Welcome to Open Space South West #OpenSSW
Posted on: 23 May 2012 by: openspace - 2 Comments
What is Open Space South West?
It is an event and a network, bringing together public sector providers, businesses, community organisations and academia to reimagine the ways in which collaboration and web technologies will shape the future of public services in the south west.
You’ll hear from inspiring people from across the region as well as nationally who are recognised as leaders in their field. The speakers will also lead and suggest workshops for further discussion, challenge and learning.
The event also includes an unconference format, which means that as a participant, you’ll get to shape the agenda and talk or hear about issues/challenges important to you.
Who’s organising it
The event is being jointly organised and produced by Public-i and Devon County Council. It is a collaboration built on existing working relationships.
Why is it called Open Space South West?
The UKGovCamp movement has been going from strength to strength over the last 5 years and has evolved to encompass regional and local events around the country. However the South West has not hosted a govcamp event in that time whilst other regions are now on the second or even third installment.
Open Space South West is slightly different, it is hybrid event - it maintains aspects of the unconference (e.g. govcamps) and also includes formal speakers from various organisations and on various topics looking to challenge thinking and inspire peop3E will also lead and suggest workshops for further discussion, challenge and learning.
The event also includes an unconference format, which means that as a participant, you’ll get to shape the agenda and talk or hear about issues/challenges important to you.
Who’s organising it
The event is being jointly organised and produced by Public-i and Devon County Council. It is a collaboration built on existing working relationships.
Why is it called Open Space South West?
The UKGovCamp movement has been going from strength to strength over the last 5 years and has evolved to encompass regional and local events around the country. However the South West has not hosted a govcamp event in that time whilst other regions are now on the second or even third installment.
Open Space South West is slightly different, it is hybrid event - it maintains aspects of the unconference (e.g. govcamps) and also includes formal speakers from various organisations and on various topics looking to challenge thinking and inspire people.
The name came about via a conversation between Carl Haggerty (Devon County Council and Public-i) and Tanya Harris (Public-i), who both thought that having a different name and branding would help provide a fresh approach and would signify the alternative format better.
The conversation was pretty random but eventually when focusing on what the core event was about – providing an “open space” for people to come and share, learn and challenge – that along with the physical open spaces and freshness in the south west – Open Space South West seemed appropriate and very relevant.
How did it come about?
This main reason this event is happening is down to the enthusiasm and passion of the team at Public-i who acknowledge and recognise that the South West often misses out on these types of events as travelling from the region to places like London, Birmingham or further isn’t always practical or feasible. So creating an event in the region was the obvious response and in terms of geography Exeter (based on travel time) is pretty central within the region. The added advantage of Carl working at Devon County Council also presented an opportunity to hold the event at the Council’s Coaver Conference Centre.
How much does it cost?
The event is free to attend and there are a maximum of 120 tickets.
The tickets will be released in batches to allow for a wide range of people to access and obtain tickets.
When all the tickets in each batch have gone you will have the chance to join a waiting list, so if there are no tickets available you can sign up to be notified if any become available or if someone returns a ticket. This will actually be the quickest way to find out about when new tickets become available.
Who
2 comments on “Welcome to Open Space South West #OpenSSW”
Very exciting!! Can’t wait for this event and will be checking daily for tickets.
Pingback: Open Space South West and cultural exchanges #openssw « Public-i Blog