Through the Organizers’ Eyes — What We Learned Planning the Ottawa One Team Gov Unconference
Following an incredibly successful OneTeamGov Global Victoria Unconference in summer 2019, we accepted the challenge to run a similar unconference in Ottawa. Here, we share openly some reflections and learning.
If you’d like to know more about the Victoria unconference you’ll find that on the link below:
This is the second of our follow up posts about the Ottawa unconference, you can read the first one, all about our attendees experience on the link below:
The organizers’ experience
Planning, planning, planning! For the Victoria Unconference in May 2019, there were a dozen “core” people running the show for months in advance.
Planning for this Unconference in Ottawa started just a few months after the Victoria Unconference, and we found that fewer volunteers came forward. Having a grassroots-based initiative is great for creativity and enthusiasm, but getting people onboard and staying to the finish line was challenging. And, perhaps, unsustainable.
We need to keep emphasising why this One Team Gov movement is important, how what we learn through it we learn by working together.
Also, keeping up with the many moving parts, especially with varying degrees of technological success, mishaps and IT firewalls, was constantly difficult.
We learned, this time around, that capacity from communications experts is at an all-time low. We really struggled to secure the time of communications people, and had no single lead for this workstream. Much of our planning time was spent collaboratively writing communications products rather than trouble-shooting many other logistical, budgetary and procurement needs.
We did learn that the more you guide, rather than control, the more successful things become. While time constraints, from the decision to hold the unconference to actually delivering it, were tighter than we’d previously experienced, we learned good meeting management and information sharing techniques. Next time, we’ll develop a project charter with identified roles and time commitments ahead of time.
Just like for the Victoria event, we had six teams, each responsible for a specific area:
Communications
This team was responsible for drafting and implementing a comprehensive plan, creating all comms products (bilingual, no less), updating an event webpage, all communications with participants, and social media.
The kicker? No one on the team was a formal communications specialist. This was scary, and a sobering insight in how precarious and stretched the communications function is in our environment. We could not get a single communications specialist to commit the time to help out — and we tried, and friends and allies tried. This is an important signal of the health of this function — not be ignored.
The biggest institutional win was getting help from some incredibly kind and brilliant communications folks within the Canada School of Public Service. They understood the importance of amplifying messages and worked with our team to include unconference promotional messaging in corporate communication opportunities.
Ticketing
This team was responsible for reviewing ticket applications and issuing tickets to applicants. We implemented some lessons learned from our experience in Victoria, where we ran into technical glitches that unfortunately resulted in some disappointed would-be participants.
We simplified the process and focused on outcomes — and once again got some much-needed boosts from corporate colleagues, leading to a more streamlined ticketing experience for participants.
We now know more about firewalls and funky email system rules than we probably need to. Once again, the question to ask is how much more effective could we be if we could streamline everyday systems and processes?
Logistics
We had institutional event planners (some of the best out there!) in charge of the logistics aspects; venue, audio-visual, set-up and teardown, etc. Trying to clearly delineate roles and responsibilities was tricky: this team is used to providing turnkey service and suddenly had to deal with a team of volunteers in various organizations, doing seemingly random pieces of their work.
Blurred lines are the enemy of successful work — we did exceptionally well in keeping communication open and clear at all times. The only way this was going to work was to display extreme humility, empathy, and an open mind.
We discovered new communication channels (you’re probably thinking ‘not another communication channel’ but trust us, walkie-talkies are the bees knees) and created unbreakable bonds. We learned a lot from each other and we’ll continue to do so.
Volunteers
How do you create a seamless, delightful unconference experience for people who have likely never experienced such an event? Participants trusted that we wouldn’t lead them into chaos and that their day would be meaningful. That was all made possible by the volunteers who worked tirelessly the day before the event (some even coming from out of town to help set up the venue) and on the day itself.
Organizing and effectively deploying 90+ people who have presumably never met or worked together is a colossal undertaking. It takes a particular set of skills to understand how to coordinate a cohesive effort, and in our case there was only one woman for this job, both in Victoria and Ottawa.
Our gratitude for every person who put up their hand to help is not easily put in words. The event simply would not have been possible without you, so take a moment to absorb our appreciation and recognize the credit you deserve for making this day a reality.
How we improved from one event to the next:
we published both the volunteer and facilitator guide, in two languages, and are leaving them open and modifiable so anyone, anywhere in the world, can use/re-use/modify to suit their needs. We believe everyone should be able to benefit from our work.
Funding
We experimented for both Victoria and Ottawa events with the idea of cost-sharing for the venues, audio-visual needs, and event materials. It was incredibly interesting to explore the edges of the financial structures in place and discover the many options we have to share costs and risks for an initiative.
The concepts of collaboration and consensus intersected with fiscal responsibility. The process allowed us to think outside the boxes that we are so familiar with, and to realize that framing for outcomes and trusting our corporate partners led to the desired end result — if we were willing to take a leap of faith on the ‘how’.
Big lessons
The procurement function is not our enemy, nor is it broken. Corporate partners are simply trying to help us achieve our desired outcome — which we often have a difficult time expressing clearly. Working with them in a positive, genuine, open manner will result in a positive outcome.
Time is crucial: give yourself more time than you think you need, and add more time as a buffer. You will never have too much time.
No one wants to be the treasurer. Folks may be scared of the responsibility or simply not like numbers/spreadsheets. While not a glamorous task, it is a critical one. Understanding the financial levers of the system we work in is helpful on many levels — find someone who has an interest or is willing to learn, let them take this on.
Participant experience
With all the talk over the last few years about user experience and user-centered design, is it surprising that 90% of all volunteers wanted to be part of the participant experience team? It became a bit of a running joke, we knew as soon as someone would signal their interest they would want to be part of this team.
We really need to emphasize that every team member of every team is actually obsessed with the participants’ experience.
Communications are for participants with participants needs in mind. Ticketing is mapped out to make it easy for participants to navigate. Logistics help us think about what we need to do on the day and the environment we are asking people to be in, around their needs (we have some big takeaways on this and offers to help us do even better next time). Volunteers are there to support participants and help deliver the smoothest experience for them. Funding is spent to make the event possible and delightful, without money, we can’t do any of the above.
So yes, there is a participant experience team — but the participants’ experience is everyone’s responsibility.
Just as the public experience when dealing with government services should be everyone’s responsibility. We may be a couple of layers behind the scenes (which sometimes makes it more difficult to focus), but we have to remember who we serve. It’s easy to get tangled in our daily labyrinths of processes and procedures. Step back, take a deep breath, and ask yourself how your actions are serving your public.
We are publishing this report for a number of reasons: to be transparent about our work, to help others who may be interested in trying something, to leave a trace of this work on a tiny corner of the internet.
But most of all, we want to embody the OneTeamGov mission and principles. Practical action for public sector reform can mean so many things — from showing up to a meetup to organizing an event for hundreds of people, to publishing an account of our work. Every action matters, every contribution matters. What’s yours?
This report was collectively written and edited by the following fantastic humans and OneTeamGov enthusiasts:
- Rae Bourassa @BourassaRae
- Joel Bourgeoys @Joel_B
- Kayleigh Chaston-Vickers @kayleigh_cv
- Ashley Evans @ashlevanss
- Ioana Finichiu @IFiniq
- Colleen Tiernan @ColleenTiernan
- Sam Villis @stamanfar
