President's Conference 2023

A warm welcome will greet you at the Socitm registration desk where you can sign in and receive your delegate pass. You’re then free to start networking as well as helping yourself to refreshments – including breakfast pastries.

Huw McKee, Head of IT and Digital Transformation, Conwy County Borough Council

Huw will make us all welcome, run through the practical housekeeping, set the scene, share his thoughts and reflect upon his last 12 months as Socitm President.
Huw will then kick the conference off by introducing our first keynote speaker.

Matt Prosser, Chief Executive, Dorset Council

A brilliant key note to start our conference. Matt, President of Solace and former National Policy Spokesperson for Digital Leadership, will take us through his journey as a digital leader bringing multiple councils services into one.
Matt will reveal key insights through the creation of a new unitary council with digital aspirations built at the heart of it. How investment in digital leadership, transformation and service design can and does deliver for the people he and his colleagues at Dorset Council serve.

Presentation – How investment in digital leadership, transformation and service design transforms the outcomes of the people and communities we serve.

Glen Robinson, National Technology Officer, Microsoft

With recent announcements about AI-infused technologies, from Chat GPT to Open AI, to Copilot, Glen will spend time exploring how they can transform the way local authorities think about productivity, app development, and resident services.

Edmund Willis, Programme Lead Adviser, Local Government Association / NHS Transformation Directorate

When technology is embedded seamlessly into care and support it can be transformative, improving people’s quality of life and ensuring information is readily available to help staff provide the right care in the right place at the right time. Recent publication of What Good Looks Like (WGLL) and refresh of the Digital Skills Framework provide guidance to councils to support this transformation, with funding to support adoption of digital social care records (DSCRs) by care providers and the Adult Social Care Technology Fund enabling some sector investment and research.

Of course, guidance can only get one so far; getting to good is another story. So as well as summarising the national context and introducing the developing support offer from Partners in Care and Health (LGA and ADASS) to help councils in their digital maturity journeys, this session will explore the opportunities and challenges councils may need to confront.

Learning and working together to improve digital capability and confidence will be a key part of making progress, within and between organisations, among people drawing upon care and support and the workforce. Getting to good will be a collective endeavour – audience participation in this session is encouraged!

 Presentation – Digital working in adult social care and health: getting to good

iBoss
Quest/One Identity

Fignum
Technology One
Veeam

Learn from our partners on problem solving for the public sector. Always a great way to hear different perspectives to help your organisations.

It’s time to gather our thoughts from the morning sessions over refreshments and snacks. This is an opportunity to connect with fellow colleagues both from the public and private sector.

Choose a topic of most relevance to you. Then in smaller, dedicated groups listen, learn and talk together to get details and confidence to try something yourself, when you’re back at your desk.

More information about what each workshop entails will be provided closer to the time.

We know how important these section of a conference are. It’s time to make new connections, say hello to colleagues across the sector you’ve not seeen for some time and reflect on the morning’s programme over lunch. Keep the conversation going and enjoy further food for thought.

Mark Lumley, Director Digital & IT, London Borough of Hounslow

Join Mark as he recaps on the morning session and leads us through a few exercises to make sure we’re fit, energised and ready for the afternoon session. Not to be missed and a firm favourite at our conferences!

Will Costello, Head of Service, Data, Technology and Architecture, Socitm Advisory

Service design doesn’t have to be difficult, but to do it well requires a holistic mindset that considers context, strategy, people, process and technology – as well as a whole lot of empathy and understanding.
Join our talented service design team to see them showcase how we have taken Socitm members’ own challenges together with their team/s input to ideate options to solve a service problem.
You’ll leave the session with pragmatic and actionable ideas that you can take forwards to help solve your service design challenges.

Presentation Socitm Advisory – Design Lab

Erica Thornton, Chief Operating Officer, MindOut

Another chance to network and compare notes from the afternoon sessions over refreshments and snacks.

Meet April’s Top Talent cohort. The final training sessions of their programme have been in Brighton. The last challenge is to share with the whole conference the details of their projects.
The cohort has been split into smaller teams so they can collaborate, apply the theory and produce solutions.
Be a supportive audience to these talented delegates.

