Update: my nomination has been accepted. I found it pretty difficult to cut down this blog and all the feedback into 100 words, but you can see what I submitted on their website.
Update 2: one of the items on tonight’s (unannounced) agenda is a memorandum to government by Manchester Digital. Here’s the proposed spiel. If you want to discuss it before the meeting, check out this public Google Wave I’ve set up.
Update 3: I’ve been elected! Here’s the full list.
Next week, I’ll be making a bid for the Manchester Digital council, the 12-member governing body for the Manchester Digital Association.
But how many of you have actually heard of – or from – Manchester Digital?
In their own words, Manchester Digital “is the independent trade association for the thriving digital sector in the North West of England”.
I believe it is essential to have a strong, representative and campaigning trade association that is relevant to everyone in the “digital sector”. That includes big digital business, SMEs, microbusinesses and freelancers. But it also includes the network of digital user groups and interest groups that are a vast, but often hidden part of the north west digital community.
So far, it seems that Manchester Digital has not been successful in representing the full diversity of digital sector which has evolved in Manchester.
If Manchester Digital does truly seek to represent the rapidly changing digital sector then it must change with it. If I’m elected to the council, I will work to massively improve Manchester Digital’s external communications and bring about a more collaborative approach to its work.
It’s important for Manchester Digital to better represent everyone because of their unique relationship with bodies like the Manchester Digital Development Agency, local and regional authorities and because of their national representative role. These bodies help set policy on digital business in the north west and are sources of potential funding for digital activities and it’s essential that they get to hear about everything that goes on in the diverse digital sector.
Electing me will bring lessons I’ve learned from helping organise the successful Social Media Café events to Manchester Digital. The events are free, run entirely by volunteers and are now the lynchpin of a network with over 550 members. To me, this suggests that successful networks don’t require paid-for staff to run them.
Previous relevant experience includes being elected a trustee for three years of a large membership-led charity with a turnover of £5 million, including serving as chair of trustees for a year. Since then, I’ve worked in digital communications, primarily in the public sector in both technical and non-technical roles.
I believe opening up Manchester Digital’s communications, connecting with existing digital communities in the north west and building a series of free events are the keys to expanding membership, promoting collaboration and, most importantly, making Manchester Digital more relevant to all of the digital sector it seeks to represent.
In that spirit, I’m opening up my manifesto to you.
Your thoughts and comments on this blog post will help shape what I put forward in my meagre 100-word statement for election. More importantly, I hope it will start a discussion around the role and the future of Manchester Digital which, if elected, I will take forward as my agenda for you on the council.
I want your advice and suggestions around the following themes. I have thoughts of my own around each, which I will be happy to discuss in the comments.
Openness
- How can we improve Manchester Digital’s communications?
- Do you have a clear idea of who Manchester Digital are, and who they’re for?
- What are the benefits of Manchester Digital to members and the wider digital community?
Community
- Do you feel part of a Manchester Digital community?
- What communities could Manchester Digital plug-in to, support or help create with its influence?
- Should Manchester Digital represent you?
Events
- Have you attended any Manchester Digital or MD-supported events?
- What sort of events could Manchester Digital put on, or support through other networks?
- Would a regular Manchester Digital meetup add to, or detract from/conflict with other types of meetup that already exist?
- Are you aware that the Big Chip awards are run by Manchester Digital?
Feedback and comment on any other aspect of Manchester Digital that you feel should be in my manifesto would be more than welcome.
The deadline for nominations is 5pm, 13 May so get posting and tell me what you think needs to change so that Manchester Digital can represent everyone it should.
This is an excellent start, Josh.
One thing that I’d like to see emerge is MD as a thought leader in this space. As such I think that that extends its remit beyond the stakeholders you’ve listed (big digital business, SMEs, microbusinesses and freelancers) to include corporates who’s reason for existance might not be digital but who increasingly cannot deliver their services or interface with their clients, suppliers or customers without ‘digital’ being part of their operating model.
This extends the scope of MD by broadening its catchment to include pretty much every business. This ought not to mean that it loses focus, but it may find that it is in a position to create a hub of experts, leaders and visionaries who might provide consultancy services, badged as MD, to public and private sector organisations in the region… for money… freemium model.
This could bring in revenue streams which could help to strengthen the back-office services which are letting MD’s image down at the moment. By the way, many of these back office admin type service could be digitally/globally outsourced for very little money. Just needs some creative thought.
Good luck!
Tim
Wishing you all the best with this Josh – I think you’re right that MD should reach out to the wide and increasingly diverse digital community. I’d love MD to be a bit more visible in the city too. I know it exists but it’s not really ‘out there’ – I’ve never truly seen what it does, when, where and for whom.
Thanks both for your kind words and feedback.
Tim – that’s a really interesting out-of-the-box idea about what MD could do to become a hub of digital knowledge in the region. With such a concentration of digital business leaders, it seems like MD could definitely be a forum to bring them together to start exploring this. Almost like an e-consultancy, specific to Manchester maybe?
I know we share opinions about the back-office functionality that, presently, seems to be lettering MD’s image down. Anything to provide new revenue streams to improve these, as well as working smarter and not using the excuse of ‘needing staff’, is welcomed I think.
Martin – I agree that the offering provided by MD isn’t as strong as it could be and its public profile seems quite low (beyond perhaps the key people it influences). It amazes me that it doesn’t even have a Twitter account powered by its RSS feeds at least to keep people in touch through this new channel…
Sadly stuck in Leeds that evening – as a member, they’ve done a poor job of letting me know this was happening. I think the whole organisation needs some fresh thinking, as Tim and Martin point out. Absolutely behind you here – can I send a postal ballot?
Dave, unfortunately you’re not the first person that I’ve spoken to who hasn’t been aware of the upcoming elections or AGM. I myself discovered the date only by searching Google, knowing that it was coming up this month.
Unfortunately, there’s no provision for proxy voting, but modernising the way the Manchester Digital engages, erm, digitally will be one of the things I’ll definitely focus on, if elected.
I’m a member of Manchester Digital, get the emails and also the linkedin emails. In the past I’ve received emails that are telling me about upcoming stuff – only it’s already happened.
I didn’t know the nominations were upcoming – I’ve just received an email telling me that the nominations are now closed. At least I’ve been notified in time to vote.
Good luck to the candidates and I hope you do some good work for the wider digital community in Manchester.
There are some really good points being made here and it’s exactly this that’s needed – fresh thought and renewed activity.
We need to have more than just 12 council members engaged – we all need to work together to deliver a whole host of activity as a collaboratively working digital community.
I’m hoping that we see a number of new faces elected tomorrow so that we can put together a plan of activity to transform the organisation and really move it forward.
We only have one chance to get this right, otherwise I fear we’ll lose momentum and the organisation will simply die away.
Looking forward to seeing what happens tomorrow night and it being the start of the changes needed to make this all happen.
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