GOVIS Events - 2021

GOVIS Christmas Drinks and Nibbles at Hudson

Wed, 15th December, 2021, 4:30-7:30pm, Hudson, 56 Victoria St, Te Aro, Wellington

Come and join GOVIS for an end-of-year celebration at Hudson!

Bring a friend, meet some new people and enjoy a drink on GOVIS! Lets take this chance to swap stories about the year past and to share what we would like from GOVIS in 2022.

Note: Unfortunately due to the Covid Traffic Light system in place, the venue's requirement is that ONLY those who are fully vaccinated & have a valid vaccine passport would be able to attend.

Register here.

Exploring digital skills needed for a digitally transformed public service

Fri, 29th October 2021, 11:30am-1pm, ONLINE

What skills do we need to digitally transform Aotearoa's public service?

This GOVIS Lunchtime Forum will include a diverse panel discussion on what skills are needed in a modern, digitally enabled public service, including skills needed for user-centric service delivery, for policy innovation, for modern IT and architecture, plus a little about digital skills for social and cultural inclusion inclusion.

Our esteemed panel will have 8 mins each as a teaser, following by a Q&A session, and the GOVIS committee can do a follow-up event on any particular area of interest to GOVIS members:

  • Service Design for better public services - Matthew McCallum (MBIE)
  • Digital skills for a modern public service architecture & IT - Lee Dowsett (DIA)
  • Digital skills for policy including experimentation based, user centred, iterative and multidisciplinary development - Emily Mason (Frank Advice)
  • Equitable, intercultural co-design skills for more participatory governance on policies and services - Arama Maitara (Walk Together Design)
  • Changing IT skills in a digital world - Simon Morris (ITP Wellington Branch Committee)
  • The digital skills needed for information management today - Mick Crouch (Archives New Zealand)
  • The skills needed to move towards a virtual and empowered public service workforce - Pia Andrews


    This event will be ONLINE, and attendees will be sent connection details upon registering.

    Register here.

    Documenting New Zealand’s experience of COVID-19

    Tues, 31st August 2021, 12pm-1pm, ONLINE

    What has Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa National Library of New Zealand been doing to preserve this country's experience of COVID-19?

    This time GOVIS takes a look at the work of Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa National Library of New Zealand to record and archive the videos and photographs, emails, websites, blogs, diaries and letters, memes, tweets and artworks that reflect the individual, family, community, and organisational experiences of COVID-19 in Aotearoa New Zealand.

    Valerie Love, Gillian Lee, and Abi Beatson from the Library’s Digital Collecting team will be presenting. We will talk about some of the items archived, and their journey through alert level changes and lockdowns, to ensure that Aotearoa’s experience of one the most unprecedented times in our history is collected and preserved.

    This event is online-only.

    Register here.

    GOVIS AGM 2021

    Tues, 7th September 2021, 5pm-5:45pm, ONLINE

    We welcome you to the GOVIS AGM to hear an update of our past year and provide the opportunity to new members and officers to stand for election to the GOVIS Committee.

    Over the last year we have delivered more events online or utilising an online/in-person hybrid approach. We plan to continue to evolve in person and digital experiences to support connecting, sharing and learning across government.

    If you’ve enjoyed GOVIS in the past and would like to get involved in delivering amazing events, the GOVIS management committee needs you! GOVIS needs a variety of skills so whether you’re an events pro, finance whiz, project manager with flair, can decipher contracts or are a creative marketing guru, the AGM is the perfect time to be nominated. Nominations are not limited to member agencies -- honorary members are also welcome to stand for the committee.

    If you’d like to make a nomination for the officer roles or to become a committee member please let the GOVIS Secretary know before the 31st August. If you would like a motion to be tabled at the AGM please also let the GOVIS Secretary know prior to the AGM. Nominations and motions can be addressed to the GOVIS Secretary at website@govis.org.nz. View this year's agenda and the minutes from last year’s AGM and the president's report for 2020.

    The AGM will be ONLINE only. We look forward to seeing you!

    Register here.
    ___________________________

    Note: The minutes have been reviewed by the committee and amendments made. They have been accepted by the committee at our monthly meeting and will be approved at next year's AGM (as per the consitution)

    Renewal is everyone's job: Applying the new Public Service Act in practice

    Thurs, 5th August 2021, 12-1:15pm, Meeting rooms G.01, G.02 and ONLINE, MBIE head office, 15 Stout Street, Wellington


    The new Public Service Act (2020) provides a powerful lever for systemic change, but a lever is only effective when you use it.

    At the end of the day, the Act is what you make of it, what we all make of it. If we “wait for it to be implemented”, then we are, at best, missing an opportunity. How can we take this moment and make it count? The lever is there, let’s see how we could use it?

    This event will start with an expert panel to explore key aspects of the Act, with some practical examples of how it could be applied. The event will also include an interactive workshop to provide an opportunity to discuss and support each other to consider what we could do differently or better today.

