Sessions
The unconference format explained
An ‘unconference’ is an event that is entirely participant driven as attendees collaboratively create the agenda, lead the agreed sessions, and shape the discussions around the selected topic. The format of the event is particularly effective for collaborative problem-solving.
With no set speakers or preplanned agenda, attendees suggest topics based on their area of interest or expertise.
The Pitching Session
The overall theme is how organisations can work together to make public services in Scotland the best they can be.
The pitching session happens at the start of the event. It’s a lively and fast-paced opportunity for you to suggest topics for the discussion sessions that will run throughout the day.
Not everyone has to make a pitch, but if you have an idea, a question, a challenge, or a case example related to our theme of improving public services through collaboration, bring it along!
Come up with your pitch
You may wish to come up with potential topics to pitch before GovCamp or be inspired on the day.
We'll provide sticky notes and pens for you to jot down your ideas, and you are encouraged to discuss these with other participants.
The pitching process
Anyone who wants to propose a session will be invited to come to the front.
You will have 30-60 seconds to pitch your idea to the group.
Your pitch should clearly state the topic you want to discuss.
What makes a good pitch?
Pose a question: Instead of stating a solution, ask a question that encourages discussion. For example, ‘How can we effectively share data between charities and local government to improve service delivery?’
Identify a challenge: Is there a common problem you've faced? For instance, "I want to co-design services with the public, but what incentives work to get them involved?"
Share an Experience: Have you been part of a successful (or unsuccessful) collaboration? Offer to share the lessons you learned. For example, ‘I can share how my organisation partnered with an AI company to build a new application for service users.’
Be Clear and Concise: With limited time, get straight to the point of what you want to talk about.
Pitching is informal: You don't need to be an expert on your topic; you just need to be passionate about discussing it. Simply read your idea from your sticky note.
Creating the agenda
After all the pitches, the organiser team will create the session schedule on a large board and an online spreadsheet. We'll use a simple voting system, to see which topics have the most interest. This will help us assign sessions to different time slots and spaces.
We may ask people to combine their pitches and share a session where the topics are similar. We may not have space for all the topics that people want to discuss.
The day will split into 4 ‘tracks’, each track will have 4 sessions (each with its own room) and each session will last up to 45-minutes. There will be up to 16 slots to fill.
We ask that participants keep the mention of private or commercial services or suppliers to a minimum when discussing public services in Scotland,
We look forward to hearing your ideas and creating a fantastic day of sharing, learning and collaboration together!
Agenda outline
There will be four tracks of sessions over the course of the day. Each track will last 45 minutes with a break in between, as well as a longer break for lunch.
During each track, we will run up to six sessions based on room availability and ideas generation during the pitching stage.
The running order for the day is likely to be:
9.30 - Arrivals and coffee/tea
10.00 - Welcome and orientation
10.15 - Start session pitches
10.45 - 11.00 - Close pitches and organise into tracks
11.15 - 12.00 - Track 1
12.00 - 12.15 - Break/change rooms
12.15 - 13.00 - Track 2
13.00 - 14.00 - Lunch
14.00 - 14.45 - Track 3
14.45 - 15.00 - Break/change rooms
15.00 - 15.45 - Track 4
15.45 - 16.00 - Return to main event room
16.00 - 16.30 - Reconvene and close out event.
16.30 - After event social at pub (TBC)
GovCamp Scotland 2025 sessions
You can find a list of the session topics from the event listed in a Google Sheet at GovCamp Scotland Session Schedule.
