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Archiver > GENBRIT > 2004-09 > 1094197223


From: "JB" <>
Subject: Re: Loughborough Family History Fair and Conference
Date: Fri, 03 Sep 2004 07:40:23 GMT
References: <ch80p5$1nf$1$8300dec7@news.demon.co.uk> <oQH+4D0aO6NBFwy2@vellum.demon.co.uk>


Chad,

>> many family historians are reaching the stage where their joints creak;
<<

You can say that again, and again......... But it wasn't as bad as Exeter
or the Isle of Wight where there were steep hills to contend with as well as
the distance.

>>After that we weren't able to muster enough energy to run another
conference for several years!<<

Same as the above!! All those with the organising experience are getting
older and cannot do as much as they once did and the younger people don't
seem to be joining the Societies any more.

I must say, I enjoyed walking round the Fair. I have not been able to do so
for years - I am usually in front of a computer trying to find elusive
ancestors in the censuses at these Fairs, as I will be at Maidstone on
Sunday! John Hanson and I usually see about 50 people in the course of a
day and do manage to find quite a few!

>>Professor David Hey's keynote lecture closing this conference was one of
the highlights for me.<<

Maybe he had had too much of a build-up as far as I was concerned - I
enjoyed some of the other lectures much more.

>>NO Internet access - I had to catch the shuttle bus to Loughborough town
centre to use the library (less of a problem for shorter conferences); <<

I had no problem there, laptop and mobile phone even enabled me to look at
some of the web sites suggested in the lectures. And no - it was not
expensive - it didn't cost me a thing. I had not used my free minutes from
August. It was interminable slow though! Incidentally, the map showed an
Internet Cafe on the campus.

>>a well-tanned steak to chew on at the barbecue; a clammy plastic-covered
mattress in the student accommodation.<<

Not to mention lukewarm coffee in the breaks and lukewarm breakfasts and the
necessity of a time and motion study to enable staff to serve almost 400
people in half the time it took. It would have helped, for example, if the
glasses for the fruit juice had been placed before you passed the dispensing
machine rather than after it! And the signage was abysmal! A few signs
telling you how to get to the food and lectures, but none telling you how to
get back to the accommodation!! There was also the problem of not being
able to see or hear 'keynote' presentations after dinner in the evening.

>>We thought Oxford might be more attractive (and more expensive?) than,
say, Reading.<<

I can remember saying at the time that the Reading accommodation was some of
the best we had been to. But I have been to too many conferences to
remember what the rest of the conference was like. I really don't think the
place matters too much. It needs to be easy to get to and have a large
enough hall to accommodate all delegates for the opening and closing of the
conference and this is often the sticking point. The Conference Centre at
Wyboston where the Guild held it's AGM this year was a brilliant venue and
although there was plenty of accommodation there, the hall only seated 100.
Royal Holloway College was another very good venue, but didn't have a large
enough hall.

>>I feel the main problem is liaising with the venue and organising signage
and help on the weekend. <<

I have been involved in the organisation of three major conferences and have
not found the liaison too difficult. The biggest difficulty has been that
the person we liaised with on two occasions left her position and we had to
start the negotiations all over again! Signage is usually taken care of by
the University, but experience has shown that you need your own as well. It
is very useful to take a video camera with you when you see the venue. You
can then film the route between accommodation, food and lectures. However,
I do agree that finding helpers for the event is one of the more difficult
tasks.

>>I've rambled on for long enough. Good night.<<

So have I - time for breakfast!

Jeanne Bunting







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