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LocalGovCamp 2024


2024's LocalGovCamp was held on 25 and 26 September at STEAMHouse in Birmingham. Below are some personal notes and refilections on the event. 


25 September 2024 - Hack Day

The hack was back. Whilst there had been a hack day in previous years, most notably the local democracy hack in Leeds in 2015, it had taken a break for a few years until 2024. 

The 2015 event saw the participants leave the venue and roam the streets conducting guerrilla research on real people for an hour in the afternoon, and as an organiser part of me feared no one would return; thankfully they did.

This year, somewhat predictably we covered the topic of artificial intelligence (AI), and attendees were a mixture of local government officers and students at Birmingham City University, whom we managed to keep in the building for the duration of both sessions.

In the morning I ran a session on creating topic based assistants, something we've been doing at West Berkshire Council which you'll see more about over the next month. In the afternoon Paul Funnell took over, with he and his team running sessions on some of the amazing things they've been developing at Powys County Council.

What I thought worked really well was the combination of students, who generally had more knowledge of the theory behind AI, and the council officers who generally had far more practical experience of using AI. 

25 September 2024 - Social

If Birmingham is the spiritual home of LocalGovCamp then Manzils is where LocalGovCampers eat and as usual Manzils didn't disappoint the forty or so of us who attended. 

Obviously discussion there is very much off the record, and on a far wider range of topics than just local government, but I can say I had a both an enlightening and amusing chat with someone sitting next to me who worked on DCLG's "50 ways to save" back in the day., as I believe the kids say nowadays.

It was great to catch up with Carl Haggerty too. I'm sure I speak for many when I say they'll always be a place for you at LocalGovCamp so don't stay away for so long next time!

26 September 2024 - Main Event

As in recent years, the morning featured predefined sessions, with the afternoon as the now traditional unconference format the event was founded on. 

AM

The first session I attended was run by Lisa Trickey, Sarah Slate from the Local Government Association and myself, and was part of the work Kafilat Akintoye and I have being doing with the LGA on adoption of the Service Standard. 

I found being able to workshop this with a group in person was really valuable, and it'll feed into the recommendations from the LGA and LocalGov Digital to be published soon.

Next up was Gavin Beckett from Placecube on build vs buy, the middle ground of low-code platforms, and using open source. This again is a topic  that's relevant to work Kafilat Akintoye and I are doing with my team, on the wider process of how new digital services come into existence.

Finally for the morning was Kat Sexton and her team from Birmingham City Council on amazing work they've done to create the Foundry. As with previous sessions, it provided some great insight into a process around the creation of new digital services.

PM

The unconference sessions were in the afternoon and the first I attended was a joint pitch from Sarah Peña of Wokingham Borough Council and myself. Anyone who has followed her work around AI in local government will know she's not just a thought leader but delivers on those ideas too, so I was happy that we ran this session on a shared library of engineering prompt for councils together. Watch this space for something on that very soon.

The second session was pitched by Ben Cheetham on what how Local Digital can help local government, which was combined by the unconference organisers with another pitch about views on being hopeful or sceptical about the future of local government digital. We're at a pivotal point, not just in local government digital, but for the future of service delivery by councils and it was amazing to hear others' viewpoints and be able to share some of my own.

Unfortunately I had to skip the third session to catch my train, but by that point after two days ideas and innovation I think my brain had enough anyway!

In Summary

Huge respect to Nick Hill who puts LocalGovCamp together every year. 

Thanks also to the sponsors who make it free to attend every year through their generous contributions.

Whilst online events have undoubtedly made collaboration, quicker, easier, and cheaper, there's nothing like being in the same room as others to facilitate learning and the sharing of ideas, and kick-start collaboration, from time to time.

So here's to LocalGovCamp 2025; I'm looking forward to it already.

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