What happens when you attend a digital media conference with an old-school mobile phone?

FutureGov’s Gov 2 Gov conference at Canada House had superb chandeliers, live tweeting, and an opportunity to discuss social media as a tool for government engagement.

Given it was a conference on digital media, it’s not surprising everyone I spoke to was surprised I didn’t have internet access on my old-school Nokia.

What did I learn?

1. Issues for strategic thinkers in digital engagement are the same I come across (and subsequently beat down with a sledge hammer) in my work in other sectors: forgetting to ask:  ‘Why are we doing this?’, ‘Who are we doing it for?’ and ‘What is the best way to do it?’,  before diving in.

2. Digital media and the potential for mass collaboration is a fabulous way in to ask strategic questions.  It’s the perfect combination of geeky and cool; most people want to be a part of it before they fall behind; and those who think it’s ‘never going to catch on’ will be the ideal antagonist for office debate – and will eventually be telling the rest of the world that they were a part of it all from the very beginning.