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James Arthur Cattell

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Social media archive

2024

284 posts, newest first.

Glad I went to #BarCampLondon 13 ( #bcl13 / #bclxiii ).

Downside? 3 hashtags.

Upside? Everything else (-:

Good to listen to talks. Great to be in Discussions. Zod dam awesome to meet friends old and new.

Thank you to @edent.tel and all the organisers for an insightful day (-:
A glass partition wall with cards and sticky notes stuck to it, arranged into a grid with time on the x axis and rooms on the y.

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@popey yes, please (-:

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Good intro to #opensource Community Relationship Manager (CoRM) software https://SavannahHQ.com by @popey.me at #BarCampLondon #bcl13 #bclxiii.

I also have an audio recording (minus the question and answer) plus some pictures of the slides.

I'm sold.

Will now see how I can help and use the project 🙂
Some hand written notes and a mind map.

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2 quotes I captured at #BarCampLondon in the discussion on political polarisation.

#bclxiii #bcl13
White board, on which is written, "Finally, I'm in a room of white men discussing politics. Chad" White board, on which is written, "There will always be polarisation. Its knowing where the poles are. Chad"

Quoting another post

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I've changed the registration form so it now sends a confirmation email. #ukgc25

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...and yes, I've checked and you've definitely registered for the ticket lottery (-:

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Just checked and you've defo registered Sharon (-:

You'll be notified in the first week of December about the result of the ticket lottery.

Hope that helps (-:

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Just checked and you've defo registered Coco (-:

You'll be notified in the first week of December about the result of the ticket lottery.

Hope that helps (-:

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Google Forms isn't setup to send an email confirmation, but will look into it.

Either way, you'll be notified in the first week of December on the result of the ticket lottery.

Hope that helps (-:

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I'm reading, "Inclusion and exclusion in management education and learning: A deliberative approach to conferences" https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2020.0089 by Daniel King, Martyn Griffin and Emma Bell. Published online 14 March 2023.

#events #conference #unconference

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...via @lloyddavis.bsky.social 💚

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I'm reading, "Inclusion and exclusion in management education and learning: A deliberative approach to conferences" https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2020.0089 by Daniel King, Martyn Griffin and Emma Bell. Published online 14 March 2023. #conference #unconference #events

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Lloyd Davis is on @bsky.app!!!

🎉 @lloyddavis.bsky.social 🎉

Huzzah!

Lloyd - Q: D'you remember that small unconference about unconferences you were involved with in Birmingham, please? I think @danslee.bsky.social may have been your coconspirator. Ring any bells? #ununconf

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Bah, humbug! 😒🌲

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Good morning East London 👋
View across the river Thames. The sun is low in the morning sky and reflects off the water.

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Accepted my first xmas party invite (at a venue that has a quiet area, thankfully).

Hope my xmas jumper still fits.

(Old picture attached).
Me wearing my red xmas themed jumper (a few years ago) embroidered with white snow flakes and mechanic dinosaurs.

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@spdegabrielle in the ideal world I hope we move to, I totally agree. There is no amount of alcohol that does any good for you (I don't drink alcohol myself).

But for now, I need to cater for 40 people on Thursday evening. So for I've got:
* 2 to 3 drinks per person per hour,
* alcoholic / soft drink ratio of 3/1

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Q: How do you estimate the amount of alcoholic and soft drinks you need for a professional networking event, please?

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Oh, it's good. The actor playing the VP is brilliant (-;

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Thanks David (-: Lovely to be on a list with Kara and Imran

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Thanks Chris. Hope to see you there or at a future event.

Link: https://Hope.to

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The end of season 2 episode 4 of The Diplomat on Netflix is pretty dam good. Thanks to @richardosman.bsky.social from The Rest is Entertainment podcast for the recommendation.

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I've been talking with @dgheath21 about rebooting the London Liberating Structures meetup.

As a prototype, a few of us are getting together after work on Monday 25 November 2024 in Aldgate, London.

