The energy on the day was buzzing. The pace was fast. It didn’t go without a few bloopers, but it didn’t matter. The atmosphere was uplifting and positive and it’s clear that a lot of thought had gone into making this event happen.
The central London location was ideal. The layout and convenience of the rooms worked well. The food and refreshments were actually rather special. And for me it was really good to catch up with staff and members from the old Intranet Benchmarking Forum (and pre-social media) days, to meet long-standing intranet tweeps that I have only ever chatted with online, and to see new faces, some excitedly launching their first intranets. I met Luke Mepham way back at a J Boye event, so it was a real joy to meet the rest of the intranetizens for the first time. And my first time meet with Wedge, who was the trigger for me to start intranet diary, albeit unknowingly.
The 20 minute talks interspersed with 5 minute lightning talks kept the day alive and the unconference sessions in the afternoon a) happened, and b) sounded like they were really valuable to people for discussing specific issues. The whole format of the day worked well, although two unconference sessions in the same room was a little distracting, yet it wasn’t an issue in the larger area. And hands up for being guilty of concentrating so much on my own lightning talk that I didn’t come prepared with some unconference topics of my own.
The range of topics from the speakers was diverse and interesting. We heard about intranet engagement, viral chickens, automated testing, childrens intranet launch parties, super-heroes, what not to do, why content publishers don’t want their pages to be found, how to make them findable, how to say “no” and deal with the gimme, gimme, gimme effect, and loads more. I wish Igloo had shown us some real-life examples of problems that they have solved (instead of *logoporn*). That would have been more, like, helpful.
My lightning talk was on content and how we used the gov.uk approach of breaking down information into tasks and guides.
Massive thanks to Wedge and Brian for creating this event, to all the sponsors and speakers and people who paid for a ticket.
There’s an Eventify feed from the day.
And here are some of my favourite funnies of the day:
“It’s an intranet, not a Mensa exam” @MmNotes #intranetnow — Simon Thompson (@thompsonsimon) September 2, 2014
@sammarshall “you only need a 100 page governance document if you plan on hitting someone with it” #intranetnow — Pete Blunsdon (@peteblunsdon) September 2, 2014
On-stage accidents are henceforth known as “A Sharon”. #fame #intranetnow — Sharon O’Dea (@sharonodea) September 2, 2014
‘I was once so stressed about my job as an intranet manager I brushed my teeth with athlete’s foot cream…’ #intranetnow. — @comms2point0 (@comms2point0) September 2, 2014
@jenniwheller ack no, not the weather widget! 😉 #intranetnow — Dana Leeson (@danaleeson) September 2, 2014