Am out of office tomorrow, so thought I’d try and capture some initial brief thoughts on the last day and a half at Voice 08 up in Liverpool.

The reception in the evening was great networking, and was fantastic to arrive and see our Liverpool SSE cohort mingling with more familiar and established names and faces. Feedback on Young Voice, which had been happening during the day, was mixed….on the positive side, the sense of dynamism and energy was definitely there (of which more later), and several people I spoke to enjoyed the interaction and chance to engage with a younger audience. On the negative, several people said it lacked a bit of direction, and had occassional mismatches of tone (legal structures and returns on investment to 14 year-olds etc). The Liverpool SSE lot, in their inspirational igloo, were generally positive, and felt it was an innovation definitely worth pursuing.

Gossip from the reception? Two well-known chief executives in the sector asked me to work out the restaurant bill, as they were slightly tipsy (they’ve obviously progressed through delegation); our hotel bar was still packed at 2.30am, few of whom noticed the earthquake beneath their feet; oh and, of course, all the best conversations and deals took place.

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On the morning, there was a fairly uninspiring plenary session; standout was the video from the Scojo Foundation (genuinely amazing), and possibly Hazel Blears’ revelation that she’d serviced a Volvo recently (and signed it off: government accountability and transparency in action); by the magic of video, Gordon Brown announced an extra £27 million to the existing £73 million social investment in health fund and the £10 million risk capital fund that’s been bubbling under for a while. The cavernous venue seemed to slightly suck the life out of everyone, and there were also the first teething problems with sound as a squall of feedback punctuated a missive from Baroness Glenys Thornton (outgoing SEC chair).

Things improved for me with a walk around the open exhibition area, visiting the ‘igloos’ (more igloo-like than I suspected) and stands, and chatting to people from all around the country.  I then listened in on a debate about a social stock exchange which was entertaining, and occasionally thought-provoking; having Rod Schwartz (who once stood as an MP) and Jamie Hartzell (who once came 2nd in a debating competition) involved certainly made for good arguments….

Lunch was fine, and more good conversations round the tables: SImon Taylor from Nottinghamshire, Rosemary Kay, who’d been so helpful in setting up the Liverpool SSE, Nigel Lowthrop from Hill Holt Wood and Craig Dearden-Phillips who was pushing his forthcoming book with an admirable gusto and persistence.

Having skipped the next plenary (Francis Maude, Conservative MP + Reed Paget of Belu Water, the only comment about which I heard was that they’d wished they’d heard more from the latter than the former…), I carried on my merry way round the stalls, took part in a laughter workshop at the SSE igloo (which was, as you’d hope, very funny) and avoided the fishing rod flying past my ear. I liked the open-planness of this area, although the venue is so huge, as to overwhelm slightly all the activity, which included a fashion show and musical slots. Some innovations worked particularly well: the grab a placard, call a meeting seemed to be responsible for some of the more vibrant get-togethers (and possibly also for the lower attendance in some of the agenda-d breakout sessions).

Last plenary (a q&a) which I was particularly looking forward to, was again plagued by persistent sound problems….which became incredibly frustrating, not least for the speakers involved. But there was an interesting cross-section of speakers from across the movement, and some encouraging (if beamed-in) words from Phil Hope, Minister for the Third Sector.

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More soon, and links and reaction to coverage elsewhere, but it did feel like a different event to previous years in many ways (in a good way): real efforts to innovate and promote interaction. But some of this was either hamstrung by sound problems, or overwhelmed by the hugeness of the venue: the dynamism on display at some of the stands and sessions seemed, therefore, like occasional sparks, rather than an event taking light.

As Thor mentions in his farewell post, the SSE hosted the Ambassadors programme yesterday. Always good to see all these amazing people: such a diverse bunch with diverse opinions, ideas, interests and organisations. I won’t repeat what Thor says in terms of what the day was about, but was a good day with a positive vibe. Clearly the programme is already having an effect on the profile of those involved, and gaining them access / giving them influence to promote the movement.

I had the graveyard slot, introducing the blogging (and why we’re using them on this programme), and thought the powerpoint I used might be  interesting. Having done a session with our students recently about how to avoid death by powerpoint (which started with the laptop not working), I tried to listen to my own advice. Here’s the presentation, as inspired by GapingVoid and 10 ways to a killer blog:

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Also, finally, a huge thanks and sad farewell to our intern Thor, who’s been with us for a month that has flown by. Thor now heads back (via home in Norway) to St Olaf College in Minnesota, hopefully having enjoyed the experience here at SSE, and full of ideas for what could happen over there. We’re really hopeful that the links both with Thor and St Olaf will continue and develop over the months and years.

The last days have been quite busy here at SSE. The Ambassadors came to Bethnal Green yesterday for the second gathering of the group since the programme kicked off this fall. SSE hosted the session and Alastair did a bit about how people can learn from the Ambassadors’ journeys, and how peer learning can be embedded in the programme. Later in the day Nick introduced the nuts and bolts about blogging. From the view of the audience, it seemed that the group enjoyed learning about our philosophy and it really hit base with some. And for those of you who have seen Ali and Nick in action before, you know they can be quite enjoyable to learn from!       

?WhatIf! was also present and James Baderman adeptly handled the co-creation bit, while nef introduced the evaluation part of the day. The day seems to have sat well with the whole group and they all seemed to leave in high spirits and positive about the coming months! This day was sort of the apex of my internship, as today is my final day with SSE.

After a month here in the Young Foundation complex, I think both SSE and I part ways on a positive note. Now I will go back to Minnesota and St. Olaf College to further research how to embed social entrepreneurship into an academic institution, without losing the value of "learning by doing". It will be interesting to see how different the US sector is from the UK, but I look forward to these new challenges that surely will present themselves in this process. What I first and foremost will take from SSE is the importance of the grassroots social entrepreneurs – their efforts slowly push society on a grander scale towards progress. These people may not always scale up or be famous or get honoured by awards, but they are still real and they still cause real change. How this matches with the strong individualistic culture in the US will be interesting to find out, but it’s a crucial question, I think. 

For now, adios.