Join us for free https://lu.ma/u229sh8u

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Tip 6 - Follow up or fail.

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Tip 5 - Lose the emojis and be thoughtful.

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Tip 4 - Bring in-person online.

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Tip 3 - Become a familiar face.

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Tip 2 - Don't make it about you.

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Tip 1 - Connect, don't collect.

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As deliver managers, we use ignorance as a super power to create safe spaces.

Thoughts?

#DeliverCon2024

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If you find the Blue Room on a steaming service (without adverts) please let me know.

I bought a copy second hand and converted it to MP3.

39 minutes and 58 seconds of bliss 💆
Front cover of the cardboard booklet for the compact disc. Open cardboard booklet for the compact disk. The left hand side contains information. The right hand side holds the compact disc. Back cover of the cardboard booklet for the compact disk.

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Agreed! This could finally complement / replace "The Blue Room" by The Orb, which I use for background music when I focus.

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...featuring Francisco Opazo, Ilker Akansel, @janethughes.bsky.social, @imhuyorks.bsky.social, @katquatermass.bsky.social, @ideasintheround.bsky.social, @stamanfar.bsky.social amd @nikkithibodeau.bsky.social.

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😍

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No people were hit in the making of these..... BlueSky's?

Blues?

Skies?

posts... etc.

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I've hit 500 followers!!!

(remember when people used to do that on Twitter?)

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@jenitennison.com your slides made @janethughes.bsky.social smile 🙂
Jeni stands at lecture giving her talk. Projected on the screen behind her is a slide that reads, "Be bold". Jeni stands at lecture giving her talk. Projected on the screen behind her is a slide containing excerpts of Janet Hughes's blog post, "What if boldness were an explicit value of the Civil Service?"

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Batton and box received :-)

Now to find @ukgovcamp.bsky.social a new delivery manager / lead organiser!

#ukgc25

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...yeah, pretty well written @emma :-)

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@ken_fallon as it was my first time at @oggcamp, maybe I'll record my experience and thoughts for @hpr?

#oggcamp #oggcamp24 #oggcamp2024

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@awfulwoman user centred design peeps.

My @oggcamp question was sparked by, "When will it be the year of the Linux desktop?".

In full I asked, "But we're geeks. As much as I love open source and would always prefer to use it, we're a tiny fraction of the population who uses digital technology. To get to where we want to be in 5 years time, who else needs to be here over the next 4 and a bit years? Who else needs to be in the room?".

Blog post brewing...

#oggcamp
#oggcamp24
#oggcamp2024

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My @oggcamp highlights were chatting with May about #ADHD, @awfulwoman's response to my "Who's missing?" question, and getting my geek on 🤓 (it's been a while). #oggcamp #oggcamp24 #oggcamp2024

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Cracking / hacking couple of days in #Manchester at @oggcamp.bsky.social 2024.

Now to decorate my laptop...

#oggcamp
#oggcamp24
#oggcamp2024
A selection of unpeeled stickers arranged in a mess.

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...also in a user capacity, that is @Edent

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@Edent @openbenches love the #alttext (-:

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@Edent me (-:

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@andypiper on my way from Birmingham to help out at @oggcamp's #oggcamp2024.

Might be up to 1 hour late, due to:

"Damage to the overhead wires at Stockport means that all lines are currently disrupted. As a result, trains may be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes or diverted."

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service-disruptions/stockport-20241011/

#oggcamp24 #oggcamp

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I have an earlier bluetooth enabled model. I mean yeah, I get it. Sync with the app, improve your brushing habits. But as great as the physical product is, the digital experience and reliability are "#{&^!% $h!t.

Maybe the AIs will help?

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@barcamplondon me, me, me!

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Q: Anyone here (know anyone who) works in the Government Communication Service or the equivalents in local gov, NHS or voluntary of charity sectors, please?

