Get everything you can from your membership
Your events, training and resources
Not sure how to use your training points on a Leadership Academy course? Irene Docherty is a recent Empowering Women graduate and joined us in Sheffield a couple of weeks ago.
She was part of the team that worked a project designed to attract more women into information technology roles in the public sector: bee positive, bee brave and bee bold!
Read about how she found the course in a new Q&A.
Missed the in-person Sheffield conference day? Catch-up here: Reimagining communities and places: a journey through data, technologies and service design
The presentations are also available, but do remember to log in first so you can see them.
Two of your Socitm colleagues were panellists at last week’s Powering Digital Public Services 2024 (hosted by UK Authority). Catch up with their presentations:
- VP Matt Lewis advocated for courage in collaboration
- Research and Policy Director Martin Ferguson discussed 5 trends from this year’s Digital Trends Report. He also “highlighted” the new section analysing trends from previous years. Or what we got right and what we got wrong!
Digital Trends report authors Jos Creese and Martin Ferguson wrote about the pantheon of possibilities to improve outcomes for people, communities and places.
It’s not always easy to travel so keep an eye on the webinar schedule (which are mostly weekly – there are 2 next week) as there’s a variety of topics covered there. And in the events list below are included online events from partners and things that I spot that I’m sure you’ll find relevant and useful.
ICYMI Socitm and NILGA have joined forces
One of the immediate actions will see Socitm colleagues meet with NILGA members in Northern Ireland, to gain a more thorough understanding of the sector’s dynamics, and the specific challenges faced by its members.
Take care. I hope you can have a great weekend.
Best wishes,
Alex.
Your Resource Hub
From Digital Trends 2024: Local and national leadership
The real challenge with digital strategies, ‘roadmaps’, ‘playbooks’, and ‘blueprints’ lies in their implementation. That is the task for public services in all countries in 2024, balancing:
- The needs and interests of citizens
- Hyper-local services
- Regional development
- National government interests
This implementation challenge in 2024 brings together national, regional, and local priorities in joined-up digital projects.
You might have missed…
Watch the webinar hosted by Socitm Advisory: Tackling technical debt and reshaping service delivery.
For ease of viewing, the recording is divided into easy to navigate chapters, with subtitles and transcript available via the video player toolbar.
Website accessibility
Log in to check your Silktide Score and to complete your Digital Accessibility Maturity Assessment.
You will need a user account on socitm.net to access member-only resources. Let us know if need any support.
Local Digital evaluation study update
Understanding the needs of local government
It has been almost a year since DLUHC commissioned an independent evaluation of the Local Digital programme. You can now find an update on the evaluation process, some key findings so far, and the benefits for councils that share their insights on our website.
They and we are also asking all councils in England to complete our evaluation survey, even if you’ve done so previously, to ensure that we have a comprehensive set of responses from across local government.
To hear more about this and ask questions about the study and survey, you can attend our webinar on Thursday 21 March (11am to 12pm).
Training
March’s virtual courses
- Tuesday 19 March: Workshop on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion | Teams | 1 point | CPD-certified
- Thursday 21 March: Change Agent Reflector: Tech to transform (part 5 of 6)
April’s CPD-certified virtual workshops
- Tuesday 16 April: Part 1 of 2 Managing and Motivating Remote Teams | Teams | 1 point
- Tuesday 30 April: Introduction to Emotional Intelligence | Teams | 1 point
May and June’s in-person and virtual courses
- Tuesday 21 May: Part 1/2 How to be an effective coach | Teams | 1 point
- Thursday 20 and Friday 21 June: Change Agent Manager | Teams | 0 points
- Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 June: Top Talent | East | 4 points
Training places are included in your organisational membership – subject to availability and membership level. If you have any questions or would like further information, please email the training team.
Events
Member-only meetings
Meet people for catching-up, problem sharing (and solving) and great networking.
