Winchester unconference

Below is the text of a successful grant application.

Description of the proposed Event: A weekend unconference focussing on Winchester District (the city and surrounding area), with an overarching theme: “How can Winchester be a premier business location?”

The unconference will be open to the public, free to attend, and supported by Winchester City Council. Attendees from any sector / the general public will be able to “pitch” ideas and topics loosely associated with the theme (so not restricted to ‘just’ business).

We intend to follow this with a second event, which will be a hack, involving the technical / data community, working with subject experts (from WCC and partners), aiming to find practical solutions to issues / opportunities identified during the unconference.

How much they want: £500

What they would use the funding for: The funding would be put towards the cost of the venue. We hope to attract additional funding by approaching potential local sponsors

About them: [Mark Braggins is an] ex-localgov, and am still very interested in helping to protect and improve public services. I co-organise events like Open Data Camp and BlueLightCamp. I live and work near to Winchester and would like to introduce the council and its partners to the benefits of unconferences, and also help businesses, councils, charities etc develop closer working relationships (hopefully underpinned by open data).