Need to find a comms and engagement volunteer for @ukgovcamp.bsky.social 2025 (aka #ukgc25l urgently.

Link: a cat holding a sign that says help

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Been having a sort out, too.

Found some pictures of my second ever home computer.

I give you the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Plus 3, with 128K of memory (that's 0.0016% of what my current phone has 😮).
Me using my home computer circa 1987. It's similar in dimensions to a modern fully size keyboard, but twice the depth. The display is a cathode ray tube colour television. The external storage is a cassette tape in a small Ghetto blaster.

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Really interesting episode of the BBC's "The Bottom Line" podcast on the truth about side hustles https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0023gmd hosted by Evan Davis and featuring Ewen MacPherson, Julian Douglas and Karen Burke.

#sidehustle #sidehustles #entrepreneur #entrepreneurial

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Are you a #facilitator?
Is #facilitation part of your work?
Want to discuss and practice #facilitating?

I'm running the Facilitators Unconference next month.

Tickets via https://www.facilitators-unconference.com/

Price includes lunch, refreshments and access to the event.

Please share!

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I'm hosting an #unconference for facilitators on Wednesday 30 October 2024 in London.

It includes a diverse range of attendees, healthy lunch, refreshments and snacks.

If you're interested in attending please visit https://www.facilitators-unconference.com/

#facilitation

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@janethughes.bsky.social ^^^

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/cc @jukes.ie #job #jobs

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Roost are building 1 million co-ops, where tenants run their own homes.

They're hiring 2 London based roles:
💠 Lead Designer, part-time / contract, £ negotiable,
💠 Senior Product Engineer, full-time, £80k - £90k.

Apply for both via https://roost.breezy.hr/

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@oggcamp form: completed (-:

#OggCrew2024 🤞🏻

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@nominally I've added it to the @ukgovcamp backlog. Thanks for suggesting (-: #ukgc25

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Love the moving rainbow "tracker" (right word?) along the bottom of the video, thou (-:

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Why 🙃 over 🙂 please?

#fascinating

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It might be both, but I'd favour the carrier.

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@phlash as a lapsed atheistic, I agree.

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Make an official complaint to the carrier. If you're out of contract, play the "I' want to leave" card.

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@philspray thanks Phil (-:

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Thank for letting me emcee that 1st #opendata data (-: Good times

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Left the civil service and stopped working at the end of April. Been exploring what I want to do next, and yesterday decided I'm now an Event Professional :-) Done a few freelance gigs / events over the last few months. Now going all in. Janet's well - will say hello (-:

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...exactly :-(

Nice to hear (see?) from you :-) How you doing?

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One fifth of the tickets for the 2024 Facilitator's Unconference are now sold, including all the discounted early bird tickets.

Some discounted tickets for people working in the voluntary, charity or public sectors still available.

https://www.facilitators-unconference.com/

#facilitation

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@joshbal4 there's music at both, but less dancing at this one, for now...

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Today I'm at Fabrik #London with @nikkithibodeau.bsky.social, co-hosting The Community Community's 2nd participant-led conference (AKA #unconference) about #community management.

Cocreated an agenda with 4 rounds of 3 parallel discussions (12 chats in total).

Really enjoying the day 😀

#cmgr
Sticky notes and paper arranged in a grid on the front of some square-doored lockers. The column headers are times, the row headers are spaces. Each cell in the grid contains a piece of A4 paper to which a group of handwritten sticky notes are stuck.

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Invitation, accepted. #ge2024

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Sat down to do some @ukgovcamp.bsky.social Wardley mapping.

Polly has decided it's Sunday and I'm not allowed to.
A cat sits in the way of my work space.

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Advice includes:
* collaborative approaches (flatten hierarchies),
* indirect communication,
* avoid eye contact, touch and confrontational postures,
* give the distressed person space or to move to a quiet space,
* coordinate the support approach (home, work, etc).

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Cross-government Slack is awesome, but you need a public sector email address.

