Inspirational. Fun. Chaotic. Stimulating. Profound. Surreal. Exhausted. Excited.
These are the words that I’ve used to describe the inaugural Government 2.0 Camp held this past weekend at the Duke Ellington School for the Arts in Georgetown. While an event of this magnitude and scope was sorely needed within the government, the planning of the event was decidedly anything but typical government.
If you were to tell your boss that you’d like to hold a two-day long meeting
Picture courtesy of Flickr User Vindictiveimmunity
for about 500 people (a mix of contractors and government employees) on a Friday AND a Saturday in downtown DC, in a school that does not have parking nor is metro-accessible, and oh, by the way, not craft any sort of agenda until the day of the meeting – what do you think his reaction would be?
That’s what I thought.
Yet that’s just what the members of the Government 2.0 Club did this past weekend in organizing the inaugural Government 2.0 Camp. I’m not going to recap the entire event – you can find that here.
But, what I am going to do is offer my take on the event – what I loved and what I’d like to see next year.
What I Loved
- The Mindset of the attendees. Very few sales-y marketing types (that I came across). Most of the attendees were very much about cooperation, collaboration, and communication. I saw very senior government employees chatting it up with very junior consultants, employees from two different companies sharing time on a panel session, and groups of consultant/government folks hashing out a solution to a problem one of them was having. Best part of all was that it was being done without the typical political and cultural roadblocks of pay grades, political affiliation, company affiliation, etc. People were just happy to be discussing how social media is changing the way our government operates.
- My Session 🙂 – “Get on the Government 2.0 Cluetrain or Get Hit by It.” Big thanks go to Mike Russell for having the initiative to coordinate this panel discussion for me. Based on my Government 2.0 Cluetrain post, the discussion centered on the fundamental principles of social media and the government. I really enjoyed talking with the other panelists and the 20-30 people in the room about how the theses from the original Cluetrain Manifesto that were so relevant to the private sector 10 years ago are still true today in the Government.
- The organizers. Peter, Mark, Maxine, and Jeffrey were simply phenomenal to work with before, during, and now, after the event. From setting up the wiki to coordinating the budget to answering attendee questions, they created the platform for everyone to put on a successful event. I think it’s important to note that they didn’t just do it all themselves – they managed to get others involved and turn it into a real “crowdsourced” Camp where everyone played a role.
- The sessions. The sessions from Day 1 and Day 2 were varied, timely, interesting, and effective. In each time slot, there were numerous sessions led by qualified individuals and I always had a tough time picking which one to go to. The organizers did a good job of consolidating similar sessions and spreading out similar topics. I particularly enjoyed the “Ask the White House” session with Macon
Macon Phillips and Bev Godwin from the White House New Media Team
Phillips and Bev Godwin from the White House New Media team. Macon and Bev answered questions and took suggestions both from the audience in the room and from Twitter. My favorite question was when someone told them that they needed to continue to push the envelope because the other agencies/departments took their lead from the White House. His answer – “Go! Do it! Don’t wait for the White House to solve your problems. Learn, evangelize, and implement yourselves.”
- The location. I know that we all whined and complained upon finding out that the Duke Ellington School for the Arts wasn’t metro-accessible and it had very limited parking. In spite of the logistical challenges, we all made it just fine and I don’t know of too many people who chose not to attend because of it. Additionally, the academic environment – the desks, the blackboards, the theater stage – set up a real atmosphere of learning and sharing.
What I’d Like to See Next Year
- The wiki. I loved the fact that the organizers used a wiki to transparently track everything leading up to the conference, including attendees, sponsors, and even finances. However, for next year, I’d like to see an actual minimalistic website with all of the significant static details with a link to the wiki. While I had no issue with navigating the wiki, some of my colleagues struggled to understand the whole concept of the Government 2.0 Camp when I sent them the link to the wiki. I can imagine that others may have had some trouble getting approval to attend because of this as well.
- Better live-blogging. We had hoped to capture all of the sessions’ notes via live-blogs on the Government 2.0 Club website, but participation was sporadic. Most of the session leaders did a good job of identifying a Twitter hashtag to track that sessions’ notes, but identifying a willing live-blogger for each session was hit and miss (mine included). Rather than relying on someone in each session to volunteer to live-blog, maybe we would do better to identify 10-12 roving bloggers prior to the session who volunteer to live-blog every session they attend. Not sure if that would work out any better or not, but it might be worth a try.
