Will blog for Brownie…and innovation.

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Met for a coffee yesterday evening with John Craig, Director of the Innovation Exchange, the government-funded initiative to promote innovation in the third sector (particularly where it meets public services; see here for more). There’s the potential for some SSE Fellows to be brought into the process and conversations that John will be enabling, particularly at some ‘open space’ events coming up soon. I’ll also be blogging a bit for the InnovEx, hence the title of the post (if being at SSE has taught me something, it’s there’s no such thing as a free chocolate brownie). More news to follow in future posts.

As has been pointed out before, just when you were waiting for one innovation exchange to arrive, along comes another one. In this case, the Social Innovation Exchange (or SIX) which is driven by the Young Foundation and a group of core partners (including SSE). More fluid in remit, currently, it intends to draw together resources, build networks and collate case studies from across the globe. Differing, therefore, from its govt.-funded namesake by its global reach, and a much broader focus. SIX is taking a direct feed from this blog, featuring SSE case studies, and we look forward to collaborating with our global partners on a number of future initiatives. Congratulations to Sara for getting it all built and designed….

Recent social enterprise podcasting….

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Never thought I’d say this: am glad to be having a whole week in the office….but what all the travelling around has done, apart from confirm my thoughts that Rail Miles or Green Miles are a good idea, is allow me to keep listening to various podcasts. Here’s a brief run down of recent listening:

– The Bottom Line with Evan Davis; this is really growing on me, actually: simple format (3 CEOs discuss their businesses, and another cross-cutting issue) and very accessible; gives a swift insight into their businesses, and the challenges these organisations face.

– SmallBizPod‘s recent cast on Social Firms was interesting, not least because it interviewed Nigel Kershaw, CEO of Big Issue Invest / Chair of Big Issue. Nigel is a great and plain speaker on this stuff, on cutting through the financial mechanisms, and there are some understated Kershaw gems here, including "we are the Goldman Sachs of the sector" and "we’re going to change everything". SmallBizPod were apparently at Voice 08, but I missed them…..Sally Reynolds from Social Firms also features on the cast, and it was interesting to hear about their quality (star) mark for social firms, and her thoughts on the development of that part of the sector.

– If you’re interested in China or Russia, then Peter Day’s In Business podcast has been really interesting over the last couple of weeks.

– John Elkington, Chief Entrepreneur at Sustainability and co-author of the Power of Unreasonable People, featured on Harvard Business Review’s IdeaCast (also, read another review here). HBR also have a new "Green" area and conversation, although it is, as you would expect, at the corporate end of things….

– Other off-topic stuff has included Start the Week (though it is always ‘end the week’ for me) and the marvellous Mark Kermode / Simon Mayo on film (heartily recommended)

– Finally, worth mentioning that Jude Habib, SSE Fellow, who runs sounddelivery, had a piece in ThirdSector magazine about podcasting as part of their look at web 2.0 type stuff.

Voice 08: initial thoughts

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Am out of office tomorrow, so thought I’d try and capture some initial brief thoughts on the last day and a half at Voice 08 up in Liverpool.

The reception in the evening was great networking, and was fantastic to arrive and see our Liverpool SSE cohort mingling with more familiar and established names and faces. Feedback on Young Voice, which had been happening during the day, was mixed….on the positive side, the sense of dynamism and energy was definitely there (of which more later), and several people I spoke to enjoyed the interaction and chance to engage with a younger audience. On the negative, several people said it lacked a bit of direction, and had occassional mismatches of tone (legal structures and returns on investment to 14 year-olds etc). The Liverpool SSE lot, in their inspirational igloo, were generally positive, and felt it was an innovation definitely worth pursuing.

Gossip from the reception? Two well-known chief executives in the sector asked me to work out the restaurant bill, as they were slightly tipsy (they’ve obviously progressed through delegation); our hotel bar was still packed at 2.30am, few of whom noticed the earthquake beneath their feet; oh and, of course, all the best conversations and deals took place.

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On the morning, there was a fairly uninspiring plenary session; standout was the video from the Scojo Foundation (genuinely amazing), and possibly Hazel Blears’ revelation that she’d serviced a Volvo recently (and signed it off: government accountability and transparency in action); by the magic of video, Gordon Brown announced an extra £27 million to the existing £73 million social investment in health fund and the £10 million risk capital fund that’s been bubbling under for a while. The cavernous venue seemed to slightly suck the life out of everyone, and there were also the first teething problems with sound as a squall of feedback punctuated a missive from Baroness Glenys Thornton (outgoing SEC chair).