Q: Are you on James Reeve's alternative Discord server for people, "...motivated by their connection to public service, startups, or using digital, data, design and technology in their roles", please?
Screen shot of the welcome post in the Discord server.

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Today's questions:

1. What should we laugh about more often?

2. If you dared to be a bit more selfish, what might you do?

3. What do you find most interesting about being with other people?

4. In what respects are you still the same person you were as a child?

Thanks to The School of Life.
A box containing cards with questions on them. 4 cards are laid out around the box.

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You can't get into government things with a government email address? Oh dear...

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Nice (-: Thanks for sharing

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They'd be wise to chat with @imhuyorks.bsky.social about his brilliant community approach with the GOV.UK Design System (-:

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Brilliant. Thank you @skynick.bsky.social (-:

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Agreed (-:

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Love this proverb from Nina Nazarova:

"Whatever a man can do, a women can do bleeding".

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Green-inkers?

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It's interesting that proposed changes are only accepted from government staff.

Not sure I totally agree with that.

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Photography by David Pearson https://flic.kr/p/qDrbRd at @ukgovcamp.bsky.social 2015. Licensed under @creativecommons.bsky.social CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED.

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#Unconferences are similar to a conferences, but different in 3 ways:

1. the attendees create the agenda (not the organisers),

2. it's about discussion between attendees (not presentations from speakers),

3. in discussions, attendees face each other (not the stage).
People sat in a circle (with no furniture between them) having a discussion.

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Thanks Sam (-:

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It’s funny. After all these years I’ve never run a pure #openspacetechnology (OST) event. The “pure” bit that fascinates me. It feels like #openspace is a well defined thing that’s not to be messed. If I do, purists will castigate me. I have no evidence to support these feelings. #ost

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@matthewskelton thanks for sharing 🙂

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@agvbergin thanks Ann (-:

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First picture of 1 of the garden pond newts.
Image without a description

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Looks like we have a pair of great crested newts in our tiny, garden pond (-:

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"We need people who are curious, who explore new things, develop new skills. We need people who meander through knowledge, who snake their way into interesting ideas and connect them with other things." https://rogerswannell.com/weeknotes/weeknotes-405/ by @rogerswannell.bsky.social.

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Agreed. Gathering feels like a superset.

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@fabienmarry agreed. Hmmm.... 🤔

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#Unconference organisers create space. Attendees fill it with discussion. Space can be in-person, online or a hybrid. Discussion topics are sourced at the start, grouped and assigned a room. There can be many, parallel rooms. People leave with new ideas, which change their lives.

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@fabienmarry how about, "...the right people are invited..." ??

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Yes! Thank you (-:

(I accidentally deleted that from an earlier version)

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Ideal meetings have a flow to them. They start on time and are well facilitated. People feel welcomed, included and able to make their point. There’s a healthy discussion and actions are agreed.

Right?

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Good chat with Ellen Donnelly about 1-2-1 coaching to help me build my profitable ‘one person business’ https://the-ask.uk/

Who do I know that's done something similar...?

Reminds me to check in on @rosiesherry.bsky.social's Indiependent community that I used to be a member of https://www.indiependent.land/about

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@rgarner interesting piece of history - thanks Russell (-:

I arrived at GDS in September 2012 when everyone was running around like crazy to get the DirectGov / Business Link migratuon to GOV.UK done. I don't remember any soundtracks, but there were a lot of coffee and alcohol drunk to keep up / recover (I've stopped drinking both since).

You know, AlphaGov is what brought me into the Civil Service after seeing it work on my smart(ish)phone. So yeah, thank you for building it (-:

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@resing interesting take on the article - thanks (-: Do you know the authors?

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Cool. Happy to help (-:

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@dyfrig thanks Dyfrig (-: What you up to nowadays?

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@wendyg thanks Wendy (-: What you up to now?

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Thanks John (-: What you up to now?

