Welcome

Welcome to the third GovCamp North, and the first one in person! The first two online events in 2020 and 2021 were a big success. This year, we’ve teamed up with UKGovcamp to bring you a week of events - starting with the north event at Barnsley DMC on 17 Jan 2023.We are at capacity but we are running a waiting list, and expect to be able to offer a few tickets out last minute, so you can still register to join the wait list.If you already have a ticket you can find out all you need to know about the day in our blog post.The important points are also included below.

The GovCamp North Team

• Chevron Down

Code of Conduct

We will not tolerate any of these behaviours: offensive verbal comments, deliberate intimidation, bullying, harassment, video recording of sessions at the event, unwelcome sexual attention or physical sexual images and other inappropriate images in public spaces, sustained disruption of talks/sessions.How to report an incident
You will be able to identify organisers and campmakers at the event by the red lanyards, if there are any violations. There should be one in each session who can help, or in the atrium. You can also email conduct@govcampnorth.co.uk during or after the event.If you believe you’re experiencing unacceptable behaviour that will not be tolerated as outlined above, or, if you observe someone in distress, or violations of these guidelines, we are here to help. If a participant engages in behaviour that violates this code of conduct, the organisers will take action they deem appropriate, including (but not limited to) removing the participant from GovCamp North and banning them from future events. GovCamp North belongs to everyone.Thank you for helping make this a welcoming, inclusive and friendly event for all.

• Chevron Down

Most important

Please do not share the links for the event or note documents further. As organisers, we pride ourselves on working in the open and reducing barriers to entry, but we will take more precautions this year in what we share publicly to make sure we don’t have any unwanted visitors.

• Chevron Down

Schedule

• Chevron Down

What to expect

GovCamp North is an unconference (in the tradition of the long running UKGovCamp events). They give everyone a chance to share their ideas, thoughts, plans and experiences, and to find others to provide feedback and support for them.Whether you’ve been to an unconference before or not, try to approach the day with an open mind and sense of possibility. It’s important to remember a few guiding unconference principles:#1: Whoever shows up are the right people
#2: Whatever discussions happen are fine
#3: Whenever it starts is the right time
#4: It is over when it’s overThe rule of mobility
Everyone at an un-conference is encouraged to practice the rule of two feet. The rule of mobility says that if you become uninterested at any point, you are encouraged to leave and join another session. In an unconference you are also invited to take breaks at any time, with the idea that it is sometimes in the breaks that the ‘A-ha’ moments arrive.

• Chevron Down

Pitching

GovCamp North is a participant-led event. That means attendees queue up and “pitch” topics for discussion on the day. This pitch is just a simple 20 second description of what you think would be interesting to talk about and why.A simple, open question is best. There’s more detail UK GovCamp’s pitching blog post from #ukgcx in 2017 (we will be doing pitching in a very similar way).Unconferences are all about participation and being able to express yourself in a safe environment. Please bring your ideas, interests and don’t be afraid to pitch something.It’s normal to feel nervous about pitching. Volunteers can buddy up with you for moral support or read your pitch out for you if you have an idea but don’t feel you want to pitch it yourself.Once pitching is done, we create a physical and electronic ‘grid’ of sessions. It shows which session is in which room and what time. You can come back to it during the day to decide where to go next.If we have capacity, all pitches will have a session. However, if we have limited space, we will have to go with the pitches that are most popular with the audience.

• Chevron Down

Sessions

In the great spirit of an unconference, sessions do not need to be pre-planned and can be run by any of the attendees. This makes it a great opportunity for you to find people who are tackling the same issues as you and learn from each other through sharing your thoughts and experiences.Running a session
If your pitch is selected to be a session at GovCamp North, we would ideally expect you to attend the session. It is also helpful if you can provide a bit of context at the start of a session to kick it off - but you don’t need to lead or facilitate the discussion.If you do not feel comfortable doing this, please speak to a campmaker who can help.
The GovCamp community is very supportive and someone will be more than happy to help you.

• Chevron Down

Getting there

GovCamp North is being held at Barnsley DMC, County Way, Barnsley S70 2JW.Doors open at 0900 and the event will start promptly at 1000.
Tea/coffee/hot drinks will be available for Govcampers throughout the day and lunch will be provided. Some drinks and food will also be provided for the social afterwards. Please bring your own reusable cups if you can!We encourage you to use public transport wherever possible - Barnsley DMC is just two minutes walk from the main train station and bus interchange.
Car parking (chargeable) is available right next to the DMC, and accessed via County Way.

• Chevron Down

Getting green for GCN21

We’re helping to grow a grove of lovely trees in protected sites in the Scottish Highlands and you can join us!We gave attendees the option to plant a tree instead of receiving merchandise for GCN21 - more than 65% of attendees took us up on our offer. Each attendee will had a tree planted in the Scottish Highlands on their behalf.We are adding to the UK GovCamp grove via the Trees for Life initiative - if you’d like to plant a tree or make a donation, please visit our grove.

• Chevron Down

Our sponsors

Events like GovCamp North cannot take place without the support of organisations who understand the great value in building strong communities of people who want to make public services better. This year’s fabulous sponsors are:

• Chevron Down

Useful Links