We’ll be holding (as previously announced) our next user group event on the 1st of December. It’ll be at the Hallam Centre, which was the venue for our last earlier this year – and proved most agreeable, I think, to all who could be there. We’ve already had 31 confirmed attendees – but don’t worry if you’re keen to come, there are still more places!
Rather than blather on I thought I’d simply give you the agenda, as planned, for the event and then talk briefly about what we’ll be doing…
10.30am: Arrival and tea and coffee
11am: Start of user group – with a presentation on the development road map for Public-i. We’ll be inviting suggestions on the road map at this point, so come armed with questions and ideas!
12pm: Dr Lewis’s surgery and best practice exchange – this is the usual opportunity for you to get your technical questions answered.
1pm: Lunch
2pm: Panel discussion – this will be about councillors’ use of social media – and, in particular, how do we get members communicating online more effectively. We’ll be asking: What are the real limitations around social media use by members – both during and around meetings? And: How can you explore ways to remove these barriers and get members communicating more effectively online?
4pm: Any other business
Who is coming?
Confirmed: We’re glad to welcom Simon Hill, the democratic services manager at Epping Forest, who will be our chairman.
Councillor Tim Cheetham, Labour member at Barnsley MBC is a prolific tweeter – as anyone who follows @cllrtim will know. His blog, now closed, was named one of the top 30 councillor blogs by Total Politics in 2010 and he is an outspoken and well-known politician, whose use of Twitter and social media should provide plenty of material for the panel discussion.
Lesley Blue is the committee services manager at the London Borough of Camden. She’ll know all about the changing demands of councillors and social media in the chamber – as the council’s meetings are now home to several actively tweeting members.
There are one or two others that we’re hoping to announce, who we’ll keep under wraps for the moment, but we’ll of course, be benefitting from the presence of our chief executive, Catherine Howe, both as part of the day’s proceedings in general and the panel at 2pm.
Social media: We’ll be covering the event with a webcast and social media and I’ll try to announce more details on that, early next week if not before. The hashtag on Twitter is (as before) #Piug11.
Want to come? Get in touch with Jane Purcell – on email: jane.purcell@public-i.info or call 01273 821 282. Or just comment below and I’ll make sure it gets into the right hands.
Are we missing something? Have you got a burning subject you’d like to talk about that you think fits in here? Just add a comment below and we’ll do what we’ll try to include it.