Presentation – CCoE introduction to Top Talent 

Presentation – Top Talent Team 1

Presentation – Top Talent Team 2

Presentation – Top Talent Team 3 

Huw McKee, Head of IT and Digital Transformation, Conwy County Borough Council

On behalf of us all Huw will reflect on a significant conference for Socitm and bring proceedings to a close.

Huw McKee, Head of IT and Digital Transformation, Conwy County Borough Council | Nadira Hussain, CEO, Socitm | David Bryant, Finance and Commercial Director, Socitm | Mark Lumley, Director Digital and IT, London Borough of Hounslow

Our current president, Huw McKee, will lead us through what Socitm has achieved for its members over the last year, before handing over to incoming president Mark Lumley.

After an inspiring and thought-provoking day, it’s time to absorb all that information and unwind at our President’s Conference drinks reception – generously sponsored by our partner AWS.

Whether you choose to carry on existing conversations or start fresh ones with new contacts, this is an opportunity to reflect and relax in a welcoming and friendly environment where catching up and connecting in comfort is key.

Our President’s dinner isn’t just about good food and great company. It’s also the time where we acknowledge and celebrate the hard-work, vision, delivery, best practise and personal achievements of digital leaders in the public sector.

In these most challenging times , peer appreciation and support are more important than ever. The President’s dinner is an opportunity to demonstrate how much our community, as a whole, values, recognises and appreciates the triumphs of individual members. This is why our President, President’s team and our partners have such pleasure in welcoming you to the evening.

The President’s Awards take place between courses and allow us to congratulate our latest Leadership Academy graduates and share in our award-winners’ achievements.

A warm welcome will greet you at the Socitm registration desk where you can sign in and receive your delegate pass. You’re then free to start networking as well as helping yourself to refreshments – including breakfast pastries.

Mark Lumley, Director Digital and IT, London Borough of Hounslow

Mark will make us all welcome on our second and final day, run through the practical housekeeping, set the scene, share his reflections on all we’ve covered so far. This morning session will reflect on us and our organisations.

Rehana Ramesh, Head of Digital Transformation, Brent

Ctrl+Alt+Delivering Digital Transformation: The Tech-tastic Tale of turning old school thinking and way of doing things into the new cool!

Presentation – Tech-tastic Tale!

AWS and Hounslow

Hear how AWS is supporting local authorities to use data in a responsible way to improve resident services

Presentation – Fresh perspectives driving different outcomes – using data responsibly to change behaviours.

It’s time to gather our thoughts from this morning sessions over refreshments and snacks. This is an opportunity to connect with fellow colleagues both from the public and private sector.

Kevin White, Accessibility Development and Operations Lead, W3C

Presentation – Accessibility Workshop

It’s time to eat and greet as we reflect on the conference’s programme over lunch. This is an opportunity to continue the conversation as we come together with our partners and enjoy further food for thought.

Join Mark as he recaps on the morning session and leads us through a few exercises to make sure we’re fit, energised and ready for the afternoon session. Not to be missed and a firm favourite at our conferences!

James Illingworth, Socitm Advisory | Stephen Curtis, Digital Transformation Lead, East Riding | Kat Taylor, Digital Facilitator, East Riding

Join Socitm Advisory and East Riding of Yorkshire Council where they will share their experience of establishing a cloud-based data platform to kickstart the journey into being a data-driven organisation, and how they are building networks of support to bring about change.

Delegates can hear the challenges faced when introducing cloud technologies to a historically on-premise technical infrastructure, developing proofs of concept dashboards for children’s and adult’s services and the scale of culture change required to achieve the ambitions of near-real time evidence-based decision making.

Presentation – Bringing about change to become a data-driven council 

Meet April’s Empowering Women. The final training session of their programme has been in Brighton. The last challenge is to share with the whole conference the details of their projects.
The cohort has been split into smaller teams so they can collaborate, apply the theory and produce solutions.
Be a supportive audience to these talented delegates.

Presentation – Software One introduction to Empowering Women 

Presentation- Empowering Women Team 1

Presentation- Empowering Women Team 2

Presentation- Empowering Women Team 3

Mark Lumley, Director Digital and IT, London Borough of Hounslow

Our new President Mark Lumley will pick out the numerous highlights from the conference in his closing remarks. Mark will also look forward to the year ahead, commenting on exciting plans for Socitm and the essential supportive community which makes up the society.