Things improved for me with a walk around the open exhibition area, visiting the ‘igloos’ (more igloo-like than I suspected) and stands, and chatting to people from all around the country.  I then listened in on a debate about a social stock exchange which was entertaining, and occasionally thought-provoking; having Rod Schwartz (who once stood as an MP) and Jamie Hartzell (who once came 2nd in a debating competition) involved certainly made for good arguments….

Lunch was fine, and more good conversations round the tables: SImon Taylor from Nottinghamshire, Rosemary Kay, who’d been so helpful in setting up the Liverpool SSE, Nigel Lowthrop from Hill Holt Wood and Craig Dearden-Phillips who was pushing his forthcoming book with an admirable gusto and persistence.

Having skipped the next plenary (Francis Maude, Conservative MP + Reed Paget of Belu Water, the only comment about which I heard was that they’d wished they’d heard more from the latter than the former…), I carried on my merry way round the stalls, took part in a laughter workshop at the SSE igloo (which was, as you’d hope, very funny) and avoided the fishing rod flying past my ear. I liked the open-planness of this area, although the venue is so huge, as to overwhelm slightly all the activity, which included a fashion show and musical slots. Some innovations worked particularly well: the grab a placard, call a meeting seemed to be responsible for some of the more vibrant get-togethers (and possibly also for the lower attendance in some of the agenda-d breakout sessions).

Last plenary (a q&a) which I was particularly looking forward to, was again plagued by persistent sound problems….which became incredibly frustrating, not least for the speakers involved. But there was an interesting cross-section of speakers from across the movement, and some encouraging (if beamed-in) words from Phil Hope, Minister for the Third Sector.

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More soon, and links and reaction to coverage elsewhere, but it did feel like a different event to previous years in many ways (in a good way): real efforts to innovate and promote interaction. But some of this was either hamstrung by sound problems, or overwhelmed by the hugeness of the venue: the dynamism on display at some of the stands and sessions seemed, therefore, like occasional sparks, rather than an event taking light.

Continuity and VOICE 08

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Having lectured the ambassadors recently about the need for continuity in blogging, this blog has been largely dormant for a week. Mostly because this blog has been hotfooting it around (Cumbria, Belfast, Cornwall and, today, Liverpool) and is therefore succeeding only in collecting information and not filtering it into digestible form.

Today we’re off to Voice – will try and blog whilst there, or afterwards…..looks like it could be good. What with our Liverpool SSE in an inspirational igloo and all.

Nonprofit blog exchange: King Jason

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Sporadically, I take part in the Nonprofit Blog Exchange Virtual Event, which basically involves nonprofit / third sector blogs writing about each other to create networks and promote the movement more generally. This time I’ve been allocated King Jason’s blog. No, not a little-known monarch operating as a trustee, but a web designer and IT specialist working in the nonprofit sector over in Australia. Called Jason King.

It appears that Jason used to be in London, not unlike myself, and given that SSE is also looking Australia-wards currently, this seemed all too appropriate. Having overseen the redevelopment of SSE’s website last year, these types of resources can be invaluable…particularly when there is little resource / capacity / knowledge within a (relatively) small organisation. It’s amazing how important IT is to an organisation these days and yet, how often little attention (and money) is given to it. Jason has a good example on his blog of an organisation whose website went down overnight: Quick decisions when a charity’s website went walkabout. I’ve seen even large organisations in our sector be undone by things as simple as domain name renewal, never mind the complications of DNS, MX records and the rest (which I seem to spend half my time sorting out).

But there are some great resources out there, if people get to know about them. Primarily, I’d mention the ICT Knowledgebase in the UK, and Idealware and TechSoup in the US. But it’s useful to get a more grassroots-y, personal view of things, which is where blogs like Jason’s can come in. Particularly as the format lends itself more to interaction and asking questions. If you’re working on a third sector website, or on a redesign, then checking out Jason’s post on Give your website a health check is a good start to ensuring accessibility and its status for search engines, for example. And commenters have left some extra tips as well.

Certainly I’d recommend it to anyone with responsibility for their charity or social enterprise’s website, especially if they are in Australia, as he’ll inevitably be more connected to events and resources in that location. Keeping informed and keeping connected are what it’s all about in this sphere, and anything that helps you do that has got to be valuable.