Camping it up

Regular viewers will know that I'm fond of a camp. I'm also very fond of a good cuppa. It turns out that I'm not the only one. Which is lucky really, or I'd have been drinking tea and talking to myself last Thursday afternoon. Fortunately, fourteen other intrepid tea drinkers braved some shocking Edinburgh weather to gather in Spoon Cafe on Nicolson Street to talk about all things digital and government. A strong, pungent blend of central and local government and academic types discussed topics as diverse as joining up social media strategies, technologies enabling home working and hyperlocal news. [If you want to follow these fine people, there's a Twitter list for that.]

Here's the tweetage:




And here's a quick analysis:

When: Thursday seemed as good a day as any and the 1600 - 1800 time slot allowed folk to pop in on the way home.

Where: Spoon was really busy when the first campers arrived and there was only a small table free. By the time all 14 of us had arrived we were split over several tables. This was down to my lack of planning really - I had intended reserving a table, but never got round to it. To be honest, I thought maybe five or six people would show, so it wasn't a priority. Anyway, some pointed staring in the direction of a poor chap sitting on his own and we eventually got a large bench that seated us all. We may have upset the staff a bit with our constant moving around, and in my personal experience, service can be a bit erratic. But it's a central location, and the orange blossom tea is very nice.

What: There were mixed feelings about whether there should be a specific topic for discussion and/or presentations. Some felt that a bit of structure would be helpful - particularly if you need to make the case to your manager for attending. Others preferred the more free flowing discussion. I'm thinking we'll give a topic a go for the next one and see what happens.

As a proof of concept, I think we have a success on our hands, so we'll return to Spoon for the next teacampscotland on 14 June. With a topic, probably. And possibly a new hashtag (#youllhavehadyourteacamp ;) )

While we're on the subject of camps...I'm off to Orkney tomorrow for IslandGovCamp. You can take part by registering as a 'remote attendee' or follow the action on Twitter (hashtag is #IsleGC12).