I was in Berlin last week for the innovatively-titled ‘Berlin in July‘ e-democracy unconference (beat that for a pair of niche jargon buzzwords!).  I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, the following things all being great:

• the place — Berlin is cool, no two ways about it;
• the people — everyone I met was smart, passionate and interesting to talk to, both about work and, for those rare moments I managed to get them off the topic of e-participation, not-work;
• the projects — there’s some fantastic stuff going on out there: we saw projects that are considered, beneficial, well-executed, pioneering, even vital;
• the food — when even the green beans come wrapped in bacon, you know you’re on to a winner;
• the drink — Germans make good beer and the British Council hold a fine selection of teas;
• the hosts — the British Council were incredibly accommodating, their offices comfortable and pleasant, their staff charming and dedicated;
• the conversations — possibly the highest of the highlights was the sheer quantity and quality of stimulating, opinionated, informed and enthusiastic informal chats and breakout sessions with the other participants;
• the potential — is vast.  I hope it’s also realised.

Thanks Tom, Christian, Simone, Guido et al for making it happen!  I’ll to go into more detail on some of the work specifics soon; in the meantime, you can get a flavour of the discussions and outcomes at the event wiki.  Oh, and below is a photo of the fantastic community art project — involving old sofas, fat sticks of chalk and about half the population of Berlin — that was going on in the Alexanderplatz while we were there.