citycamplondon day one - stimulate

citycamplondon was event with my name written all over it. In very large letters.

The purpose was to identify ways in which web2.0 technologies could be used to improve the lives of people in London. The buzzwords here are "web2.0", "improve" and "London" and they all resonate with me.

So much so that I took a half day holiday to attend the first session and then worked full time over the weekend.

The schedule for the three days was stimulate, participate, collaborate and each day had its own purpose, atmosphere and location.

Stimulate kicked things off at the Royal Society of Arts, the stimulation coming from a series of top-ranking speakers.

As we sat down ready for the talks the most noticeable thing was the technology on show, most of it from Apple with the big question being which model iPhone you had. This technology and the generally geek audience meant that the twitter stream was very active.

The speakers' pitches were (generally) short, sharp, to the point and actually stimulating. An early high-point was John Tolva's breakneck exploration of physical urban design and it's interaction with the digital world. Good to see one of my old companies, IBM, taking a lead on smart cities.

The low-point was the politicians' round-table, chaired by RSA CEO Matthew Taylor, none of whom seemed to have much idea of what technology could do. The only good point made here was the realisation that if citizens are flooding to a council's website to see what jobs are available this does not mean that the jobs section is good it actually means that the rest of it is rubbish.

The politicians' session was so poor that the twitter vote was to remove the twitterfall running behind them as the comments were so negative. Words like "clueless" were common.

Luckily the rest of the sessions, and there were around ten altogether, were good and were stimulating so we all ended the day with a bounce in our steps.

And those bounces took us quickly downstairs to the vaults for a drink and some serious networking.

There were a few familiar faces there but, stimulated by the talks, I deliberately chose to mix with new people; though I have to admit a few of these conversations started with the familiar "where do I know you from?" as most of us are regulars at several similar events.

Unexpectedly I had a long and useful conversation with John Tolva sometime during the evening.

And more unexpectedly, I got caught up with somebody's birthday party and a group of twenty of us headed off to the gay bar around the corner. These were mostly FutureGov people who seemed like a fun bunch who had the right ideas.

That made it an even longer day than expected but also added another twist, another glimpse of London and another opportunity to enrich existing relationships.

citycamplondon day one was meant to stimulate and that it most certainly did.

Information Underload at the BCS

I had a choice of two meetings to go to tonight and made the mistake of going to the BCS to hear a talk on Information Overload.

This a broad topic but it soon became clear (but too late to leave the meeting) that all we were going to look at was email and for the next hours or so. Not only was this very familiar territory, e.g. we were advised not to copy emails to lots of people, but it was delivered with no insights.

A clear warning sign these days is when the speaker proudly announces that they do not tweet. I did my best to  compensate by tweeting myself during the talk. This is what I said.

"The speaker at the BCS talk on Information Overload does not tweet. Not an expert then."

"He keeps saying 'I really worry a lot' without explaining why. Unconvincing."

"Tweeting how long you sleep for seems brilliant for social research but laughingly dismissed by our speaker. Not impressed."

"Ye Gods! Now he's moaning that it's too easy to email your MP! Clueless."

Even the prospect of free wine and sandwiches after the event failed to lift my mood and I beat a hasty retreat home.

LIKE 18: 21st Century Information Professionals

LIKE 18 followed hot on the heels of TFPL Connect but that did not deter many of us from going to both events.

We were helped in this by LIKE's move to a bigger venue, The Crown Tavern in Clerkenwell, that allowed almost fifty of us to attend when previously the limit was around twenty.

The new room was not without its teething troubles, such as some noise from the ladies next door, but these are all fixable and are more than compensated for by the large room, cultured ambiance, large and unusual collection of beers, and a varied and interesting menu.

The session we all flocked to was on the topic of the skills and knowledge required by 21st century information professionals, very relevant as everybody there belonged somewhere in that broad categorisation.