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This week I celebrate leaving employment for the first time since 2005.

I plan to decompress, figure out what next and finish my #unconference guidance https://www.cattell.com/unconference

I think I'd like to make a living from community event facilitation.

Time will tell.

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Lovely piece about Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Voyager 1 probe on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001yhh7 (starts at 08:24:47 on the 23/04/2024 episode).

At 15 billion miles, #Voyager1 is the farthest human made object from earth, travelling at 10 miles per secord (yes, per second). That's the equivilent of cycling from Westminster to Canary Wharf and back, in a second.

#r4today

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Excessive chocolate consumption day, ftw.

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Now to learn the math! :-)

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Could go decaf if you're worried? Tastes the same, ish.

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After 10 months with https://Digi2al.com, the highlight of which was the #CommunityManager ( #cmgr ) role with Defence Digital, I'm looking for my next #community role. 

I interview for a civil service role in the next few days, so let me know asap if you're hiring, please 🙏 

#OpenToWork
Picture of me with the hashtag #opentowork around it.

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@instantiator nope. Wanna build one together?

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Today's the day :awesome:
(going to a spa tomorrow)

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I'm listening to, "The Skewer - Season 11 - Episode 1" https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001wddd by Jon Holmes for BBC Radio 4.

This week: Blake's 7 help the Sub-Postmasters, The Asylum Seeker of Dibley, Rebel Without A Policy, and a nod to Steve Wright.

#TheSkewer

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Simple questions are best: Where?
Graffiti reads, "Beat the cost of living, grow food". Next to it someone has written, " Where?"

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DDaT - Community Lead - Delivery https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi?jcode=1896936

The role of the Community Lead is positioned within the Home Office Digital, Data and Technology Directorate and helps to support and build the capability of a community of specialists who deliver digital services.

You will be responsible for understanding and meeting the needs of our Delivery community of practice by directly supporting the cluster’s Head of Role with resourcing, practices and culture.

#cmgr #jobs

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DeliverCon is an unconference for public sector delivery managers. It's modelled on UKGovCamp (watch their 2023 video https://youtu.be/M1hD_Dyb8Zg).

The next event is:
* on 18 April 2024 (doors 0900, start 1000, end 1700),
* at sbarc|spark, Maindy Rd, Cardiff CF24 4HQ.

Register for a ticket at https://lu.ma/uv3fz6cv

To discuss the event:
* join the #delivercon channel on x-gov Slack,
* use hashtag #DeliverCon2024 on social media.

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#ThisisGosport
#GoodthingshappeninGosport

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I'm re-reading, "Solent 2050 ...is the long-term strategy that guides all of our work at Solent Partners and it is an initiative guided towards increasing regional productivity and ensuring that sustainability remains a focus" https://solentpartners.com/about-us/solent-2050/ by Solent Partners.

#solent2050

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Post @ukgovcamp.bsky.social come down with @janethughes.bsky.social at RHS Gardens Wisley. #ukgcxl

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Get well soon John 🤒

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@martinhowitt looking forward to seeing you at #ukgcxl 🙂

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I am, thanks. Yourself? See you at #ukgcxl on Saturday?

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I'm mulling over how to source discussion topics from 400 attendees at @ukgovcamp (#ukgcXL) on Saturday 20 January 2024.

Current choices are:
1. Open Space Technology,
2. Impromtu networking + 25/10 Crowdsourcing,
3. Queue and pitch (the tradional GovCamp way).

What do you think, please? Thoughts welcome (-:
Ellen Broad looks confusingly at John Sheridan at a previous UK Gov Camp. Photo taken by Giuseppe Sollazzo and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

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I think my first @ukgovcamp.bsky.social was 2011, and I've only been attendee at 3 of those. Apparently it's an #ADHD thing to prefer organising!

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Still commuting to London?

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I'm working on social value delivery for Digi2al + Royal Navy in the Solent, focused around Portsmouth naval base.

Why d'you ask?

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