I first met Howard Rheingold, as many do, online. That was in around 1995, about the same time he published the influential book Virtual Community. Howard has, for myself and many others, been a source of insight and inspiration when it comes to understanding both our present and future use of digital communication tools.Howard is in the UK as part of a delegation of Traveling Geeks from California's Silicon Valley. Here's what Howard had to say during the Q&A of his interesting and... Read full post

 
As I was walking around earlier, I bumped into the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, Sir Gus O'Donnell whilst he was having a bit of a walkabout himself. I stayed with him for a few minutes and he seemed genuinely excited and engaged by what he saw here at CSL.
 

 
CS Live is full of interesting things to see and do, and people to meet. Like Iza. She's here, along with three of her colleagues, giving free back massages. Click the image to watch the video...
 

 
 
Who said that Civil Service Live is all hard work and no play!

 
There are lots of great exhibitions here at Civil Service live and this is one of them - a thoughtful and interesting journey through the history of the Civil Service. Did you know that there was once a standard examination that all would be Civil Servants had to pass, or that there were different uniforms for different grades?
Find out more during this video walkabout...
 

 
Direct.gov has recently launched an innovation portal, enabling the developer community to share science and technology enabled ideas, such as data mashups, with the Civil Service and others providing public services. I found out more during this quick interview at their stand here in the exhibition area of Civil Service Live.

 
Trevor, from Cornwall Council, was kind enough to take me on a specially adapted "innovation house" created to demonstrate how the NHS is using new technologies to help people with health problems such as dementia or physical disabilities to remain independent and, indeed, to save lives.
 
If you're at all like me, you'll be surprised at how ordinary most of the house looks, at least initially - it's more Ikea than NHS Grey. Here's the video.

 
Walking around the event today, there is lots of evidence that many Civil Servants are keen to learn more about technology and innovation. Visa, one of the sponsors of the event, walked me through an area of their exhibition space that's devoted entirely to mobiles. So what is Visa, a company most people link to credit cards, have to do with mobiles? Well, for one, they've come up with a pretty innovative, and practical, way of helping people to make secure payments without the hassle... Read full post

On Thursday, I'm going to be giving a presentation on "having difficult conversations". I'll walk delegates through the process of using social tools - that's social networking, content sharing sites and blogs - to listen to, acknowledge, engage and involve audiences, constituents and stakeholders.
 
Having difficult conversations is a lot easier with the right tools and techniques in place, and it need not take more time or resources to achieve.