#DJMINDS2014 solves the woes of e-government, retail, digimaps & more
CREATIVE THINKERS AND DIGITAL LEADERS
Well done to Digital Jersey mini creative unconference on the 5th & 6th September at the Digital Jersey Hub. This was an excellent follow-up to the Island Innovators and a credit to the team that made to happen. To hear the ideas of creative thinkers and digital leaders on e-government, retail, digimaps & more get in touch with the team.
CHALLENGE THE CURRENT THINKING AND ENCOURAGE DEBATE, DISCUSSION, INTERACTION
A huge amount of fun but also very clever stuff was accomplished at the Meeting of the Minds mini unconference and this short blog would become an essay if I wrote it all, but instead I will focus only on the task "How to make St Helier a place to go to, rather than walk through" and ideas to help the high street.
HOW TO MAKE ST HELIER A PLACE TO GO TO, RATHER THAN WALK THROUGH
THE TEAM
@timhjrogers, @ovalbit @freedommediajsy @mattchedit @oursales @andrewjarrett
THE PROCESS
We did a brain dump of everything about St Helier: who, what, when, where, how, why listing the times, reasons, behaviours, age-groups, zones, methods of travel and anything else that we could capture as raw and unstructured data. We then discussed our favourite towns and cities from all around the world and what excited us about them. Themes started to emerge: Transport; Service; Information; Technology; Entertainment; Culture; We then looked to the strengths of the team to review the data and construct a "before and after" story based on a typical Jersey family's experience and build this around a fun narrative with lots of humour. Throughout I made sure everyone had a task, every opinion and suggestion was heard and we kept to time by constant sequence or rehearsal, review, prune. It was dynamic and collaborative, sometimes messy, often noisy, always passionate and great fun.
THE IDEAS
Entertainment (giving people a reason to go to town)
This included street art, buskers, linking key events with activates in town e.g. Battle of Flowers, Air Display, Jersey Live. Building on things like Fete Noel but doing this more often and having street theatre like Les Ramblas in Barcelona, markets like Marrakesh, street dining like Italy and late night switch from retail to entertainment. Consideration should be put to creating zones for culture, entertainment, dining, shopping so that people know where to go. Liverpool does this very well with coloured maps to guide your choices.
Transport (making it easy to get in and out)
If people pre-purchase Jersey products the town retailer may fund the bus fair or parking ticket for the customer to come to them. Parking should be free on Saturdays with the cost met by the increased tax take from retail sales that result. Buses, Harbours and Airport should have free wifi and provide downloads of "what's on where" as people travel so that they are 100% informed of today's special offers. Boris Bikes and Ricksaws could add to the fun!
Service (customer service must improve)
The internet cannot smile, know your name, offer to help. Customer service can beat the internet if staff are helpful, courteous and knowledgeable about their customers and their products. A local on-line ordering, stock-check or a comparison website for Jersey retailers against amazon with a note of what's in stock may encourage people to pre-purchase Jersey products the town retailer and then travel to collect them within an hour. The internet cannot compete with that!
Information (what's happening, what's in stock, what offers are on)
Retailers must get better at collaborating to share and pool information to create a rich picture of activity and opportunity in St Helier. The aim should be to create footfall (more people coming into town) and from there the opportunities exist for the savvy retailer or restaurateur or entertainer who can engage their customer. This information gathering, categorising and distribution is key to targeting the right messages to the right people.
Technology (using wifi, data, whereabouts to create opportunities)
Free wifi throughout St Helier will allow walking tours with commentary on your phone or tablet. Technology can compare your Amazon wish list to the products in each shop as you approach or note your favourite foods and make recommendations as you approach the restaurant zone. You can know where your friends are, where the children are, arrange to meet-up or use photos and chat to compare whilst each of you is in a different shop.
Culture (clean, safe, interesting, entertaining)
People like visually interesting towns which are clean, safe, and entertaining. Street furniture, trees, fountains, even pianos in the street all offer themselves as a gathering point attracting people toward them. The hard elements create a canvass for the softer elements of entertainment, engagement and experience and as such create the base for a cultural experience that simply cannot be matched by staring at a phone, tablet or computer screen.
THE PRESENTATION
I was very keen that the whole team take part in the presentation with each having a part in telling the story, it was a bit like a nativity play with all the whit of a pantomime plus the punch of some sharp assessments. It was fun and taking the key message from Graham Daldry - Creative Director at Specsavers we got our message across in a way that was memorable: "…First you must entertain, for then you have their attention. Then you can inform, Do to otherwise is to send a message to an audience who isn't engaged..."
The above has been captured in much more detail on flipcharts, photos and video. If you would like copies get in touch with Digital Jersey. For more about the rest of the event see http://www.digital.je/events/-the-meeting-of-the-minds-unconference and to keep up to date with news and information relating to the event, the event specific hashtag is #DJMINDS14
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
An idea (to turn great thinking into useful action)
Before getting into action we need engagement, and invites to interested parties might be the first step?
I suggest we blog and tweet and invite Simon Crowcroft, Town Centre Manager and others involved in e-Government and Technology to DJ Hub for a review. We could use Social Media and a leaflet drop into some of the shops to invite some retailers.
We could re-convene the team that created the presentation and get them to run a session 6:00pm + pizza and beer with both Q&A and additional Debate, Discussion, Interaction from those who accept our invitation.
I will work with Digital Jersey to fix a date/time. If you are interested please contact @timhjrogers
email me TimHJRogers@AdaptConsultingGroup.com or #StHelier2014
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ciChange is sponsored by Total Solutions Group http://www.tsgi.co/
THE AUTHOR
Tim Rogers is an experienced Project and Change Leader. He is founder of www.ciChange.org and curator for www.TEDxStHelier.Com . He is Programme Manager for the commercialization of Jersey Harbours and Jersey Airport. He is also Commonwealth Triathlete and World Championships Rower with a passion for teaching and learning and is a Tutor/Mentor on the Chartered Management Institute courses.
Mob: 07797762051 | Twitter @timhjrogers | Skype timhjrogers
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