EduGeek Conferences in 2014

[Dos_Box]

Hi everyone,

For those of you who are regular attenders of our annual conference you may have heard us talking recently about the possibility of attending one closer to home in the future.

Unfortunately we cannot manage to get another one sorted out for this year due to time constraints with BETT now a rapidly looming reality (ask our sponsors how soon THAT comes around!), however that does not mean we haven’t been busy with some planning.

We have primarily sourced some venues/locations that we can host events at and what we now need is some numbers from you.

Ideally we would need 45-50 attendees to make each conf work as well as speakers etc. and we have noticed in the past year or so a slight drop in those attending or, more costly to us, booking a ticket and not showing up (which costs us about £35 a time), primarily though this is down to schools now not being willing to spend on travel, hotels for non-teaching staff to attend events, regardless of how helpful and informative these are.

So, due to popular demand, we are planning to take the events to you in 2014, provided we can get enough people interested that is.

Now, the period from Feb-July is manic for us. Not only do we have BETT, but also, The Education Innovation Conference, one of our confs, and ISTE in the US to plan and attend. All of these events leaves us feeling quite exhausted and fitting in an extra EduGeek conf is not something we would feel comfortable in doing (although we’d be willing to give it a good try!), so here are some options for you.

 

1. We hold a conf in May (as per usual) and then host two in the summer holidays (July /August) and one more in the October half term

2. We host 2 confs in one week in May then one in July/August and one in October

3. We have 3 confs. One in May, one in July/August and one in October

4. We host a conf in the US/Australia

 

Now, the amount of events we can hold are dependent on the numbers involved in the locations contain in the poll; these are Preston, Edinburgh, London and Bristol. Please note these are multiple choice so you can pick more than one if you can make it. We shall post another poll about locations and dates once we get numbers.

Also on the poll is the question ‘Would you mind paying a £15 refundable deposit’. This is an idea we have had to prevent those who book tickets and don’t turn up. This is not only costs us money, but prevents those on our wait lists from being able to attend. The £15 deposit would be returned to all attendee on their arrival. If you don’t turn up you don’t get it back.

So, over to you J

 

P.S. We are also giving serious though about hosting an event in the US or Australia. If you are from either of these countries please tick the box in the poll and we shall try and get something organised, however doe to the size of these countries it would take a lot more planning and preparation, perhaps leading to a 2 day event. Anyway, let us know if you are interested.

Edited September 30, 2013 by Dos_Box

[Soulfish]

Well I'm interested, and think the 3 conferences plan (May, summer, october) is a nice spread through the year with BETT in Jan

[FN-GM]

It is possible to try and get one in that isnt (like Bett) in the holidays please? Thats the time where we are most busy are harder to get away. During term time things tick over and someone else in the team can pickup other jobs. Thanks

[witch]

I agree with @Soulfish

[ICTDirect_Dave]

We'll come to Aus!

 

I've alreayd told John that I'm willing to take the plunge and open up a Sydney office!

[Dos_Box]

It is possible to try and get one in that isnt (like Bett) in the holidays please? Thats the time where we are most busy are harder to get away. During term time things tick over and someone else in the team can pickup other jobs. Thanks

 

Unfortunately we have found that it is the only time the vast majority can get away with many schools unwilling to provide cover for the 2 days they would be absent. Unless the members are willing to let us know otherwise?

Edited September 30, 2013 by Dos_Box

[plexer]

What's happened to the middle of the country?

 

Ben

[ICTDirect_Dave]

What's happened to the middle of the country?

 

Ben

 

You live two hours from everywhere

[plexer]

Not really deepest darkest Norfolk on the east coast so places like preston and endinburgh are not great as need special permission to be out overnight, lol

 

Ben

[Dos_Box]

Not really deepest darkest Norfolk on the east coast so places like preston and endinburgh are not great as need special permission to be out overnight, lol

 

Ben

 

You mean I need to write your mum a note asking for permission?

[plexer]

That's the one

 

Not, lol.

 

It's really the ankle tagging company.

 

Lol

 

Ben

[ICTDirect_Dave]

That's the one

 

Not, lol.

 

It's really the ankle tagging company.

 

Lol

 

Ben

 

There's a hack for that surely?

[crc-ict]

Loving the idea of an EduGeek conference somewhere that isn't about 5 hours from the South Coast!

 

Unfortunately, although I like the idea in principle, I had to vote no to the refundable deposit. I think that would cause some problems with the finance teams in a lot of schools - I for one know my finance people wouldn't be happy with that arrangement. Also, I wouldn't be happy to pay it out of my own pocket, because if the school decided at late notice that they couldn't allow the time, I would shoulder the loss.

