprise, or a members-only club. UKgovcampers are open-minded and there because they want to be, in their own time
  • A fantastic venue in central London, with up to ten simultaneous event strands throughout the day, including a ‘cool tools’ room for app and service demos and Q&A
  • A super-networked community, via ukgovcamp.com, @ukgovcamp and #ukgc11 across social media. Govcampers will be blogging, tweeting and uploading their way through the day, talking about the ideas and services they’re hearing about to friends and colleagues outside, including via our professional-quality video livestream
  • A conference that never really ends. We’ll be sending the govcampers email updates before and after the event, and keeping up the networking through 2011 via established monthly TeaCamp events, the ukgovcamp.com online community and spinoff govcamps
  • The right time for this stuff. As the shock of public spending cuts fades and the reality bites, there’s never been a greater need for fresh ideas and smart use of technology in the public sector. Come and inspire, and be inspired.

UKgovcamp is free to attend, and open to anyone with an interest in this field, making it the only large-scale event of its kind. Tickets are being snapped up quickly so if you want to reserve one to attend this unique (un)conference visit: www.ukgovcamp.com

Posted by Ian