- Friday 22 March: in-person meeting for members in the North West (Manchester)
- Wednesday 27 March: Members’ Connection Hour
- Friday 19 April: in-person meeting for members in the Midlands
- Friday 19 April: virtual meeting for members in the London and South East
- Friday 26 April: in-person meeting for members in the North East
- Thursday 23 May: in-person meeting for members in Yorkshire and Humber
- Wednesday 29 May: in-person meeting for members in Northern Ireland
- Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 June: President’s Conference 2024 in Birmingham
Free webinars and events from Socitm and our partners
- Monday 11 to Friday 15 March: Public Sector Insight Week 2024
- Monday 18 to Friday 22 March: Services Week
- Tuesday 19 March Workshop: How can the spectrum of AI technologies be used to deliver outcomes for local government? FULLY BOOKED
- Tuesday 19 March: Design system for Wales – show and tell
- Tuesday 19 to Wednesday 20 March: AI UK 2024 – sign up for the free livestream
- Wednesday 20 March: Why are organisations turning to managed IT support?
Discover the untapped potential for cost savings, team extension, and skill augmentation that’ll propel your organisation and people to new heights. - Thursday 21 March
- 08:30 to 16:30 Cloud, Data and AI: Transforming Public Services 2024 [Strathclyde]
- 11:00 to 12:00 Local Digital Evaluation Study Update
- 12:00 to 16:30 CyberXperience Summit 2024 [London]
- Friday 22 March
- 12:30 to 14:00 Putting people first in AI – what we’ve learnt at Open Data Manchester
- 13:00 to 14:00 Benchmarking in 2024
Don’t just rely on anecdotal evidence for analysing your ICT. Benchmarking measures attainable performance and value for money. Socitm’s modules have been updated for 2024 to include AI and cyber.
- Wednesday 27 March: Your future-proof blueprint to sustainable growth and digital evolution
- Thursday 28 March: ISfL Annual Conference 2024 [London]
- Wednesday 3 April: Microsoft Innovation and Collaboration Forum
- Monday 8 April: Cyber security: The Battle for the Golden Ticket
- Tuesday 9 April: Healthcare. A low-code strategy workshop [London]
- Wednesday 24 April: Harnessing technology & procurement to power innovation
Panellists include Carol Williams (Socitm VP and Director Transformation and Digital for Walsall Council), and Phil Murkin (CDO of Swindon Borough Council) - Thursday 25 April: Public services for the digital age
- 09:30 to 11:00 Exercise in a Box ‘Ransomware’ Session
- 13:00 to 14:00 Your future-proof blueprint to digital evolution
- Wednesday 1 May: Gaining productivity and efficiency
- Accessibility Week returns in May.
Final details of the daily sessions will be shared once they’re all confirmed.
Missed a webinar? Past recordings are available to watch in the resource hub.
Webinars are open to anyone in the public sector, membership is not necessary, so please do share them with your network.
Come and say hello
- Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9 May: DigiGov Expo (London)
Join Nadira Hussain, Mark Lumley and Sam Smith on Wednesday - Tuesday 21 May: PublicTechnology Live 2024 (London)
Incoming President Carol Williams is a panellist for Are times too tough for local government transformation?
President’s Conference
Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 June in Birmingham
Socitm Awards 2024 are live
Awards celebrating local and regional government success are handed out to winners at the gala dinner on the evening of the first day of President’s Conference. This year that will be on Wednesday 12 June.
Log in to your account on socitm.net to see what is included in your organisation’s membership for the annual conference.
PublicTechnology Live 2024
What’s now, and what’s next for public sector digital and data?
09.00 to 15:45 on Tuesday 21 May (London)
Free to all public sector employees
This year’s PublicTechnology Live will focus on how public bodies can use digital platforms and data to meet the major challenges – and rise to the significant opportunities – they currently face.
Explore how the sector is preparing for a future where emerging technologies such as generative AI and the Internet of Everything could profoundly change how every organisation operates.
Socitm Vice-President Carol Williams will join a host of leading speakers for this insightful event.
Thank you for reading (or scrolling) this far! Just one more thing…
Is Google Getting Worse? An interesting episode of the Freakonomics podcast.