Councillors connected: the social media online conference

I'm currently participating in the Councillors connected conference which is
an online conference been run by the IDEA (Improvement and Development
Agency) to help councils and councillors look at how they can get the most
from tools like Facebook, Twitter and blogs and how you can most effectively
engage with local online networks to listen to what local people are already
saying.

The idea of the conference is an interesting one and there is an interesting
range of speakers from across the subject including Hazel Blears MP who is
speaking on how the Department for Communities and Local Government is
supporting this area of work, and a number of local councillors and experts
from across the country on there own experiences or on how there are using
these social networks.

It will be interesting to see how the conference works, because usually
these types of events are normally held in London during they week so are
usually too expensive to take part, aside from the time etc required to
attend and I hope to pick some hints and tips on what other people are doing
and how I can try some of these things locally.