Cake is the food of the Gods

I felt like Charlie Bucket clutching his pass to the chocolate factory when I got my ticket through for CommsCamp14. So, did I find an everlasting gobstopper?

Well, there was lots of chocolate cake and these are my 14 takeaways:

1. Conferences with agendas are so passé. If it’s free-flowing discussion and sharing you want, unconferences are the future  They’re open and democratic – it doesn’t matter who you are or what your title is, what does matter is what you have to say and how well you share. The lack of structure allows people to talk about what interests them, share and learn in a way that is many-to-many, rather than a one-to-many.
2. I wish I’d pitched. When others were pitching sessions, I tweeted this:

Have a Q for #commscamp14: in the age of social media, do we need Comms teams?

I’m not sure if people would have come and had a conversation about it and now I’ll never know. It was my first unconference and I was more comfortable chipping in than ‘leading’ a session. Hats off to all those who did pitch and lead, though.

3. Facebook algorithms – I understand a bit more about these now thanks to @DeesonCreative but I don’t feel despondent about how hard it is to get your posts seen by your followers through organic reach now. I work at a large hospital Trust and the speed with which our posts are liked, shared and commented on, let alone the number of times, means we’re doing something right to connect with people and communicate things that are relevant to them.
4. Where would we be without the visionaries of this world? I have big respect for @Puffles2010 (aka Anthony) anyway, but his idea of digital helping change a city really made me think. In the session he initiated, I learned:

• About 83% of the population are digitally connected
• The way to encourage those who aren’t but could be is by showing them ways that digital could benefit them – if they’re into crocheting, show them the crochet patterns, groups, discussions about crochet styles etc. Asking them to get online because it makes it cheaper for the local council to collect their council tax is a massive turn-off.
• Digital literacy will one day be as important as literacy or numeracy.

5. No-one cares who delivers what, they care about how well it is delivered and the quality of service/care they get, a point well made by @philjewitt. So how do we get organisations to do joined-up working? Getting people talking at more unconferences might be a good start, the best things often start organically ….
6. I met one of the team, @jamieofficer, involved in the ‘Don’t wash your chicken’ campaign. Why is it that the most interesting people are often the most unassuming? I thought that campaign was great and hearing how it was planned, the simple messaging, the success, was a bonus.
7. What I really learned from @jamieofficer though, was that the best place to find up-to-date info about digital channels, usage etc is Global Web Index Summaries are free, there is a charge for full reports. He also shared his knowledge of BuzzSumo good for identifying influencers and thanks to Jamie, everyone now knows about AMEC’s latest framework for measuring the impact of social media.
8. Gender is no barrier to multi-tasking. During the session on new digital channels, @JohnPopham paused a moment and lifted his hand off his video camera which was live streaming and said something like: “Don’t forget your staff. Unleash them and the power of their networks……” I wanted to clap because I think he’s right.
9. Over lunch, I had a really good chat with someone who until recently worked for a very busy council in a tough area. We talked about the difficult and emotional events that comms people are often exposed to and involved in dealing with … child protection cases; murders, personal tragedies etc … and the way this affects us as people. Do we become dehumanized or do we act like professionals at the time, bottle it all up and then it hits us when we least expect it and we find ourselves crying in the shower? What supervision and support do we put in place for ourselves?
10. I know now a little bit more about the care bit of the Care Act, courtesy of my local government colleagues. But I’m still not sure whether all of local government has a sense of what a massive and life-changing agenda they have just taken charge of, now Public Health sits with them. For me in health comms, healthcare provision of the future depends in large part on health education now.
11. Panic-buying doesn’t just happen in petrol stations late on Christmas Eve. The ‘we’ve been given a target, we’ve been given some money, we don’t know how the two connect but we better some spend some of the dosh quickly so it looks like we’re doing something’ cuts across all public services. It’s wasteful and sad. It’s the real malignancy of initiativitis.
12. I don’t know what content marketing is and I don’t care. I am more interested in creating interesting things that people want to share. I was also mentally shattered by this last session of the day so apologies for not chipping in.
    

    My contribution to the cake competition.

13. I’ve learned something about myself. I really like cake. I enjoy baking it and love nothing more than scoffing it in a National Trust café, washed down with Earl Grey tea. But when I see a table adorned with every conceivable sweet delight, my neurons are confused and I just fancy cheese and onion crisps.
14. I couldn’t have taken away any of the above if lots of people hadn’t worked very hard to make CommsCamp14 happen. So my last ‘take’away is actually a give … thanks to @DanSlee, @darrencaveney and @emmarodgers and @annkempster and all the other people and sponsors who made it possible for me to learn so much. Thanks also to @Gemma_Finnegan for a ride from Cornwall to Birmingham and back and great company en route.

@Gemma_Finnegan enjoying the Birmingham sunshine at #CommsCamp14