 

I think for those in schools a small fee (of the £15-£20 region) to attend would be easier to get approved than "I want to go to a free conference. Oh and by the way we have to pay £15 in case I don't go and then I'll get it back on the day".

[Dos_Box]

Loving the idea of an EduGeek conference somewhere that isn't about 5 hours from the South Coast!

 

Unfortunately, although I like the idea in principle, I had to vote no to the refundable deposit. I think that would cause some problems with the finance teams in a lot of schools - I for one know my finance people wouldn't be happy with that arrangement. Also, I wouldn't be happy to pay it out of my own pocket, because if the school decided at late notice that they couldn't allow the time, I would shoulder the loss.

 

I think for those in schools a small fee (of the £15-£20 region) to attend would be easier to get approved than "I want to go to a free conference. Oh and by the way we have to pay £15 in case I don't go and then I'll get it back on the day".

 

I can see where you are coming from, but as it is sadly getting a regular occurrence that we have no-shows who give us no notice of their intention not to attend and when it is costing us £35 per head to book a venue we have to find a way to mitigate this. Perhaps getting those booking seats to agree that if they have book a space that in the event of them not showing up (or have given us a weeks notice to allow someone else to attend) they agree to pay the cost of their ticket.

Suggestions please!

[DPrince]

Why not make the event a paid event, but use the money to provide decent "free gifts".

I for one would have no trouble asking my finance team for money to buy a ticket, but would (as others have said) struggle with refundable deposit idea.

 

£20 per ticket would be a good price, with free gifts worth, say, £15?

I'm sure you could fine-tune this idea.

[sparkeh]

What's happened to the middle of the country?

 

Ben

Agreed.

Something in the Midlands would cover quiet a big area that currently looks unserved? I would come*

 

*That's not an excuse to not do something in the Midlands

[witch]

Why not just tell your schools etc that the refundable deposit is the fee for attending? Or have I missed something

 

The middle of the country would be fine for us down here too - Bristol is nearly as far away as Birmingham - and Reading would be lovely

[DPrince]

Why not just tell your schools etc that the refundable deposit is the fee for attending? Or have I missed something

 

Well, for a start they would want an invoice or an order form to pay against. Then because of the nature of the refund, they would probably just say its easier for me to pay it myself, and as someone else pointed out the burden of the fee falls on my shoulders if I'm unable to attend. Basically, it probably wouldn't be worth the hassle.

I don't know about other schools, but ours is pretty hot on only paying against invoices or official orders. If you assume that others might be the same, then you risk just losing those schools completely.

A non-refundable ticket charge with a gift for the attendee is win-win for most people... £20 is a reasonable fee that almost everyone would be happy with, and if the gifts are reasonable then people will be very happy to attend even if the rest of the conference is a disaster (I'm sure it wouldn't be...)

[robk]

If the deposit is refundable, on attendance or proper cancelation I.e. Telling someone the week before your schools changed its mind, rather than just a no show then it doesn't matter who pays the deposit.

 

It's only there to ensure we don't book food etc for far too many people and waste funds.

 

The idea of charging and freebies could have issues with schools "no gift" policies.

[witch]

I was thinking along the lines of charging to attend - proper invoice and all - and then refunding "out of the blue" as it were. No school is going to quibble after the event when you walk back in with their £20, are they?

[Dos_Box]

The problem 'I' have is that traditionally we have always provided the conferences for free. This is mainly down to historical reasons in that schools were very unwilling to pay for IT staff to go to events when we first started to host them. It does now seem from some of the feedback so far that this situation may now be changing.

I think though that this then is probably a topic for another day, so if we could get back on track with your preferred conf venue locations we can get back to this further down the line.

[SYNACK]

Australia would be nice, would be much cheaper than blowing $3-4k on just the flights to get to the hosting country. I have no problem with the refundable fee and would be covering all the expense myself anyway as training is not something that non-teachers get round here. Edited October 1, 2013 by SYNACK

[Ephelyon]

I'm going for Option 3.

 

How about setting up a catchment area? So if you live further away than X range from the venue you pay.

[SYNACK]

I'm going for Option 3.

 

How about setting up a catchment area? So if you live further away than X range from the venue you pay.

You're assuming the distance has any relation to how likely they are to show up, they may be even more likely to show as they have more organisation and investment in the arranging and traveling.

[Ephelyon]

Well... it depends. Distance MIGHT be related for some schools as naturally there's the travel costs as well, which if you're claiming them too could in some cases amount to more than the deposit. It's just about shaving some of the costs off.

 

But then yes, good point, I meant the other way round above... xD