In Amsterdam, dinners were organised for delegations of the pilot stakeholders. As the response to these dinners was very positive, we can recommend the format we applied.
The main goals of these dinners were twofold. The first was collecting feedback for future open calls and similar projects. The second goal was increasing the awareness of the pilot teams that they were not merely working on their own tech solution, but they were part of a larger ‘movement’, the CommuniCity project.
The dinners were designed with these two specific goals in mind. It was important to us that participants would feel free to speak their mind and also provide criticism. To foster this, we aimed for delegations consisting of:
One or two people that took part in the co-creation and belonged to the group that the solution was for
One person who took part in the pilot in the role of pilot host
One person who took part in the pilot in the role of the pilot team; tech developer/tech company
We thought it was important that only one person of the pilot host and one person of the pilot team attended the dinner, as we did not want them to feel they had to check their suggestions or criticisms with their colleague before voicing them.
The program was as follows:
Arrival with sparkling drinks and possibility to take a look at the posters representing all the Amsterdam pilots
Welcome speech
Dinner
Workshop in groups, based on the role of the attendant in the pilot
Closing words
A short elaboration on these five parts of the programme:
The sparkling drinks, alcoholic and nonalcoholic, were meant to add to a festive atmosphere. We also took care of picking a location that contributed to a warm and festive atmosphere. For each pilot, a poster was created that contained basic information so the different delegations could see what projects other people were working on.
In the welcome speech, the goals of the meeting were explicitly stated. We let the guests know we wanted them to feel they are part of something bigger and that more people in Amsterdam are working on creating tech for and with all sorts of groups in society, and we asked them to speak freely, and not keep their criticism to themselves because we wanted to learn from the experience.
People were seated according to the group that they would be in during the workshop, and therefore their role in the pilot; all tech people of different pilots together, all hosts together and end users together. We wanted them to already get to know each other informally over dinner, before working together in the workshops. We created CommuniCity placemats in different colours that indicated where people were supposed to be seated (for example, all techies were sitting at a blue placemat). The dinner had to be of good quality, as this truly helps to get people in a good collaborative mood.
The groups for the workshops were based on the roles guests had in the pilots, to facilitate exchange of relevant experiences and challenges. Each workshop was facilitated by a moderator, using co-creation methods, to make sure everyone contributed.
In the closing words, we thanked everyone for their contribution and stressed again the greater picture of CommuniCity and the importance of learning from their experiences and improving.
