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RE: Annual Conference 2011 - Laura Latham - 16-12-2010 09:54 PM
Ed - firstly I think the conference website looks really professional and promotes the event well so congratulations on that.
Whilst I wholeheartedly support the principle of splitting the officer and member development days from the main conference and offering them at no or low cost (please please hold something up North / Birmingham !) I still feel, that in the current financial climate, the cost will prohibit many officers from attending. Those out of the immediate vicinity of London would have to battle with the extortionate cost of train travel to arrive in central London any time before 10.00am (which leads to spend further on hotel accomodation for the night before etc.)
There is also the option of using local authority venues as an opportunity to reduce cost further in future? (Keeping public money within the public sector so to speak!)
Laura Latham
RE: Annual Conference 2011 - Stacy Sullivan - 17-12-2010 11:32 AM
In a similar response, the cost associated with attending a London Conference prohibits our attendence so perhaps the option of a video link at the conference could be explored for the non-London contingent?
Thanks
RE: Annual Conference 2011 - Dave Mckenna - 17-12-2010 12:01 PM
Sounds like a good plan to me.
Look forward to hearing details of the officer day - especially if you can make it free.
For those who can't make it to the main day twitter does provide a really good way of participating - it's not quite the same as being there of course, but you can follow the debate, make points and ask questions. It is also extremely low cost of course.
Two things to make it work - organisers have to plan for tweeting from plenaries / work shops etc and provide screens so those at the event can see the tweets of those who are not. Second, those not familiar probably need to think in advance about participating in this way - maybe a quick intro and guide for twitter delegates on the website Ed?
RE: Annual Conference 2011 - Josh Mynott - 17-12-2010 12:12 PM
Where is this "London" I hear so much about? Is it any good?
RE: Annual Conference 2011 - Shelley Burke - 17-12-2010 01:56 PM
jmynott Wrote:Where is this "London" I hear so much about? Is it any good?
What is your measure? Is delightfully snowy and sunny in my bit of London at the moment, which seems pretty good.
RE: Annual Conference 2011 - Josh Mynott - 17-12-2010 02:36 PM
Shelley Burke Wrote:jmynott Wrote:Where is this "London" I hear so much about? Is it any good?
What is your measure? Is delightfully snowy and sunny in my bit of London at the moment, which seems pretty good.
I'm very pleased to hear that, seeing as your bit - Southwark - is also mine (or at least was for the first 18 years of my life).
But I'm still not letting Ed get away with his line about "a much higher calibre of speaker". Piffle. Utter piffle. You're just not trying, Ed. You might hear something new by listening to people who don't get to speak at all these events all the time. And you might find they care more about speaking because the opportunities are so limited and so do a better, more interesting job.
Not to mention obvious and well established fact that all London speakers sound like Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins and so are very hard for the rest of us to understand.
RE: Annual Conference 2011 - Ed Hammond - 17-12-2010 02:50 PM
But surely no-one from outside London has anything worth saying?
Yes, alright, I suppose it was a bit of a glib comment, wasn't it...
The webcasting idea is an interesting one. Our conference organisers this year are quite techy and we might be able to get something like this set up. That said, the conference this year is heavily interactive so just broadcasting it for people to watch might not work too well. Mind you, if we could develop some way of ensuring that those watching were able to contribute actively to the day itself... hmm... it's an idea.
We will do everything we can to minimise the cost of attending this year. Holding it in Hammersmith opens up the possibility of staying at Heathrow where there are a number of cheap hotels. Plus, for the first time since I think 2005, attendance will cost less than £200 (ok, less than £200 by a single pound, but, you know).
RE: Annual Conference 2011 - Steve Sienkiewicz - 17-12-2010 04:23 PM
The problem is that £200 now (ok £199) can be likened to asking for something like £2000 a year or so ago. £200 has suddenly become a hell of a lot of money in terms of cash strapped Council coffers. Requests for the likes of £200 to attend a conference of any sort, no matter how good, are likely to be met with gasps of derision followed by microscopic examination. Anyone who is brave enough to make such a request will face immediate internment in the Town hall stocks as an example to those who were hovering on the edge. Ok, joking apart you get the picture.
With (often expensive) travelling costs on top, it all mounts up and it will be interesting to see how booking figures start to stack up. I hope it does well, I don't doubt the effort and commitment that will go into the planning, but has enough been done to take into account the huge difficulties that will inevitably be encountered as a result of the current climate?
RE: Annual Conference 2011 - Jessica Crowe - 20-12-2010 11:44 AM
I just wanted to respond to some of the comments here. We know times are very tough for all of you which is why we have reduced the conference to 1 day, capped the delegate price and chosen a cheap venue located close to other cheap hotels out in West London.
I must disagree with the suggestion that we don't really try to get a wide range of interesting speakers from all over the country - if you saw the invitations we send out and the efforts that are made to track down and woo people who will bring different perspectives! Including Josh, who got excellent feedback last year! Choosing London again reflects the strong feedback from every survey we have ever carried out of both attendees and non-attendees of past conferences, as well as the greater difficulty we had in retaining speakers when we held the event out of London. It may be wrong, but I'm afraid getting Ministers to leave London mid-week is not easy and puts us at risk (again) of non-attendance at the last minute which we are very conscious is frustrating for delegates.
I would encourage you to book early and book your train and accommodation too - you can get the cheap deals the earlier you do so - and the programme we are putting together is seeking to provide as much value as we possibly can to enable you to justify it to budget holders. As Ed says, we want it to be highly interactive and shaped by delegates so that it is relevant and up to the minute, given how fast the policy landscape is changing, so please do register and contribute to the discussions to make sure the content covers what you need it to cover. We are also looking at things like webcasting and there will definitely be a twitter feed (#cfps2011), as well as other interactive technology (live streaming) to facilitate the widest possible discussions on the day.
If nothing else, in challenging times, people need - more than ever - to create the occasional space to step back from the day to day grind to reflect on their changing environment in order to come up with new solutions and learn from what others are doing to meet the same challenges. It is highly unlikely that we will run many other events next year given the reality of the financial environment (other than the new officer development day that Ed mentioned), so if you can do no other bit of personal development next year, this really is the one scrutiny event to try to get to. I hope to see you all there.
Jessica
RE: Annual Conference 2011 - Nick Beale - 20-12-2010 12:11 PM
jmynott Wrote:Where is this "London" I hear so much about?
Is it any good?
(a) The same "as the crow flies" distance from here as Birmingham but at least an hour longer on the train, so some of us would still hit the overnight stay problem.
(b) Yes.