It was hopeless.

After a 30 hour flight from Dar es Salaam to Mexico City to attend my first Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit, I was losing a valiant struggle to stay awake during the formal opening plenary. The Palacio de Bellas Artes was a magnificent setting for the event, but even it could not defeat the forces of jetlag.

And then a piece of paper was handed to me – OGP15 Buzzword Bingo. It looked like a chessboard, but in each box was an OGP phrase or buzzword. To the uninitiated like me it was gobbledygook – I knew what the words said but did not know what they meant.

But here is the thing. The OGP15 Buzzword Bingo forced me to stay awake, to pay attention to the speeches on the stage, to listen for the 24 buzzwords on my piece of paper, and to compete against one or two or a dozen or maybe hundreds of others battling jetlag, hunger, or insufficient coffee intake. My initiation into the Open Government Partnership had begun.

So, here is an invitation to all of you present at the Data for Development Festival Closing Plenary. Rise up, resist and fight against the evil forces of jetlag, end of conference, fatigue, and an unsatisfactory night’s sleep after the gala dinner by playing the DataFest Bingo!

How to Play

Use the bingo cards found in your festival packs.

  1. As the closing plenary speeches begin, listen closely to the speeches for the invocation of the buzzwords listed on your card. As you hear a phrase/word that appears on your card, place an “X” in that cell. Everyone gets the “Free” space in the middle.
  2. There will be four winners: a) First to get any line (up, down, left, right, diagonally) b) First to get all four corners c) First to get two diagonal lines through the middle (an "X"), and d) First to get a "blackout" (all squares)
  3. When you have reached any of the above four bingo goals on your card, use the #data4devfest hashtag on Twitter to announce your success, and include a screenshot or photo of your card as proof.

The game will be played from 11:15am-1:00pm GMT on Friday 23 March 2018.

Winners will receive a LAST (Longest Attention Span Trophy), membership into the Fellowship of the Data, our unending affection and heaps of praise from your friends, enemies, and other followers on social media.

PS – My wonderful fellow board members have already forgiven me in advance for this initiative.