    Recommended pre-reading: The Public Service Act 2020, and http://pipka.org/2021/06/18/renewal-of-the-public-service-is-everyones-job/

    Panelists (our panel includes four 10 minute talks):

    • Hugo Vitalis from the Public Service Commission to outline what good looks like from the Commission's view
    • Pia Andrews will discuss the opportunities from the perspective of other jurisdictions
    • Simon Chapple from the Victoria University of Wellington will discuss some of the challenges to take into account
    • Nadia Webster and Michelle Edgerley will discuss some of the system challenges today, and how the PSA might help.

    After a 10 minute Q&A, the panel will feed into a facilitated workshop for attendees to anonymously contribute ideas on how you could apply the PSA, today, in your workplace. Your ideas will be written up (and kept anonymous) to share more widely. We hope they will encourage and support the GOVIS community (and public servants more broadly) to consider practical actions to use the Public Service Act to renew the public service, for the benefit of Aotearoa New Zealand.

    You can register to attend either in person, or online (please select the correct option when making your booking in Eventbrite). In person attendees will receive a light lunch.

    Would you like to get emails about new lunchtime forums, or other GOVIS events? Sign up to our mailing list here.

    You can access Hugo's slides here.
    You can access Pia's slides here.
    You can access Nadia & Michelle's slides here.
    You can access a recording on the event here.


    GOVIS Lunchtime Forum - Reflecting on COVID-19 # 3 - Digital Public Service

    Wed, 21st July 2021, 12:30-1:30pm, ONLINE

    #3 in a series of forums reflecting on the impact of COVID-19 on government information and technology.

    The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most significant events to affect New Zealand in recent history. All of us have been affected in some way.

    This forum looks at how COVID-19 has impacted the way the public service works, in both Canada and NZ. Julie Watson from the Digital Public Service Unit at DIA will talk about what happened in NZ. Pia Andrews will talk about what’s been happening in Canada.

    You can view the slides here.

    This is an online-only event using MS Teams. Details about how to join will be sent to you once you have registered.

    To register for the forum, go to Eventbrite

    Would you like to get emails about new lunchtime forums, or other GOVIS events? Sign up to our mailing list here.

    GOVIS Lunchtime Forum - Reflecting on COVID-19 #2 - The Covid Tracer App

    Wed, 16th June 2021, 12:30-1:30pm, Meeting rooms G.01 and ONLINE, MBIE Head Office, 15 Stout St, Wellington

    #2 in a series of forums reflecting on the impact of COVID-19 on government information and technology.

    The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most significant events to affect New Zealand in recent history. All of us have been affected in some way.

    This forum looks at the Ministry of Health's Covid Tracer App. Merrin Macleod and Patrick Hindmarsh from the team involved with developing the app will be presenting. They will talk about Privacy by Design in the app and lessons learned about the public perception of privacy and data handling.

    Merrin and Patrick have kindly made their slides available - you can access these here.

    This will be a hybrid event. You can come in person or join online via MS Teams. Note that in-person spaces are limited and people who work for GOVIS member agencies will be given priority.

    A light lunch will be provided for in person attendees.

    To register for the forum, go to Eventbrite.

    Would you like to get emails about new lunchtime forums, or other GOVIS events? Sign up to our mailing list here.

    GOVIS Lunchtime Forum - Reflecting on COVID-19 - Data System Impacts

    Fri, 28th May 2021, 12:30-1:30pm, Meeting rooms G.02 and ONLINE, MBIE Head Office, 15 Stout St, Wellington

    #1 in a series of forums reflecting on the impact of COVID-19 on government information and technology.

    The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most significant events to affect New Zealand in recent history. All of us have been affected in some way.

    This forum looks at how COVID-19 impacted the New Zealand government data system. What have we learned from the COVID-19 experience? What worked well? What didn’t? Were the changes we made during the pandemic sustainable? And what practical things can we do to make the system better in the future?

    We’ll start off with a presentation from Kevin Sweeney and Jocelyn Morrison, from Stats NZ. This will be based on Stats NZ’s COVID-19 Lessons Learned report, which was released in December. We’ll follow this up with some small group discussion where you can talk about what happened in your agency and share ideas for action.

    This will be a hybrid event. You can come in person or join online via MS Teams. Note that in-person spaces are limited and people who work for GOVIS member agencies will be given priority.
    To register for the forum, go to Eventbrite.

    GOVIS Lunchtime Forum - The Official Information Act in context

    This forum presentation will offer a brief history of New Zealand citizens’ rights to information.

    The Official Information Act turns 40 next year, so it’s been an ever-present companion to public servants’ working lives. But what’s the history behind rights to information, what can New Zealand learn from other countries’ experience, and what’s the future of this key part of our governance?

    Presenter: Andrew Ecclestone is a Senior Associate at the Institute for Governance & Policy Studies at VUW, and formerly a Senior Investigator at the Office of the Ombudsman. Before coming to NZ, he also worked on implementation of the UK’s Freedom of Information Act 2000.

    Click here to view the slides.