Say hello and find out who else is coming - and how they could help you (Annual conference 2011)

Submitted by NCVO Events Blog on Thu, 03/02/2011 - 11:50

NCVO Events Blog

3rd February 2011

Matt Gilfeather

Hello to all of you coming along to the conference on March 1.

The purpose of this discussion thread is to help you with the bit of the day that is just as important (if not more so) than the learning: the networking.

Great news! You have one massive advantage this year - this forum. This is your chance to meet your fellow delegates a month before the event, arrange a time to meet up during the day or even start collaborating straight away.

We've done this with other events and it has worked a treat.

What to do

To get the ball rolling, simply post a message here to introduce yourself. Here's a few suggestions of what to say:

An outline of what your organisation does and a word or two about your role.
An achievement your organisation is particularly proud of.
A goal for the future.
Your biggest challenge.
The type of person you think it would be particularly useful for you to meet.

Don't worry about sticking to this format though - you own the thread and can use it how you please. I will drop in now and again however if I think I can help to match up people with similar interests.

Over to you!

Matt Gilfeather
Marketing and Events Officer, NCVO

PS. It might be useful to add a photo of yourself in your post. You can add a photo by clicking on the image icon (the picture of a tree).

NCVO Events Blog's blog

Comments

Submitted by NCVO Events Blog on Thu, 03/02/2011 - 13:23.

Matt Gilfeather

While I'm here, I may as well go first.

I'm project managing the conference this year so will be pretty occupied with all that entails on the day. I will however try to grab a few quick chats where I can.

From the 1st of April I will have a new role at NCVO as the comms officer for our members and our various thematic learning networks.

I'd really like to hear from as many people as possible about the type of information they want to receive in our newsletters.

Perhaps you receive our main members e-bulletin - I'd love to know what you think and how you think it could be improved.

Thanks, Matt.

Twitter @mgilfeather

Submitted by Virpi Oinonen on Fri, 04/02/2011 - 16:35.

Virpi Oinonen Hi there,

I'm the NCVO web development officer. My job is to engage NCVO members (and others interested in the sector) online and make sure we have interesting content on our website.

I have a background in online campaigning (Greenpeace Nordic and the Green Party in Finland) and one of the major (if not biggest) achievements I have been involved in was a campaign against nuclear power in Finland. We managed to get 25 000 Facebook "fans" (it was a campaign with its own branding) and 40 000 people signed an anti nuclear "pledge" (promising not to vote for MPs that voted for building more nuclear power plants).

My biggest challenge at the moment is how to engage NCVO members online. I fear we are only reaching a small minority of the people from our member organisations through our website and social media channels.

I would like to hear your views on how we would best be able to reach you AND your staff, trustees and/or volunteers online.
I would also like to know what kind of services/content you want from NCVO online.

Feel free to get in touch if you want to chat about these questions or online campaigning/engagement in general (especially social media).

Cheers,
Virpi

Twitter: @voinonen

Submitted by Cecile Gillard on Fri, 04/02/2011 - 17:03.

Hello everyone

I'm looking forward to meeting you all in person, meanwhile:

I help charities, societies, clubs, social enterprises, faith based organisations and other "not-for-profits" with legal advice, trustee training and board development. When I'm not doing that I'm a charity trustee and charity volunteer.

My firm, Burton Sweet, have a unique twin offering of legal help and accounting services for the charity, social enterprise and "not-for-profit" sectors. We are proud of all the wonderful clients we serve - and their achievements for our society.

The biggest challenges for all of us this year are making the most out of diminishing resources - and learning to work together more effectively. I'm keen to help people make links with that in mind.

Regards

Cecile Gillard, Legal Manager

Burton Sweet www.burton-sweet.co.uk

Submitted by Jules Mason on Mon, 28/02/2011 - 08:39.

Hi everyone,

Like others I'm eagerly awaiting this year's annual conference.

On the day I'll be wearing two hats: one labelled NCVO member and another labelled NCVO trustee. It will be interesting to hear the discussion from other NCVO members on what we can do to ensure that the Big Society is also a Good Society for not just the voluntary and community sector but everyone.

I'm also be encouraging people to complete the Leadership 20:20 online survey at www.surveymonkey.com/20leadership20 at the stall the Leadership 20:20 Commission will have on the day.

So do please say hi during the breaks, lunch or at the Annual Reception and Dinner.

See you all on March 1st.

Jules

Submitted by Jo Gibson on Thu, 17/02/2011 - 16:58.

I'm the Financial Capability Project Manager at the National Association of Student Money Advisers (NASMA).

NASMA is the professional organisation supporting over 500 money advisers and fund/bursary administrators in UK Further and Higher Education.

