The second Annual Resident Involvement Champions national conference took place at Villa Park, Birmingham on 2 November and provided an opportunity for people from across the sector to network, share ideas and hear about innovations in good practice. This year’s conference was hosted by the West Midlands RIC Partner, Moorlands Housing (part of the Harvest Housing Group). With the theme of the conference centred on Resident Involvement in Challenging Times, the day was topical and interactive, with delegates asked to consider the value which resident involvement adds, and look at ways of doing more with less resources.

 

                           

 

The morning session focused on Participatory Budgeting, with Carole Gradwell and Phil Teese from the Participatory Budgeting Unit (http://www.participatorybudgeting.org.uk/) making a compelling case for the benefits of local control over spending priorities. This was followed by an interactive exercise where delegates worked in groups to tackle the topical conundrums of justifying the value resident involvement adds, and looking at how to achieve more with less.

 

                           

 

Lunch provided an opportunity for delegates to network and check out the thematic cartoons which were rapidly expanding along a display wall, courtesy of in-house cartoonist Graham Ogilvie (http://www.ogilviedesign.co.uk/index.html) who drew out key themes from the day to create some striking images. Event sponsors Deeplake (http://www.deeplake.co.uk/), Quizdom (http://www.qwizdom.co.uk) and The Bridge Group (http://www.bridge-group.co.uk/) were kept busy during the break with enquiries from attendees. Prior to the start of the afternoon session, Optima Housing were invited on stage to receive an award from Ian Hembrow of The Bridge Group for best annual report in the Midlands Network of Resident Involvement.

 

                               

 

After lunch Paul Cole of Derby Homes and Mary Walker of Harvest Housing Group turned their attention to the use of technology in engaging with residents and gave several practical examples of how they had seen the quality of engagement increase at their organisations as a result. The interactive potential of technology was demonstrated as the audience were given the chance to vote during the presentations.

 

                              

 

The afternoon session was concluded with a Speed-Dating exercise, with volunteer delegates circulating between tables to present their best practice ideas and answer questions. The fact that the ensuing debate invariably overran the allotted 10 minutes is an indication that some good ideas emerged, with email addresses and phone numbers exchanged for follow-up (unless people were taking the speed-dating concept too literally!)

 

Chairman Nick Grubb wrapped up the days proceedings and thanked those in attendance for their enthusiasm in getting involved in the interactive elements of the day, with a number of delegates staying behind to enjoy the stadium tour. 

 

For fuller information about the presentations, please find downloadable files below of the main conference presentation together with notes from selected speed-date pitches.