What I’ve been doing
It is a really busy time at the moment. As a team we’ve got lots of deadlines in the next three months and almost all are involving (to varying degrees) me. I’m feeling really pushed for time and definitely have more than can be done in my working hours. I shared this honestly with Jeni this week and (this will come as no surprise if you know her) she was great - amongst other chatter (and the sharing of a very stress busting photo of her doggy with his chums in the park) we talked through what tasks could be put to one side during this crunch period. I’m not used to having to do that, certainly not in this job, and its tough to accept but also simply has to be.
I reflected that this is where the freelance work I have is tricky. In past times I would have perhaps overworked (and taken the time back). With two freelance roles (who are also busy at the moment) that’s not an option.
What I need to take care of
PAIRS - it’s now just over a month until our full day (extended day to cover timezones from India to East Coast USA) online conference and the next day a full day conference in person in New Delhi. I’m supporting the logistics of both and whilst the ‘on the ground’ bits in India are being done by a partner organisation I’m responsible for managing the travel support grants and fielding enquiries. The big challenge here - nay, stress - is visas. Or more accurately the utter lack of any kind of invitation letters being allowed to be produced but also anyone needing a visa having to have a visa. To make that challenging situation even more “fun” (read “stressful”) is that there’s simply no communication from the Indian Government with any kind of even vaguely helpful suggestions or insights. And this is all linked to a global AI Impact Summit that they’re hosting…there won’t be much global about it at this rate…
The online element is obviously easier from that point of view but we need to make sure multiple rooms running on Zoom, with tens of people in each and moving between, and around 50 presenters and different timezones and tech all comes together smoothly. We’re hoping for volunteers on the day to support with that, but finding / cajoling takes time and effort, as does scoping/articulating the ask and then briefing everyone. … Did I mention it is a month away?! (This of course doesn’t also yet factor in that if the visa issue really doesn’t get sorted then we’ll have a load of other speakers switching to present at the online event if they can’t go to India).
Our conference - in early March we’re hosting a conference on ‘power and participation in public tech’. Hosting a conference is obviously a lot of work. The todo list here includes: planning the space including signage; creating a welcome pack for attendees; getting the invitations out; sorting a team meeting the day before and a ‘get together’ the evening before. There’ll be bits around confirming refreshments too (factoring in dietary needs from the booking attendees) and doing promo on socials for general registration too.
DfE - on Monday Tim and Jeni will attend an AI in education summit hosted by the Department for Education. They will present the outputs of our work using a distributed dialogue process to hear students’ voices on what they think about AI in education. The findings have been interesting and we’ll be sharing those as soon as we can - there’s also a great video which is worth a watch created with a fab group of students from a school in Luton. I’ve got to get that final video on YouTube and available for sharing (once it is finally finalised and once it can be available to share).
Education unions - Adam is doing some amazing work helping education unions develop their thinking and collective bargaining around the use of AI. The unions have developed a statement which is under embargo at the moment but will soon be live (along with a bit more information about the work we’re doing with them).
Next week I’m ‘out of the office’ for a day attending the Strategy Design Festival in London and the week after I’m doing Manchester in a day to suss out the venue for our March conference. That’s more ‘on the road’ (rails more accurately) time than I’ve had in months - I don’t mind it, but it is inevitably less productive time (shonky train WiFi I’m looking at you!).
Time to dig in and get it done…
What I’ve been inspired or challenged or moved by
None of these things but I did giggle at this video where virtual reality (VR) felt a little too real reality for some people.
What I’ve been reading
So this is the most energising bit of my reflections from the last week. 2026 is the National Year of Reading in the UK and my wife and I have committed to making sure we read for pleasure every day. Which means I’m back into reading - and loving it. It really is just about having the discipline to read. I’m currently reading (but have already finished two books this year) “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin. I’m at that wonderful place you can get to with a fiction book where I occasionally find myself during the day wondering what is going to happen next and looking forward to reading.