At the moment we are organising National Student Money Week. It's an opportunity for pretty much anyone to get involved. You can find more information here - www.nasma.org.uk/student-money-week.php

I'm really looking forward to the networking and workshop opportunities offered by the conference

See you on 1st March.

www.nasma.org.uk

Submitted by Mark Smyth on Tue, 15/02/2011 - 11:42.

Hi everyone

I'm looking forward to my first NCVO event, so see how it goes!

I'm CEO of My Life My Choice, speaking up for people with learning disabilities.

Our proudest acheivements have all come in this last year. Winners of the Guardian Charity Awards, Winners of the Oxfordshire Empowerment Awards, and Winners of the Flash Forward Film Festival Best Short Film.

Our greatest challenge is to build from this success, and maintain our growth and profile in these challenging times.

One future goal is to continue to raise the voices of people with learning disabilities, and secondly to use website and social networking to help increase the digital inclusion of our members.

So would love to meet anyone who campaigns on a shoestring, and who has the vision and expertise to reach the digitally excluded.

Thanks

Mark

Submitted by Amelia on Thu, 24/02/2011 - 11:07.

Hello Mark

I work on a project called Campaigning Effectiveness at NCVO and will be in the campaigning on a shoe string session next week. There's lots of people booked onto that session so hopefully you will get a lot out of it, I'm looking forward to meeting you and finding out more about the work you are doing.

Also you or one of your colleagues might be interested in a free event we are running aimed at small organisations next Friday, it's basically an open space session for campigners to work through some of the similar issues they face, we still have a few spaces left all the details are here http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/campaigningsmallorganisation

Amelia

Submitted by Mark Smyth on Mon, 28/02/2011 - 12:18.

Hi Amelia

I'll see you at the workshop, looking forward to it.

Sorry we couldn't make the free event.

Mark

Submitted by Rod King on Thu, 24/02/2011 - 07:24.

I am the Founder and Campaign Director for 20's Plenty for Us. We campaign for and with communities who want 20mph speed limits for residential streets.

Our "claim to fame" in NCVO terms is our success on a shoe string. We now have 65 local campaigns and have 20mph policies adopted in many local authorities. See more at www.20splentyforus.org.uk. I will be presenting at one of the workshops in the morning.

Lower speeds benefit many in society who are disadvantaged and I am keen meet up with other conference attendees who feel that the motor vehicle and its speed dominates our public spaces to the detriment of their clients.

Lowering speed limits asists the disabled, the disadvantaged, the young, the old, and so many in our society who wish to walk, cycle or simply enjoy their community public space.

So, please come to our morning workshop on "Campaigning on a Shoestring" and meet me at the reception and dinner if you are attending.

I look forward to seeing if 20's plenty for you as well!

Rod King

Submitted by Cecile Gillard on Thu, 24/02/2011 - 10:05.

Hi everyone

Thanks for the interesting posts. There will be lots of people to share with whose organisations run on a shoestring - 91% of registered charities in England and Wales have income below £250,000 (mostly well below) and there are many other charities that don't have to register because their income is under £5,000.

Looking to the future, the Charity Commission has indicated the broad direction of its strategic changes, which are being driven by its real terms funding cut of 33% by 2014/15. These include focusing on their core regulatory role and reinforcing the capabilities of charities to make their own decisions, within the legal regulatory framework (rather than asking for guidance from the Commission). There is also to be a review of the information the Commission requires of charities and how it displays, shares and uses that information. Further information is available on the Commission's website.

Regards

Cecile Gillard, Charities Dept Legal Manager, Burton Sweet

Submitted by DAVID TICKNER on Thu, 24/02/2011 - 10:13.

Good morning all,

I'm David Tickner, Head of Communications for the Civil Service Retirement Fellowship and I will be attending next week along with our Chief Executive Jean Cooper.

We provide support and help to retired civil servants across the country through provision of useful information, advice, member benefits and our extensive network of local social groups (that operate in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).

Our principal aims for the future are, like many member based charities, focused on supporting the existing membership (through launching and adding new support services) whilst looking carefully at setting the framework for the next generation of membership (introduction of a different style of social group). Balancing the 'old with the new'.

I am looking forward to attending my first AGM for NCVO.

Submitted by Karl Wilding on Fri, 25/02/2011 - 17:29.

Hello All

I'm Karl Wilding, Head of NCVO's Research Team. I'll be chairing the morning session on whether philantrhopy is the answer to the Big Society, and then the afternoon session on open data. In between I will no doubt be looking ragged, but do say hello...or get in touch via twitter, where I am @karlwilding.

We're probably meant to say things like I am really looking forward to the conference... But I promise you, I am. I reckon I've got two really good, but really different sessions. We've got people who genuinely shape opinion in the UK and in fact the world in the giving session (look and see!); and in the opendata session we've got people at the cutting edge of where I think the sector will be going in the next few years. Plus I'm looking forward to meeting old friends and making new ones.

See you there.

Karl