- More skeptics. Most of the attendees at this year’s conference were either already social media evangelists or practitioners, or were interested in learning more. While I never felt that we were in an echo chamber, I think that all attendees would benefit if we had some panel discussions and presentations led by privacy experts or IT security experts – people who, by their very nature, have to take a very conservative approach to social media. I think it’s critical that we make a concerted effort to include those who sometimes make implementing social media difficult so that we can learn their concerns and how to address them.
Overall, I have nothing but good things to say about this inaugural Government 2.0 Camp – it was the first of what I hope to be many more gatherings of like-minded individuals focused on doing what’s best for our government. Collectively, we’re all at the start of something big here, and I can only hope that we realize the opportunities that lie before us now. What we’re doing now MATTERS. What we’re doing here at Government 2.0 Camp and every day in our offices, is making a DIFFERENCE. Let’s always remember that.
at
That last point about more skeptics is important… it’s really a tremendous thing to gather so many intelligent and informed like-minded people in one setting, like this conference accomplished. It provided incredible opportunities for networking, brainstorming, and simply reinforcing your own personal missions to advocate social change through social media/2.0 tools.
But a critical analysis component should be incorporated in future camps, absolutely, without derailing the intention of the conference. That is, without forgetting it’s all about the collaboration, sharing ideas, and learning new things. I did hear some skepticism in some of the sessions I attended, but we’d have had an entirely different set of questions or discussions if other sectors than government/bureaucrats were involved.
Then again, I feel like if you had, say, an additional 100 people from the privacy/IT sector attend/give sessions, you’d need to extend the conference to three days. Maybe one day or various sessions dedicated to the “Let’s play the Devil’s advocate” theme?
Overall I also agree it was a tremendous success… I came back to Toronto to my job feeling truly invigorated and full of hope for change in our country, too. Thanks to all the organizers and everyone involved!
at
Yes, I think that we all have to make an extra effort to embrace those that don’t understand or take an opposing viewpoint when it comes to social media. I don’t envy the organizers though when it comes to this because there’s a delicate of bringing the opposition and still keeping the collaborative atmosphere. Have to find people who have an open mind AND are skeptical.
at
Yes, I think that we all have to make an extra effort to embrace those that don’t understand or take an opposing viewpoint when it comes to social media. I don’t envy the organizers though when it comes to this because there’s a delicate of bringing the opposition and still keeping the collaborative atmosphere. Have to find people who have an open mind AND are skeptical.
at
Steve, many thanks for your positive comments on our Cluetrain Manifesto panel at Government 2.0 Camp, and for being a part of it. Likewise, thanks especially for your own insightful (and hugely relevant) “Twenty Theses for Government 2.0, Cluetrain Style” that were the basis of the session, and of our visuals.
Thanks, too, to our other brilliant/funny/personable Cluetrain co-panelists: Linda Cureton (@curetonl), Dr. Mark Drapeau (@cheeky_geeky), and Brian Drake (@thedrake), all of whom who were vital to making our session in particular a success.
For me, the best part of the whole Government 2.0 Camp experience was the people themselves: the friendship and fellowship, and especially the opportunities for learning how conversations/collaboration between people, enbabled by social tools/technologies (there’s the Cluetrain factor again) are inspiring the next generation of government leaders, contractors, and, most importantly, citizens themselves. When good people get motivated to become active in their government(s), and to explore whole new approaches to governance itself, I say that’s a very good thing.
Room for improvement? Absolutely. Healthy skepticism? Come on in – the water’s warm. (Hot in some places, actually.)
That said, we’re on the cusp of something great. I know I’m proud and humbled to be a part of it.
