The RMS has to be congratulated on another successful Annual Conference and especially for attracting such a large number of exhibitors and delegates.
It seemed more like “back to the past” than the future at times with most sessions following the well established RMS format of presentations followed by questions. However, while I spotted nothing new to set the world of records management alight, it was an excellent practitioner and networking event, peppered with some useful and interesting sessions.
A little controversy always helps a conference and this came straight from the opening session by Heather Brooke, journalist and author of Your Right to Know. Heather has campaigned to make government more open and accountable using FOI legislation. To me, her talk served as a sharp reminder of why records are so important. As a profession we should not forget that the content of records (and the associated need for structure, findability and connectivity) should not be overlooked as we focus on managing the container and business end of our work.
The sessions from the academic sector were also a highlight for me with Tom Jackson, Loughborough University, and Rachel Hardman and Elizabeth Lomax from Northumbria University leading the way. Tom’s ‘Death by Email’ like ‘Death by Chocolate’ is always guaranteed to be popular. Death by research methodology came to my mind a little during their presentations and I think a little less method and more time on findings and impact would have been welcomed by RM practitioners.
Having said that the new and innovative action/participative research led by Northumbria University is very exciting to hear and participate in. Some of the outcomes from the Continued Communication and Accelerating Positive Change in ERM research projects are useful and thought provoking. For more comments on the conference you could listen into the Northumbria podcast hosted by Elizabeth.
Finally, one of the best sessions for me was one I had the honour of chairing (no bias), from Dr David Reeve, Dorset County Council, who gave a very succinct overview of how they had gone about applying retention and disposal schedules in an EDRM system. The presentation was full of good tips and practices but most important for me was the example David set of how a professional RM can use the theory and their intelligence to take a pragmatic approach to applying solutions taking into account the restrictions of the technology and the business and the realms of possibility. What was also refreshing was to hear that David was not afraid to innovate and take risks in offering new solutions, knowing that one may fail and need mending. He who dares…
Martin Sanderson
Senior Consultant (TFPL Ltd)
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