Conference planning page

From Open Government Pioneer Project

 Introduction

This is the planning page for the UK conference for the Open Government Pioneers UK initiative.

 Suggestions and ideas

  • Best approach seems to be to focus on developing future actions plans
  • Two parts to conference – public facing and feeding off the imagine festival (democracy day style)
  • Should have an introductory type focus for anyone who wants to come with an interest.
  • Focused session that has groups from different nations.
  • Themes and ideas taken into the second part of the day, which is much more strategic
  • Need for first session to have catching themes to draw people in, for example dark money and impact on Brexit
  • How do we ensure SDGs are threaded throughout event? Does this depend on where the UK is in terms of implementing the SDGs? Some nations further ahead than others – an opportunity to promote good practise?
  • Language we use will be important – not open government and SDGs and more like ‘having control over life’
  • If by this stage each nation has a set of ideas and commitments, would be good to bring together and share commitments with partner nations together and to challenge each other.
  • Two parts to conference – public facing and feeding off the imagine festival (democracy day style)
  • Should have an introductory type focus for anyone who wants to come with an interest.
  • Focused session that has groups from different nations.
  • Themes and ideas taken into the second part of the day, which is much more strategic
  • Need for first session to have catching themes to draw people in, for example dark money and impact on Brexit
  • How do we ensure SDGs are threaded throughout event? Does this depend on where the UK is in terms of implementing the SDGs? Some nations further ahead than others – an opportunity to promote good practise?
  • Language we use will be important – not open government and SDGs and more like ‘having control over life’
  • If by this stage each nation has a set of ideas and commitments, would be good to bring together and share commitments with partner nations together and to challenge each other.
  • INSERT MORE or REFINE

 Event overview

Project details

Project Name UK Conference
Event Lead(s) Jonathan Bell & David McBurney (Northern Ireland)
Reporting to Ruchir Shah - Project Director
Start Date 1st August 2017
Completion Date 30th March 2018
Other team members involved Paul Bradley - Scotland
Jetske Germing - Wales
Tim Hughes - England

Logistics

Conference Name Re-imagining democracy
Conference Venue Belfast, TBC
Conference Times March 15th 2018, TBC
Virtual conference March 12th to March 16th 2018
OTHER TBC
OTHER TBC

Delivery stakeholders

How should reps from each UK home nation lead on the event and what other stakeholders in our organisations must be utilised?

Stakeholder Role Contribution
Ruchir Shah Direct oversight for budget and organisation

Virtual conference development

Jonathan Bell Lead for getting the event organised + NI contribution
David McBurney Lead for getting the event organised + NI contribution 
Paul Bradley Scotland contribution
Allan Young Meetup.com engagement (across UK)
Jetske Germing Wales contribution
Tim Hughes England contribution
SCVO Comms Team
NI Link Comms Team
WCVA Comms Team
Involve Comms Team

Deliverables

What are the key deliverables throughout the planning of the event?

Key activity Delivered by Completion date Completed
Project plan template on wiki Paul w/c 29 Aug 2017
Initial plans on wiki - completed template All w/c 4 Sept 2017
Date of event agreed and approved by Project Board w/c 4 Sept 2017
Project team meeting set up Paul w/c 4 Sept 2017
Speakers for the event to be agreed
Agree budget for event for catering / promotional materials / venue / travel
Invitation list for event created and agreed
Draft structure of event to be agreed
Draft proposals ready from each nation lead on national contribution
CONTINUE TO FILL OUT

 Conference Sessions Planning

Home nation sessions

Should each UK home nation lead on a session at the conference and how might this look?

UK home nation Topic Format Speakers Facilitation requirements Virtual conference plan Summary of content Desired outputs
England / UK
Northern Ireland
Wales
Scotland
Other?

Core Sessions

UK home nation Topic Format Speakers Facilitation requirements Virtual conference plan Summary of content Desired outputs
Session A
Session B
Session C
Session D
INSERT MORE

Virtual conference development

Development area Resources to review Proposed actions Review of actions
Pre-planning Cisco advice

Inc.com tips

Zoom.us platform

Procure webinar functionality for virtual platform (Zoom)

Pre-recorded content in the form of well-edited and interesting video clips

Stress testing equipment and platforms

Connectivity review At conference, we need:
  • Dedicated network wifi, venue technicians on standby
  • Dedicated livestream facilitators with their own equipment (buy-in)
  • Twitter wall, and laptop with twitter filtering software, plus twitter operator/facilitator
  • Secondary livestream roving ipads/iphones configured as cameras with soun
Check venue fast wifi and redundancy, and technician arrangements

Procure local livestream media production company

Purchase / rent twitter wall application for media laptop e.g. https://everwall.com/tour

Get apps onto ios devices for secondary livestreaming

NIEL meeting with venues
Format review Virtual breakout rooms

Webinar remote speakers

Moderated twitter walls

Set up and test these for functionality and ease of use on Zoom

Review and plan where to activate twitter wall on agenda.

Facilitation review Dedicated twitter wall operator

Virtual conference facilitator

Breakout rooms facilitators x 3

Technical facilitator

Approach candidates for virtual conference facilitation

Appoint twitter wall operator

Appoint virtual breakout room facilitators x 3

Appoint technical facilitator

Online and satellite events arrangements

Re-imagine Democracy Conference

Online and satellite events

Where: The Mac, Exchange Street, Belfast, BT1 2LS & online

When: 9.45am-4.30pm, Thurs 15 March 2018

Registration: Free to attend

Project Team

Role Leads
Conference coordinators Jonny Bell & David McBurney (NIEL)
Livestream, social and satellite events Paul Bradley (SCVO)
Collaborative workshop Andreas Pavlou (Involve)
Accessibility Jetske Germing (WCVA)
Project Sponsor Ruchir Shah (SCVO)
Branding Lynne Reynolds (WCVA)

External Team

Role Leads
Social and online support Leah Lockhart (DemSoc)
Glasgow satellite event (Young Women’s) Ruth Boyle (SCVO) & Jemma Tracey (YWM)
Edinburgh satellite event (IDEAS) Allan Young (SCVO) & Josh Brown (IDEAS)
Live stream provider Gordon Cross (Revolution Productions)
Venue Claire Hall (The Mac)
BSL TBC

Description

Imagine a country where decisions are honestly made, transparent and accountable, where outcomes cannot be bought or manipulated and where policy-making processes enhance democratic participation and connection.