We were guided through our deliberations and discussions by Luisa Jefford who is an acknowledged expert in this field as the Director of Public Sector Recruitment at TFPL. The mix of talk and table exercises worked well to get the messages across and to get us to engage with each other.

It was interesting, but not surprising, to see that organisations are looking for more general skills, such as project management, team working and communications, to supplement the industry-specific information skills.

It was also noticeable that many of these information skills are old skills founded in things like librarianship that have been refreshed and rebranded for the web2.0 world.

When the food and second drink arrived the facilitated section of the evening ended and the discussions and conversations carried on at our tables and then, once the enticing food had been dealt with, in small groups as we moved around to reinforce old relationships and to make new ones.

It is sometimes hard to put a finger on why LIKE meetings work so well, and I'll not try too hard to now, and I'll merely point out that the room was packed and many of us stayed on well beyond the official end.

The new venue allows more people to attend the meetings and so allows the activism to extend beyond the hardcore of regulars (of which I am one). This is a major and a welcome step forward for LIKE.

TFPL Connect: The brand of Me

The third of this year's TFPL Connect events had the intriguing title of Unlocking the Value of You and used that banner to explore how individuals can help their organisations and been seen to do so.

First up Rosemary Nunn, the proud owner of the job title Group Head of Business Transformation and Knowledge Management at EC Harris LLP, described a model she had developed that links different types of knowledge to business objectives - a useful way to demonstrate the value of Knowledge Management.

This provoked me to realise that my current employer kills rather than encourages ideas from staff.

This was followed by Dave Tullett, Director Leadership and Innovation Centre at Heidrick and Struggles, who expanded on this by giving guidance on what we as individuals can do to demonstrate our own contribution and stand out from the crowd.

One of the ideas that came from this was using Wordle on your CV to see which words come to the fore. I can endorse this as it worked well for me when I tried it last year.

Other good ideas included coming up with your own short mission statement that explains how you help your organisation and thinking of three words that define your personal brand.

The thoughtful and useful talk was followed by the customary wine-fuelled networking where I was pleased to have some good conversations with some KM regulars and also some new people.

I'm very grateful to TFPL for another stimulating, fun, invigorating and useful evening. I think it's meant to be work but it does not feel like it.

Hay Fever at the Rose Theatre

The Rose Theatre in Kingston is my nearest theatre but has yet to win a place in my heart. With shows like Hay Fever that might just change.

The theatre's location helps sitting as it does on the edge of Charter Quay (it owes it's existence to a planning gain from that development) where there are plenty of bars and restaurants for the theatre-goer to refresh themselves.

I chose Wagamama and went for the yasai katsu curry, which I have been eating for ten years or so. Time for a menu refresh methinks.

The play's attraction for me was simply that it was written by Noël Coward. I'm not sure what I was expecting but Hay Fever was probably it with its subtle humour based on human eccentricities. Mad Dogs and Englishmen if you will.

The play is beautifully crafted over three acts, which I will call Arrival, Pairing and Departure.

In Arrival we are introduced to the four members of the Bliss family and, gradually, to the guests that each of them has invited to the house for the weekend. There is an implicit love interest with each one, despite the parents of the family still being married to each other and, apparently, happily so.

In Pairing the ensemble mixes and pairs off, but not as expected.

Finally, in Departure the four guests escape and leave the Bliss family to muse on the departees' eccentricities oblivious to the fact that theirs are greater and, for us, far more amusing.

The play relies greatly on a superb performance from Celia Imrie as the matriarchal Judith Bliss who thrives on her theatrical background; she has now retired from the stage but still carries some of the limelight around with her. This lets Imrie the actress wallow playfully in melodrama as she portrays Bliss the actress. It's wonderful to behold.

It's also necessary as I found the rest of the cast less convincing and compelling, apart from the daughter's amour who plays straight-laced impeccably. He just had to walk in his bemused manner to get you laughing.

Hay Fever did enough to convince me that the Rose Theatre is worth paying attention to but to get me back regularly they will have to keep doing unusual plays with good actors.