Driving Innovation in Digital Transformation - The Unconference Series
You’re Invited!
If you work in any digital, data or technology related role in a fire service, NFCC’s DDaT team would like to invite you to attend a local unconference with your DDaT Colleagues from neighbouring services, to share and discuss your key opportunities and challenges in driving DDaT Innovation and Transformation in Fire and Rescue.
Places are free, and lunch is provided. You’ll only need to cover your travel costs.
What is an Unconference?
An unconference, also called an Open Space conference, is a meeting where the attendees suggest and vote on the agenda at the beginning of the event. They are informal, with a strong focus on networking, idea exchange, and community-building.
Anyone who wants to suggest or lead a discussion topic can, and then the group will vote on the ones they most want to discuss. We’ll select the most popular topics and set times for these discussions in the spaces we have. Attendees can wander freely between the discussions.
Our unconference sessions will be open discussions rather than having a single speaker at the front of the room giving a talk. This way, everyone gets an equal opportunity to contribute.
What do you need to know if you are attending an unconference?
The agenda is created by the attendees at the beginning of the event. However, we will allow attendees to pitch ideas before the event in case they feel uncomfortable doing it at the event.
It’s a good idea to have a think before attending about topics related to the following:
- What are the drivers for your service and your own area of delivery in the DDaT space?
- Are there any barriers?
- What are the considerations for successfully innovating in a fire and rescue service, and are those different to other sectors?
- How could you work with other services to drive improvements and innovations?
Attendees will have a choice about whether they want to host the session they’ve suggested, or whether they’d rather someone else hosting it. There will also be the opportunity to lead topics suggested by others, if you’re passionate about it and the person who suggested it doesn’t want to. There will be facilitators in each room to help the discussions flow and talking points to ensure people get an opportunity to say what they want without being interrupted.
Who will be there?
We have invited colleagues who work across ICT, Digital Transformation, Data, Cyber and Information Governance. If you have a DDaT colleague you think would like to attend, please share this with them.
Dates and registration links are below.
15th January 2025 – Essex FRS HQ, Kelvedon Park
Registration Link: Unconference 2 Registration (Closed)
Services Invited:
- Essex
- Bedfordshire
- Cambridgeshire
- Hertfordshire
- Norfolk
- Suffolk
Unconference 3 – 9th April, York
Registration Link: Unconference 3 Registration
Services Invited:
- Scotland
- Northumberland
- Northern Ireland
- Tyne and Wear
- Cumbria
- County Durham and Darlington
- Cheshire
- Humberside
- Greater Manchester
- Lancashire
- Merseyside
- North Yorkshire
- South Yorkshire
- West Yorkshire
Unconference 4 – 28th May, Exeter
Registration Link: Unconference 4 Registration
Services Invited:
- Avon
- Cornwall
- Dorset and Wiltshire
- Devon and Somerset
- Gloucestershire
Unconference 5 – 29th May, London
Registration Link: Unconference 5 Registration
Services Invited:
- Buckinghamshire
- East Sussex
- Hampshire and Isle of Wight
- Kent
- London
- Oxfordshire
- Royal Berkshire
- West Sussex
- Surrey
Unconference 6 – Date and location tbc
Registration Link: to follow
Services Invited:
- Hereford and Worcester
- Mid and West Wales
- North Wales
- Shropshire
- South Wales
- Staffordshire
- Warwickshire
- West Midlands
Unconference 7 – Date and location tbc
Registration Link: to follow
Services Invited:
- Derbyshire
- Leicestershire
- Lincolnshire
- Northamptonshire
- Nottinghamshire