100 days to the Digital Works Conference

I don't often use this newsletter to promote things. But today marks 100 days until the first Digital Works Conference.

This is a 2-day event that I am organising (with the help of lots of excellent Substrakt colleagues) which will be held in Leeds on 24-25th April, at the Leeds City Museum.

And, if you are signed up to this newsletter, then I think that it may be of interest to you!

The conference will examine and discuss all the many things that digital has come to mean in the cultural sector, and I'm really excited about the line-up we've put together.

Why a conference?

Over the past 15 or so years I have been to lots of conferences and events that have wholly, or in part, looked at digital in the cultural sector.

So why did I think it was necessary to add another one to the mix?

Mostly because I think that there is still a gap.

There are lots of good (and less good) events out there but, to me, it seems as though they are only ever examining part of the picture.

They are either focused on one particular area of the sector (such as museums, or the users of one company's technology) or one particular application of digital (such as marketing, or ticketing, or product).

As I've written elsewhere, I think digital presents an all-encompassing and inter-connected set of questions (and challenges).

Whilst these more focused events undoubtedly have a role to play I also think there's a need for something that brings people together from different parts of the sector, and from different disciplines and backgrounds, to have a shared debate and conversation.

I also think there is a need for us to hear more from folks outside the sector who have faced, or are facing, similar challenges to the ones that we are dealing with.

Afterall, there is very little that is unique about the struggles that the cultural sector is experiencing around digital.

I hope the Digital Works Conference can provide that space. Our theme is 'Curiosity', because I really do think curiosity is at the heart of everything interesting and good when it comes to digital thinking and working.

We will hear the inside story on how the Financial Times got to 1 million paying subscribers, we will hear about how the LEGO Group views and engages its digital audiences, we will hear from experts in behavioural science, ethics, content thinking, accessibility, optimisation, and inclusive design.

Alongside these 'out of sector' experts we will also hear from experienced and insightful voices from within the cultural sector.

People like the V&A's Head of Experience and Digital, Kati Price; National Theatre's Chief Marketing Officer, Alex Bayley; The Audience Agency's Director of Evidence & Insights, Oliver Mantell; Royal Opera House's Commercial Director, Christina Østerby; Henry Moore Foundation's Web Editor, David Cotton; ACMI's CEO, Seb Chan; and many others.

If you enjoy the sorts of things that I write about in this newsletter, then I think that you will find the conference a really valuable use of your time.

I have put together a line-up of speakers that I know will provide insightful, inspiring, challenging, and interesting perspectives.

We are designing the conference so that there will be lots of time, space, and opportunity for socialising, meeting new people, discussion, and debate.

Come and join us in Leeds, it's going to be great.

What is Digital Works? (Some history)

I started the Digital Works programme just over 7 years ago.

It grew out of the isolated experience I had holding in-house digital roles at a number of different organisations.

Digital roles were (and still are) strange.

You are often a 'department of one' where you are expected to be informed and opinionated about a huge breadth of topics.

This is thanks in no small part to the vague and flexible use of the word 'digital' which often seems to mean 'anything to do with technology and/or the internet'.

It is difficult to keep up with all the things you're supposed to know about alongside executing day-to-day digital activity.

So I when I moved to Substrakt I had an opportunity to do something which was informed by the perspective and opportunities that working with lots of different clients offered me.

When we started Digital Works it was a regular (ish) series of events. We brought people together to network, share successes and challenges, and hear from expert speakers.

Between late 2016 and early 2020 we held nine events, covering topics including practical examples of user-centred thinking, why digital strategies fail, innovation mapping, ux for voice interactions, making design work for cultural organisations, projects vs products, strategies for crowdfunding, video for social, ppc campaigns, usability testing, personalisation, content strategy, content design, accessibility, and more.

In 2020, due to the pandemic, we moved online, introducing the Digital Works podcast and newsletter and hosted a series of webinars with speakers from Sydney Opera House, Storythings, V&A, Wise Children, Battersea Arts Centre, Baker Richards and others.

We have since released over 40 episodes of the podcast (which you can listen to here) and sent dozens of editions of the newsletter.