On June 21, the Saskatchewan chapter of the Service Design Network held its kick-off event in Regina. With over 30 people in attendance from a variety of roles and ranging from organizations such as government and public services, agencies, IT services, sports teams and more, we spent two hours covering a wide range of topics. Held in the theatre at the Regina Public Library, the event included presentations and group discussion about a variety of elements related to service design.

It was evident that there is a great opportunity to establish a strong community for service design in the province. With some attendees traveling over 250 km for the event, there was a wide variety of knowledge and experience with service design, but all had great interest and support for the practice.

Topics covered included stating the case for service design and using it as an approach for strategy. Discussion also highlighted design research, use of personas, journey mapping, service blueprints and design sprints. There was also a healthy dialogue about how service design can be implemented and delivered in a large enterprise or corporate environment. Morgan, Trent and myself were happy to share our experiences in implementing service design in this type of environment and it was fantastic to hear the experiences and recommendations from others in the business community.

In discussion with the group, the chapter will be a source to share and highlight information related to delivering service design, whether through events and knowledge sharing or simply by adding links and content to the chapter’s social feeds.

We also discussed the idea of practicing service design as a means to grow skills of members through pro bono work in support of community or social services. There was also discussion to deliver a similar event in Saskatoon to those in the business and public service community.

It was a great first event and we look forward to many more to come. A big thanks to Vivvo for supporting this chapter event and those who came out to support service design in Saskatchewan.