Building Human Connection and Collaboration: Key Takeaways from the Digital Leads Network Meetup
On 28th March 2024, CAST convened the first Digital Leads Network (DLN) in-person meetup in London, bringing together over 30 digital leads from not-for-profits from across the UK. This event marked a significant milestone in our year-long effort to pilot a support network for digital leads in the social sector. After many online events, it was thrilling to find a room full of passionate individuals all eager to connect, learn, and leverage digital opportunities to drive positive change in the sector.
Our Journey Together
Our network has grown from humble beginnings to a vibrant community of over 70 members, dedicated to sharing knowledge, fostering best practice and peer-to-peer learning in the sector. The DLN is tailored for digital leads in the UK not-for-profit sector who are actively involved in managing or overseeing digital initiatives in their organisations. The network offers a range of resources and learning opportunities, including access to a network of like-minded professionals, and a variety of events and webinars.
Our members, though at various stages of their digital journey, are united in their aim to enhance their digital leadership skills, sustain the momentum of their digital initiatives, and enrich their knowledge through peer and expert support.
Member Spotlights — The Power of User-Centred Design
Members’ stories and impact were at the heart of the meetup. We kicked off the meetup with member spotlights on user-led service development.
Ben Sykes, UX and Innovation Lead, demonstrated this through digital initiatives for marginalised patients at Blood Cancer UK. Blood Cancer UK used a co-production approach to design support materials that effectively bridged the gap from diagnosis to ongoing support.
Lynn Roberts, Director for Growth and Service Design, shared how Action for Children adapted to the pandemic by expanding digital services. Their Parent Talk platform, which offers both written advice and one-on-one online chats, now supports over 1.8 million people.
Lastly, Emma Dyer, Senior User Experience Researcher, shared how Alzheimer’s UK enhanced support for diverse user needs, emphasising the importance of inclusive design in their services.
Member spotlights — How to Experiment with AI Responsibly
This session explored how AI can benefit the social sector by showcasing some use cases from across the network.
Magid El Amin, Director for Data and Insights shared how Catch22 have been using AI to generate high quality funding bids, as well as using predictive analytics to forecast the impact of a service at design stage.
Robbie Maverick, Digital Product Manager at The Tutor Trust, shared their experience of designing a new Generative AI policy to help staff use AI responsibly.
Dan Sutch, CAST director, also shared how CAST had been experimenting with Generative AI and shared resources to experiment with AI responsibly.
Building the Network Together — Key Insights from Members
During our afternoon group discussions, we dug deep into three key network-building themes: support needs, growing the influence of the network in the sector and how to best connect and build connection outside of in-person events. Here are the top 5 takeaways:
- Advocacy and unified voice: How might we join and amplify our voices to help shape policy and funding in the right direction? Members are keen to advocate for best practices and influence the big decisions that impact our sector. How can members join their voices to shift the sector faster?
- Building curiosity and leadership: How might we inspire our leaders and each other to ignite greater curiosity about digital innovation? Members are keen to share stories, evidence, and case studies to guide and inspire each other on this exciting journey.
- Open collaboration: How might we support each other, share resources and collaborate on projects that make a difference? Collectively and through open collaboration, we can achieve so much more!
- Self-serve support and match-making: How might we improve how members connect and find the support they need from each other? This might be through self-serve support or connecting with like-minded peers facing similar challenges.
- Building trust and visibility: Trust is the glue that holds our network together. Let’s keep building those connections, both online and offline, and making sure everyone feels included, seen and heard.
Looking ahead
We’re keen to build on the positive energy, inspiration and feedback from the in-person meetup. The network was originally for digital leads who have participated in any CAST-associated digital accelerator programme. These leads are invited to join the network at the conclusion of their respective programmes to continue their digital learning journey.
We now want to welcome applications from other digital leads from not-for-profits who are eager to engage with a peer network.
If the meetup has sparked your interest and you’d like to join the network, find out more here.
You can also access the presentations from the meetup here.
If you were there on the day and would like to see the meetup photos, you can view those here.
What participants said about the meetup:
“So much valuable information and experience was shared — I was completely inspired by the passion and creativity of the speakers on the day, and it was great to connect with the other attendees.”
“The whole event has really helped me to build my understanding of where digital innovation can take us and the importance of continuing to build my knowledge and skills.”
“Thanks so much for putting together a brilliant day, I took loads out of it and made some great contacts.”
Finally, if you have any questions or would like to start a conversation about network collaboration, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with David Scurr, Programme and Partnerships Lead, at david.scurr@wearecast.org.uk
