Shine 2008 aftermath: toasting success

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Davidrossingtongroup
So Shine 2008 was a real success, I think: really did what it set out to do in terms of accessibility (of price), a dynamic feel, practical/relevant sessions, lots of connections and conversations, a real mix of participants and contributors. I think the social reporting also went well, and big thanks to David Wilcox, Paul Henderson, Dave Briggs, Duncan Arrow, as well as guest bloggers Dave Dawes, Darragh Doyle and Ben Matthews….for getting involved and helping it happen! [btw, if you can’t see the site, it may be because your ISP is Virgin….] Do check out some of the videos and photos which give a real sense of the vibe and atmosphere of the event.

Lots to learn of course, and my (unthoughtthrough) changes/amendments would be to do with some bigger collective moments (as per what Kaos Pilots Netherlands did), slightly more structure / formality at certain times, linking online and face-to-face connections better, more food/drink options and so on. And, at times, numbers were affected by a) it being the most beautiful weekend for many months, and b) the Premiership title decider….

Nevertheless, whilst fully acknowledging my inbuilt bias, the event was a real success and very much in line with what we had discussed and planned since the get go; and it’s a tribute to those involved that it all happened on such a tight budget. HUGE thanks to Andres from Eudemonic and Jess from Germination (and their teams: Grace, Lizzie, Gemma et al), all the blue t-shirted volunteers, all the contributors who took a risk on an unproven event, the pioneering funders (NESTA, DCLG, Buzzacott, BWB, OTS), the pro-bono branders and web designers (Neru, Rolled), Green-works for providing all the event furniture, and many many more.

Along with the other founding partners, UnLtd, Ashoka and the Hub, SSE‘s delighted to have been involved in making it happen…and look forward to next year’s event, which can now be built on some really credible (if radical) foundations.

Follow the action at Shine 2008

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Come join us over at Shine 2008 which starts today and runs right through the weekend. I’ll be blogging live across the whole weekend, along with others, over at a site we’ve set up specially: http://shine.socialreporter.net (thanks to David Wilcox, Paul Henderson, Dave Briggs et al) will feature video, blog posts, flickr photos, twittering (oh yes) and everything else you might possibly imagine.

If you’re coming and blogging, everything should be tagged with shine2008 (or #shine2008 on twitter); if you’re not, then follow the action live and come join in on Saturday and Sunday.

Research engine

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Increasingly in my role here at SSE I am tracking bits of research and policy that are flowing from different outfits and areas (and countries). And, while I haven’t had much time to pore over them of late, here are a couple that I thought were of particular interest:

– The Social Intrapreneur: A Field Guide for Corporate Changemakers (pdf at end of article); It’s from Sustainability, whose stuff is usually leaning towards the corporate / US / big business version of social entrepreneurship, and I guess this report is a logical extension of this. Their stuff is always very good and thought-provoking though, so this makes it worth a read. We’ve often played round with the idea of social intrapreneurship here, although as much in a ‘large non-profit’ as a multinational….but, either way, entrepreneurial individuals within organisations setting up new initiatives and projects for social benefit. Different challenges to starting from scratch, different benefits….but also much that is shared. An area to revisit, I think.

– Hitting the Target, Missing the Point: How government regeneration targets fail deprived areas is from the New Economics Foundation, and seems incredibly timely to me. Indeed, no sooner had I written something like "DCLG should aim to learn from previous / current regeneration initiatives such as LEGI" in a policy document than this lands in my inbox. Looks very interesting, particularly as it is rooted in practical work in the St Helens area (which has LEGI money: the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative).

I’ve yet to read it in full, but the general message seems to be that concentrating on outputs like job nos., enterprises started etc doesn’t capture the full benefits of such initiatives. It’s not a surprise to hear NEF calling for more sophisticated, thought-through measurement…but this one could have a big influence at at time when DCLG is looking at its regeneration objectives and infrastructure closely. Certainly, SSE has found that its outcomes and impact range far and wide: yes, jobs created, organisations established…but also increased political engagement, decreased isolation, greater community cohesion, improved relationships (!) etc…..

Shine unconference: a 2.0 event

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Chair
Many moons ago, I wrote in an application that I was going to do live blogging from an event for grassroots social entrepreneurs, and create a publication (possibly online) out of the presentations / narratives emerging. And now, in the form of the Shine unconference (why haven’t you bought your tickets yet?), it’s coming back at me, in quite an exciting way.

I’ve been talking to a few of those in the know (David Wilcox, Simon Berry, Alberto Nardelli) about the best ways of utilising all the new tech available in as coherent as way as possible. We’re probably going to look at something similar to what Collaborate 2008 did: a simple platform that allows various technologies (twitter, qik video, slideshare, blog posts, del.icio.us, flickr et al) to be aggregrated and connected. It’s not about an owned space, but about a light framework to facilitate all the connections, and provide a way through the information.

We’ll also be using shared tags: a new one for me, but if you tag anything with shine2008 in any of the places above, then it should work nicely in bringing us all together [via Simon B’s advice, I’ve also discovered using hashtags and twitter to create a miniblog, which was a new on me]. The twitter to follow, incidentally, is http://twitter.com/shine2008 and we’ll also be cross-linking with the various Shine groups on Facebook and UnLtdWorld.

Like the event itself, the hope is that this will help make the event as participative, interactive and user-shaped as possible. As well as sharing and disseminating news / info / opinions of interest to as many as possible.

More on this soon….