I went to commscamp16 and I
- Decided fairly early on that I wasn't actually too old to be there;
- Met colleagues from three different fire and rescue services and had some great conversations about new work and new ideas;
- Discovered a link between the NHS and Cumbria and the fire and rescue service and promised to help connect them;
- Learnt about Piktochart to create infographics: I love infographics and I'm not a designer, so exciting to find a tool to do them myself;
- Reinforced what I knew about tools to manage Twitter, it's not just me, it's them;
- Met the Head of Comms for a new combined authority over a cake table and had a fascinating and detailed conversation about how fire and rescue service communications works and what it will mean under devolution;
- Chatted with the owner of a software solution that is focused on the police and needs new friends in fire, I am very happy to connect police and fire, it's a thing;
- Decided that Dan Slee and friends run a really good day, they love what they do and have the best network, so much to learn from them and their approach;
- Discovered bluelightcamp, now that's an idea, hooked up with the organisers afterwards and now may find a new spiritual home for my own geekery and emergency services obsessions;
- And ate two slices of home made cake: Victoria sponge with real cream and a carrot cake, sublime.
As a freelancer, every day that isn't billed, means not being paid. So a day out of the office on training and development is a luxury. Now I can see it is a necessity. Well worth the ￡31 train fare to Brum on a warm day in July.
See: https://www.commscamp.com/ for more info.