It's not often that the first thing you notice at a local government conference is a DJ in the corner making sure those arriving are fully awake before the sessions get underway.

But then it's not often that visitors get to choose the day's agenda after they arrive, lead their own sessions and sit with laptops or iphones telling the world what is being said through Twitter.

Welcome to LocalGovCamp, an unconference where those leading the way in local government's shift to web 2.0 met in their own time on a Saturday to discuss, explore, defend and criticise the new ideas and technologies that will influence the very structure of council communication, empowerment, efficiency and participation agendas.

Organiser David Briggs says he set out with one goal - 'to get the most committed and enthusiastic people in local government in one place.'

This he achieved firstly by running the event on a Saturday, 'you guarantee that people are there because they want to be, not because it is an easy day out of the office!' explains David.

Secondly the flexible, informal structure of the day helps keep conversation flowing and the event sociable and enjoyable.

'The best thing about events is always the bit over coffee, in between being lectured by so-called experts,' says David

'The Localgovcamp format made each session into a conversation between people, about the things they are interested in.

'Indeed, the whole atmosphere was intended to be as social as possible - it was work as not-work. Hence the venue, the music etc - we wanted people talking and having fun, coming up with ideas and sharing ways to make them happen.'

Once everyone had arrived each visitor introduced themselves to the group stating their name and a three word introduction, ranging from the serious to the humorous. The words connected, joined and communicate seemed to dominate - perhaps a reflection of the way that this new generation of council communicators are looking to work.

Next everyone was asked to contribute session ideas, which were put to the group and allocated time slots.

Ingrid Koehler, improvement strategist at the IDeA took the opportunity to host two sessions at the event. The first a was a plea for potential project ideas using social media either to empower citizens or create efficiencies, these could be funded by the CLG's efficiency and transformation capital fund. the session proved popular and productive, possibly because Ingrid's three word introduction was 'we have money'!

Regardless of motivation, Ideas flourished and more than 40 have now gone up on the IDeA Strategy blog with a look to take things further. Not often would a local government conference produce such a prolific or instant result.

'It was great,' explains Ingrid. 'We had already asked for ideas through Twitter and our blog, which had produced some good responses, but face to face at the event we were able to generate a real passion and excitement, generating a real flavour of what we were after. This meant people knew exactly what we wanted and were able to get any questions answered straight away.'

In the afternoon session Ingrid lead a discussion on councillors and social media.

It was suggested that councillors would make ideal social media users given their ability to communicate their often firmly held opinions.

'They’re usually dedicated individuals with a strong sense of local place,' explains Ingrid. 'They’re good connectors, motivated to help and share information. They’re used to holding their own in the hustle and bustle of multiple voices and strong opinions – and the best develop the ability to cut through the chatter, deflecting and reflecting on negative feedback.'

 

But there are also significant reasons that many councillors won't be signing up for Twitter or starting their own blog any time soon.

'On the whole, they’re a bit older than the usual digital native. They may or may not have developed the basic IT and social web skills through their work or personal experience. And they’re insanely busy juggling work, family and political responsibilities – and while social media can be time saving in the long run it does take time to get it set up and gain confidence.'

So how could this be addressed? Again LocalGovCamp came up trumps and produced seven clear steps to help get cllrs involved in social media which can be seen here.

There was a strong social aspect to the whole thing with many visitors meeting up on the night before and discussions carrying on into the small hours in Birmingham's buzzing night spots, although it's not clear how many of these were on the topic of local government!

Happy with how things have gone David can start to relax, 'I think the day went very well - the online buzz is still going on and a lot of the feedback has been remarkably positive. There was clearly a latent desire for a lot of people to come together in this way. Lots of people already 'knew' each other through blogs, Twitter and other social networks, so it was almost like a meeting of old friends,' he explains.

'I'm delighted to see that already a number of authorities are planning their own camps to try and get more people from their own organisation and those close by to give this way of doing things a go.

'It might not suit everyone, but the flow of ideas coming out of the day on Saturday shows that it's worth trying.'

As it turned out the event DJ was Stuart Harrison, webmaster at Litchfield DC and prominent local government Twitter user. He said enjoyed the chance to meet up with so many like-minded people 'in a relaxed, friendly and, more to the point, fun atmosphere'.

'Local government has always had a bit of a stuffy reputation and it’s nice to know that there are so many forward-thinking, dynamic and interesting people working in the sector who are willing to embrace the digital age and take things to the next level.

'Plus it’s always good to enforce my music taste on a room full of 200 people!'