Socitm Blog

"As new President of Socitm, I am writing to each part of the Society to encourage dialogue.

Socitm Events plays a key role in the life of the Society and its members. Our flagship Annual Conference and the one day Spring event are important shop windows for the Society and, most importantly, provide the opportunity for our members to meet and to share ideas about prospects for the future of their profession and its impact on public services.

I am delighted that the programmes for these ­events are now being driven by bringing together of Socitm's policy priorities, as determined by Socitm Futures, and our members' interests, as expressed in conference feedback and other intelligence. Integrating Event's activities in this way will strengthen what we do and build on the undoubted creativity of the Events team. Harnessing the views and capacity of a growing membership is a personal priority with which I hope you will help me as we seek to build the range and content of events in the future. This is critical as we seek to address the needs of a larger and increasingly more diverse membership, including areas such as the third sector.

This integration of priorities will also help to avoid the emergence of any competing vision, however well-intended, or chasing 'themes' that are outside our chosen policy areas. The Head of Commercial Development, Head of Policy, Socitm Futures, the Local CIO Council (LCIOC) and the Socitm Commercial Board are all important partners to assist Socitm Events in its planning.

I'd also like to ask Events to champion the work of the Society on the role of IT in local public services reform, showcasing practical models for delivery which can be used in councils, third sector, health, education, emergency services, and central government. The themes we have already agreed in this respect include information and data sharing, efficiency, shared services and citizen/staff engagement.

The current review of our events capacity and capability will seek to build on the many strengths of your Socitm Events team in developing a Socitm-wide approach to planning events and to exploring new and innovative means of delivery. This will include supporting and enabling events organised by our regional groups and other parts of Socitm, where our members can come together to contribute their ideas, case studies, etc.

You have my full support, and I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this letter further if this would be helpful for you, the Events Activity Group and team. Please let me know if there is any way, in my new role, of supporting you and your team in developing new events, partnerships or content along these lines.

Kind Regards

Jos Creese

President, Socitm"

Download this letter