This all–day conference organised by the Open Government Network will explore:

  • Freedom of information – accountability and the public’s right to know. Would more open government have prevented RHI, SIF and NAMA?
  • Democratic Ownership – Is democracy being subverted by dark money – the undisclosed funding of organisations involved in public advocacy?
  • Anti-corruption – Will improving transparency around beneficial ownership help prevent tax evasion, money laundering and corruption?
  • Environmental protection – As climate change threatens the very existence of life on earth, how can the UK contribute to efforts to avoid global disaster?
  • Making power responsive to citizens’ hopes and needs – What’s the future for open government and democracy?

Belfast Conference Agenda

09.45am: Welcome & Scene Setting 

Peter Osborne, Host 

10.00am: What’s the point of Open Government?

Three deliberative dialogues to explore and demonstrate the intrinsic and instrumental value of more open government.

Dialogue 1: Transparency, accountability & the public’s right to know

Mandy McAuley, BBC Spotlight

Dialogue 2: Who owns our democracy?

Peter Geoghegan, OpenDemocracy

Dialogue 3: Unmasking the Corrupt – The Paradise Papers

Alex Cobham, CEO of the Tax Justice Network 

11.30am: BREAK (Refreshments provided) 

12.00 noon: Leave No One Behind: Open Government and the SDGs

Three Lightning Talks followed by a Q&A and open discussion on the relevance of the SDGs for the UK and Ireland.

Lightning Talk 1: Open Government and the UN SDGs – The Pioneer Project

Lucy McTernan, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO)

Lightning Talk 2: Progress with implementation plan for SDGs

Farooq Ullah, Co-Chair of UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development (UKSSD)

Lightning Talk 3: Climate Change & Environmental Protection Post Brexit – SDG13

Jim Kitchen, former Head of Sustainable Development Commission in NI 

1.00pm: LUNCH (Food and drink provided) 

2.00pm: The Future of Open Government – What’s the Story?

Keynote from Robin Hodess, Transparency International and the OGP Steering Group 

2.30pm: Commitments for the 4th UK OG NAP

Workshop to identify and discuss potential new commitment areas & ideas 

4.30pm: Conclusions and close

Satellite event arrangements

Summary

Young Women’s Movement (Glasgow)

Ruth Boyle of SCVO will be working with Jemma Tracey of YWCA with a focus on young women and BMW women’s groups.

IDEAS (Edinburgh)

Allan Young of SCVO will be working with Josh Brown of IDEAS with a focus on outputs from the Youth Citizen’s Advocates series taking place in Scotland.

Draft agenda

9-1 pm Belfast Conference

Edinburgh and Glasgow participants are able to live stream the morning session of the conference before arriving at the venue. This is optional.

1:30pm Glasgow and Edinburgh arrivals and welcome

Particpants arrive, tea and coffee, introductions, set up of equipment and explanation of afternoon session.

2pm The Future of Open Government – What’s the story? (LIVE STREAM)

Format: Keynote from Robin Hodess from Transparency International and the OGP Steering Group.

2:30pm: Commitments for Open Government Action Plans (UK/Scotland)

The below is an example of what could happen. The conference team will be meeting w/c 19th February to develop the workshop session.

Format: Unconference/pitching ideas for new commitments

Group discussion on potential new commitment areas and ideas

Followed by: A series of pitches against the countdown clock proposing new commitments.

Participants in Scotland will follow workshop instructions, hold their own discussion groups and produce mini-pitches to be shared with conference via social media.

4:30pm – Summing up and close (LIVE STREAM)

Before the event

Hold a pre-event meeting with your partner contact to go through the programme and ask for the final list of participants.

Check that all materials are at venue, including tech equipment to watch the livestream, phones/iPads for vox-pops and branded items.

Provide participants with a link to the YouTube channel so that they can watch to morning session if they would like to. Also send the brief outlining key background information.

During the event (we are currently in the process to designing how this will work – decisions likely to be made w/c 19th February

Keep in touch with the Belfast team via social media and the YouTube chat channel.

When using social media, ensure that you are using the conference # and the location # so we know where your contributions are coming from.

The team will also be monitoring the YouTube chat stream where you can send more detailed information directly to us and to those tuning in.

Online arrangements

Summary

Revolution Productions (Gordon Cross) will be providing the live streaming support for the conference. Set up includes two cameras. one static wide and an operated camera (this may need to increase with inclusion of BSL interpreters) and one vision mixer. They will record the mix as well as each camera. Audio feeds will be supplied by in house AV crew and revolution productions will provide 4G internet connection.  

Platforms

Stream is one way via YouTube channel and streaming video provider. YouTube has been chosen to make sure that online viewers are less likely to encounter a low-quality video experience as opposed to periscope on twitter. The channel will be promoted through twitter.

Social

We will use the Open Government Network’s twitter account to capture input from the online audience and to monitor conversations. The YouTube channel will also have its own chat function that will also be monitored and responded to. The conference # will be _____________

DemSoc support

DemSoc will be providing support to coordinate the online aspects of the conference. Discussions as to how this support will be provided are to take place w/c 19th February, including how online input will be captured relayed to main conference.

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