Into the Dragons’ Den is a huge success!
“Thank you so much, this was the best conference I have ever attended”“Just to let you know that I thought this event was really good. Congratulations on delivering such a well organised event. I think the venue was excellent, food was not overly extravagant but that was a good thing I think. The ‘print your own papers and bring your own badge’ idea was refreshing. Excellent format for sharing ideas and good speakers.”“I just wanted to say thanks to you and everyone else who organised last week's event. It was a very refreshing approach and I came away with lots of food for thought.”“The event was really positive, amazing venue and networking opportunities too!”“I’m relatively new to resident participation and I learnt so much today from the other TP workers …and it was such a fun way to learn!”
These are just some of the comments we have received following the first national resident involvement champions conference at the Guildhall, London on 22 October 2009.
The national RICs network wanted to deliver an affordable conference designed by resident participation workers for resident participation workers. But would it work? Would resident participation workers travel to a national conference?
Being resident participation workers we wanted to do something a bit different and innovative. Feedback from previous regional learning exchanges highlighted the fact that networking and learning from each other was what officers wanted. We wanted to get away from the usual ‘death by power point events’. Someone suggested using the Dragons’ Den TV format as an idea way for officers to engage with each other and share ideas and good practice. But this had never been done before…….would it work?
Where would we hold such an event? The Resident Participation Team at the City of London came to our rescue. They offered to loan us their Guildhall for the day, a magnificent and historical venue.
Invites were circulated to all on the regional champions mailing lists and bookings soon came rolling in. By the closing date well over 200 delegates had booked to attend. We were also happy to secure the services of five dragons:
Deborah Ilott (TSA)
Richard Crossley (Tenants’ Voice Co-ordinator)
Michelle Reid (TPAS)
Mike Davis (Former chair of the London Housing Directors’ Group)
Helen George (IDeA)
Delegates were allocated one of the 19 tables and asked to share examples of good practice or ideas to enhance community engagement from their organisation. Please follow the link below to access the pitches.
Each table then agreed on one idea to ‘pitch’ to the dragons. Using electronic interactive voting four tables were selected to pitch their chosen idea before the dragons. Unfortunately none of the dragons had brought any money with them so the presenters were bidding for bars of chocolate.
The exercise was very successful in generating new ideas and sharing good practice. All the ideas have been captured; please download the document attached below for details.
During the afternoon session there were presentations summarising the latest on the TSA standards and the National Tenants Voice followed by a question & answer session. All the presentations have been added to the presentations page for download.
As a result of the positive feedback the national network will look to organise a similar event next year so please register with your local network to ensure that you receive an invitation.
Chris Stock
Resident Participation Manager
Croydon Council
