No, we didn’t create a new CVS at the conference, well not a real one (that would have caused a stir). As part of the “NAVCA projects, NAVCA projects riding through the glen” workshop, Bill Freeman, the NAVCA Director of Development painted a picture of a staff meeting at a fictional (Sherwood) CVS.
Bill Freeman introducing Sherwood CVS
After working through the usual agenda items every meeting of this type has – minutes of the last meeting (45 minutes), coffee rota (20 minutes), oh and responding to three items of national policy (10 minutes) ! the meeting moved to any other business where a number of staff members asked for support in their project work. Each concern was answered with a helpful signpost to service from NAVCA … well what did you expect, it was a NAVCA projects workshop!.
The project work NAVCA has available is shown in the slideshow from this workshop.
NAVCA Projects workshop
After the presentation each of the projects hosted round table sessions where they were available for short consultations and discussions about their areas of work. These were kept to 15 minutes each so that as many people as possible could visit as many tables as possible.
I was on the Regional Champions table (or ‘Much the Miller’s Son Table’) together with Sam, the champion from the North East and Miles the champion from London.
We had many interesting discussions, which seemed to fit the theme on my own blog that local infrastructure organisations still need support to get over the basics of ICT procurement advice, support and training, but I was pleased to hear that the message is being given to funders about supporting the full cost of ICT – including training and ongoing support.
We also talked about use of forums / message boards, but how Social Media could be even better in engaging with communities that organisations are looking to reach out to in new and innovative ways.
This picture shows a general view – in full flow. There are also a larger number of pictures from this session in the Flickr photo page.
