Terence Eden. He has a beard and is smiling.

Terence Eden’s Blog

Theme Switcher:

Lessons learned from bringing promotional sweets to a conference

· 21 comments · 550 words · Viewed ~8,292 times


A big plastic tub filled with luridly coloured sweets.

I've recently set up my own consultancy company and decided to sponsor my local UKGovCamp conference. That entitled me to a logo on the site, a shout-out during the conference, and place to put any promotional stickers. Everyone loves stickers! But I decided to bring along something different - promotional sweeties! I found a small business to print my logo with edible ink onto sweets and…

GovCamp Rules - In Memoriam

· 4 comments · 400 words · Viewed ~505 times


UK GovCamp logo.

The last year has seen an overabundance of death. Some of us got chatting about the various people from the GovCamp community who have died recently, and how we could memorialise them. It used to be the case that we started every 'Camp with a reading of the rules. A gentle intro to let everyone be on the same page. The "rules" started out as: Whoever comes are the right people. Whatever…

Notes from GovCamp 2020

· 500 words


Giant post it notes stuck to a wall.

I've been to a fair few GovCamps - the (mostly) annual gathering of Civil Servants who want to explore new ways of working. For a flavour of what they're like, see scripti electronici passim: GovCamp 2012 (Video of my talk) GovCamp 2015 Tweets only GovCamp 2016 GovCamp 2018 GovCamp 2019 It was great to see old friends (and how old we've become) but even greater to hear so many pitches start…

What Happens at #GovCamp Stays at GovCamp?

· 8 comments · 750 words · Viewed ~284 times


A dictaphone.

How do you archive a conference? A decade ago, I blogged about how to archive a BarCamp - I don't think anyone took up my suggestions. I tried to put it into practice, but in this post about 2009's BarCampBrighton4, half the links have rotted away, cool media-hosting startups have gone bust and eaten the video. Websites die, tweets get deleted, media codecs become obsolete. BarCamps, GovCamps,…

UK Gov Camp Weeknotes

· 350 words


Edent Shouting into a microphone.

I'm finally feeling like I'm settling into my new role. I spent my Saturday at UK GovCamp - an unconference for Civil Servants. I ran a session on Acronyms in the Workplace. It was hillarious listening to people try to introduce themselves without any abbreviations. "I am the Chief Paperclip Office for the United Kingdom's Department of Stationery and Supplies" doesn't take much longer to say…