FYI, keep an eye on the new domain http://www.CluetrainRiders.com for useful resources, links and inspiration.
at
Couldn’t agree more Mike! And yes, BIG thanks to Mark, Brian, Linda and yourself for joining me on the panel! It was a great time.
at
Couldn’t agree more Mike! And yes, BIG thanks to Mark, Brian, Linda and yourself for joining me on the panel! It was a great time.
at
OK, I’ll assume the role of curmudgeon today, if only because I don’t have a platform (like this one) to post my own reactions to the unconference…
I’ll begin by stating that this was my first “Barcamp” and, as such, I had mixed expectations. I’ll also echo Mike’s sentiments that the camaraderie and the sheer energy of the conference enthralled me. I participated in a couple of good sessions and met a lot of great people.
Now, my criticisms:
* Chaos. While “MCs” did a good job of recording suggested sessions and combining similar ones, they could have consolidated even further. I saw a lot of repetition in the sessions I attended. I also had a tough time choosing sessions, but primarily because the session titles were either too pithy or vague and didn’t have names associated with them. I therefore missed several sessions I would have preferred to attend. Even a simple copy & paste from the wiki (where many folks posted ideas ahead of time) would have been good.
I really liked being able to reference the government20club.org blog afterwards to catch up (somewhat) on (some) of the sessions I missed!
* PowerPoint: BAN IT. Seriously, it doesn’t belong at a Barcamp. At most, you could post your presentation on Slideshare and then pull it up. At least then I would be scrambling to search for resources you’re referring to and that I want to reference later.
* Talkatcha: more discussion, less sermonizing. I was disappointed in several sessions that were almost 100% one-way. That’s not I was there for.
* More keynotes: bring everyone together. The UK movie premier was a great opportunity to bring everyone back together and share a common experience. Having one or two more such sessions would be beneficial.
The Twitter hashtag idea for sessions was interesting (as was the seizure-fest that twitterfall became), but it was next to impossible to determine which session went with which hashtag. I started to catalog the ones I knew using tagul.us which is essentially a Twitter hashtag directory. Using more common platforms like this might provide greater information sharing and retrieval for future events.
Anyway, just some of my thoughts. Feel free to repost wherever they can do the greatest damage…I mean, be of the greatest help! 🙂
Kudos, thank you, and congratulations to all of the great people (organizers and volunteers) that helped put on this event!
at
As someone who has planned and attended many a barcamp and an unconference I tried to share my best practices in the planning committee sessions. We used the twitter specific hashtags as something we learned out of sxsw this year. When twitter was failing as a filter, the participants adjusted and created agreed upon tags.
Some session moderators forgot or ignored the suggestions we handed to them to help us capture the knowledge on the blog via live blogging and twitter.
I have my own recapped in draft right now and I will be sharing my experience.
at
Andrea – I was part of one of the sessions where we did poor job at identifying a willing live-blogger. I think it was just hard to remember to do everything while still remembering the points you want to cover and running from session to session. I did try to go in and add in some information to the blog after the fact though. The hashtags worked great for the sessions that I was in.
at
Andrea – I was part of one of the sessions where we did poor job at identifying a willing live-blogger. I think it was just hard to remember to do everything while still remembering the points you want to cover and running from session to session. I did try to go in and add in some information to the blog after the fact though. The hashtags worked great for the sessions that I was in.
at
As someone who has planned and attended many a barcamp and an unconference I tried to share my best practices in the planning committee sessions. We used the twitter specific hashtags as something we learned out of sxsw this year. When twitter was failing as a filter, the participants adjusted and created agreed upon tags.
Some session moderators forgot or ignored the suggestions we handed to them to help us capture the knowledge on the blog via live blogging and twitter.
I have my own recapped in draft right now and I will be sharing my experience.
at
Great summary, Steve. I also appreciate your desire to have more skeptics attend in the future. Hope to see you cross post this on Booz Allen’s network soon!
at
Great summary, Steve. I also appreciate your desire to have more skeptics attend in the future. Hope to see you cross post this on Booz Allen’s network soon!
at
Great summary, Steve. I also appreciate your desire to have more skeptics attend in the future. Hope to see you cross post this on Booz Allen’s network soon!
at
Thanks Steve for the summary and too bad I could not make it. I linked to your post from here http://tinyurl.com/ceka72
See you tomorrow?
Giulio
at
Thanks Steve for the summary and too bad I could not make it. I linked to your post from here http://tinyurl.com/ceka72
See you tomorrow?
Giulio
at
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