The conference will be at the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa on 1-2 September (Monday and Tuesday). Approximately 50% of the conference programme (e.g. keynote presentations) will also be available online. This year we will be exploring some additional formats for our in-person attendees, including workshops, breakout discussions (unconference-style), a poster competition (like your high school science fair!) and (if we're feeling brave) some standup or sketch comedy acts.

So, what do we mean by having a 'creative' conference, besides having some high-risk elements to our conference format?

There is a global narrative out there that the public service provides little in the way of value but is instead an expensive deadweight and encumbrance on progress. Perhaps the most colourful example of this is one recently appointed senior public official in a major democracy previously stating their wish (that certain elements are now trying to bring about) that public servants be “traumatically affected” and “not want to go to work”.

GOVIS readily accepts that the New Zealand public service contains plenty of examples of waste and intransigence (in fact, we spend an uncomfortable amount of time dissecting them). But we agree with Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche when he says that “people work hard and they are doing their best”, even while “a lot of things happen despite the system, not because people are enabled by it”. We are encouraged when he says "I want public servants to feel really good about themselves and feel valued. And I want the public sector to be a place where people want to work because they can make a difference.".
 
As public servants, we tend to focus a lot on knowing stuff. We spend time growing institutional knowledge, navigating technical details, and becoming respectable experts. We also tend to be deeply invested in the work that we do and care a lot about the outcomes we are aiming for. But this conference is a chance to go one further and inject some passion and creativity into the mix. This can help us to shake off the ‘deadweight’ narrative (in our own minds at least) and to demonstrate to the likes of Sir Brian and government ministers that the public service can indeed make a valuable difference.
 
A long time ago, Aristotle described four methods of persuasion: logos - argument from reason, evidence and logic; ethos - the speaker’s authority or credibility; pathos - appealing to the values and emotions of the audience; and kairos - the wider context, timing, or opportunity.
 
If you come to GOVIS 2025 - Creative Digital Government, you will learn about the latest in digital government (logos) from the information, data and technology professionals who are doing the work (ethos). But that’s not all because the full creativity and passion of the public service will also be on display (pathos) – as we respond and adapt to the ever-challenging context that we find ourselves in (kairos).
 
So, save the date and be sure to subscribe to our mailing list for further updates.
 
Note: This conference draws inspiration from the Creative Bureaucracy Festival, which has now launched in Australia and New Zealand and aligns strongly with the GOVIS kaupapa.