These are interesting times for information professionals - and not just in the proverbial sense.
There's such a lot going on: so many new approaches and developments, SO much to discuss and to learn about. But where to start?
In its strategy document 'Information matters: building government's capability in managing knowledge and information' (http://digbig.com/5bbaaq), the Government's Knowledge Council describes GCHQ's building, designed to encourage networking and the transfer of knowledge, recognising that personal interaction is the cornerstone of good knowledge sharing. I'm sure the five-thousand or so people working there appreciate the networking opportunities afforded by the doughnut's architecture. But I'm equally sure theirs isn't a typical working environment. Many people work alone or in small teams within organisations, isolated by corporate functional structures or by more tangible structural impediments. And it's not uncommon for individuals to be so busy juggling their workload that they barely have time for lunch, let alone a chat with colleagues about issues on the information horizon!
Outside of the working environment there are a number of networking opportunities provided by professional associations and business networking specialists. But, as Stephanie Peckham pointed out in her November article (http://web.fumsi.com/go/article/share/4339) about overcoming barriers to networking, it can be truly daunting to walk into a room full of strangers. It doesn't matter how friendly and welcoming they turn out to be if that sinking feeling as you walk through the door stays with you for much of the evening.
Setting the tone
When Marja Kingma, a collections manager at the British Library, Jennifer Smith, an information professional providing intranet solutions for small businesses and I set up LIKE, the London Information & Knowledge Exchange (http://www.likenews.org.uk/), we thought very carefully about how we wanted people to feel when they walked through the door at a LIKE event.
We were creating an open forum for the exchange of knowledge and information. So the following were of vital importance:
The group should be free to join, and open to everyone
The ‘tone' would be informal and inclusive - no committees or elaborate administrative structure
The frequency of events should be consistent - we would meet on the last Thursday of each month
The format would be flexible - we'd host world café-style group discussions, invite guest speakers to contribute presentations, and organise visits to external events
For organising and promoting events we'd use existing web 2.0 tools: establishing a LIKE Group on Linked In and making use of Twitter and blogs.
Planning the events
We've been guided in our planning by three rules:
1. Relevance: the topic must be of interest and value to our members
2. Inclusion: everyone has an equal right to nominate issues for discussion and to volunteer themselves as speakers or suggest outside experts they'd like to hear from
3. Variety: for example, a round-table exploration of the usefulness of books as information resources was followed by a visit to the Science Museum for Tim Berners-Lee's centenary lecture on the history and the future of the World Wide Web.
The approach has worked well. By planning events no more than a couple of months in advance we are able to respond to issues and developments affecting our members in their daily working lives. It also leaves us free to review events that are scheduled by other organisations, such as the RSA or the Science Museum, and select the best of them for our members to attend.
Learning from experience
We've learned quite a lot about publicising our events, exploring issues and stimulating discussion. Most importantly, we've learned about the needs of our members. During the summer months it was acceptable to offer a buffet meal. But as winter closed in something more substantial and sustaining was required. So for LIKE 8 we announced "Dinner with Tim Buckley-Owen - a discussion of the changing information landscape". The prospect of an excellent speaker and a hot meal was persuasive: seats filled up very quickly. LIKE 9's dinner and discussion, with Cerys Hearsey, on the challenges of SharePoint implementations attracted an even bigger response. As we plan our events for 2010, we know we may need to start looking for a larger venue. What a great problem to have!
At the time of writing we have more than a hundred and seventy LIKE members signed up on LinkedIn. If our steady rate of growth continues, by the time LIKE celebrates its first birthday there will be more than two hundred. There are members from the public and private sectors, from consultancies and charities, universities and professional associations. The list of job titles includes: Head of Information, Knowledge Manager, Information Architect, Management Consultant, Librarian, Head of Content, Taxonomy Manager. Access to so much experience and knowledge provides us with an invaluable resource as we plan for future developments of the LIKE network. For example, in the coming year we aim to build on our after-event reporting and make more use of our member surveys. And, of course, we'll continue to be guided by the interests and preferences of members.
We asked those who attended the last meeting of 2009 what they most enjoyed about the group. These are some of their comments: "I like the relaxed and informal environment", "the ambience is perfect for networking", "interesting topics, good speakers, interesting and friendly people", it's a relaxing and friendly environment in which colleagues can network and talk honestly about issues that matter".
How to do it
A LIKE member, who'd been able to join us only because she was in London for business, was considering toward the end of the evening whether she should set up a group in Manchester. I suppose it would be called MIKE. Why not? It'd be great to have a network of Information & Knowledge Exchange groups, meeting locally and sharing their experiences globally.
If anyone wanted to start one, here are the ten top tips we'd offer:
1. Enable everyone to own their involvement by encouraging and implementing their ideas and engaging them as speakers, panel members etc
2. Plan the details: a comfortable environment, the correct amount of light (not too bright), air (a comfortable temperature, and enough oxygen to go around!) and space (remove furniture if it gets in the way of people mingling)
3. Cater to peoples' needs by offering a satisfying choice of food and drink, and scheduling the event to neither start too early or end too late
4. Be welcoming - make sure you know who is coming, and meet people as they arrive, introducing new attendees to regulars
5. Publicise the events, sending reminders as the day approaches
6. Use devices such as questionnaires to focus members' minds on the topic for consideration, gather material to inform the debate and provide the speaker, panel or group with an indication of peoples' interests
7. Follow up on the event by reporting it on your website or blog
8. Encourage everyone to blog and twitter about the events
9. Regularly canvas the membership for ideas and feedback, and let everyone know why you're asking and how you will use what you learn
Virginia Henry is a Consultant specialising in Knowledge Management and Engagement. She's experienced in implementing organisation-wide knowledge intranets, nurturing communities of practice and ensuring knowledge management initiatives last longer than their project budgets and the average implementation team's attention span! Virginia has a special interest in the role of knowledge management in onboarding and in training and development. Networking - for learning and enjoyment - is a favourite pastime and she regularly twitters and blogs about the events and meetings she's been to http://virginiahenry.wordpress.com/
The FreePint Family is a family of resources to help information workers be more effective, raise the value of information in their organisations and contribute to success.
'FreePint... provides most of my professional development because it won't come through work and [other resources] just don't cut it.'
FUMSI Forum: Do you have a research question? Post it to the FUMSI Forum, where professionals share Q&A and useful tips on how to Find, Use, Manage and Share Information. It's free.
![[Reuse options]](http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.png){kind=small}
These are interesting times for information professionals - and not just in the proverbial sense.
FreePint Shop:
VIP LiveWire:
