Thanks for your comments David.
I think the issue of inclusion is important, and so I agree about not
planning for Friday evenings and Saturdays. Is anyone aware of other issues
that we should be take into account in relation to this? I see that there is
a lot going on in September and October that people may want to go to. Do
others feel that our conference should be much later for this reason? (I
think earlier will be problematic, as there were concerns about the school
holidays, any earlier than that & I would have my own concerns about being
utterly unprepared!) Will there always be other things on at any time of
year that people will have to consider in terms of priority? It would be
good to hear from others in the network about dates.
I'd also like to hear from others about the possibility of a third day.
Perhaps it does not need to be part of the conference? Could be something
that people could organise at the conference if they are so inclined? maybe
later? in a different place? or the following day in Great Yarmouth, as
people are here anyway? I thought it was likely to be a smaller group, but
I'm not sure how small, and how much committment there is to this. I agree
that it would be helpful to have a focus on action throughout the
conference. I am aware that there is often a lot to squeeze into the
conference, and am attempting to facilitate as much flexibility as possible
for the event to be many things to many people! If there are more options
then people can think about what are their own priorities and choose
accordingly. I guess if lots of people say they would like an additional
day, then we'd go for it, otherwise, try to fit it into 2 days.
I agree with your point about access to all areas for people with
disabilities. I think I'd rather have less space available at the conference
than some space that not everyone can get into. I am waiting to hear about
access to that room upstairs at the moment, but wondered if there are other
views about this for us to take into account in advance of booking the
venue.
So it's over to you all for comments.
Wendy
-----Original Message-----
From: David Fryer [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 25 January 2006 10:29
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] On the subject of conferences...
Dear Wendy,
Thanks for consulting with us re. conference organisation.
Here are a few points you might like to consider:
1. When I was organising the UK community psychology meeting in Scotland
a few years ago, it was suggested that a conference which included
Friday evening and Saturday would result in Jewish colleagues being
excluded. I would certainly take that into account in the future and
would avoid any day of the week which might lead to some people being
selectively excluded.
2. The BPS is organising a day conference on "Building Thriving
Communities" (provisional title) in London at which I agreed to be a
speaker. It is supposed to be in September but the date has not been
finalised yet.
3. Stirling University teaching starts on Monday 11th September. Most
Universities start back in October I believe.
4. The European Community Psychology Association is holding its
conference in Poland on October 6th and 7th.
5. I suggest it should be an absolute requirement at any community
psychology conference that all meeting spaces are fully accessible to
all. This is important in order to comply with the DDA but I also
believe, as community psychologists, we should be fastidious in
implementing the social model of disability for inclusion and social
justice reasons.
7. Everyone will have different views re. length of the conference. My
own view is that 3 full days would be possible and attractive for
relatively few people.
8. I am not very keen on at the end of the conference being devoted to
action. I would prefer the whole conference should be dedicated to both
critical thinking and progressive action.
I hope these comments are useful
David
David Fryer
Community Psychology Group
University of Stirling
FK9 4LA
Scotland
+44 (0) 1786 467650 (tel)
+44 (0) 1786 467641 (fax)
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Franks, Wendy -
Clinical Psychologist
Sent: 25 January 2006 9:23 am
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] On the subject of conferences...
Sorry about the broken link... try again here:
http://www.goeast.gov.uk/goee/docs/193516/193520/347716/PR_Case_Study_PM
FCRC.doc
W
-----Original Message-----
From: Wendy Franks [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 24 January 2006 17:06
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] On the subject of conferences...
Hello all.
We had a meeting at the end of last week to talk about developing plans
for
the 2006 conference. One of the first things we need to organise is a
venue, and to do this, we need dates. At this point, we'd like to let
you
all know about the dates that we're thinking of booking. We'd like to do
this early to check out whether there are any major objections to the
dates
we're suggesting, and also so that they can go into people's diaries.
We are looking to book a local community centre (some info can be found
here:
www.goeast.gov.uk/goee/docs/
193516/193520/347716/PR_Case_Study_PMFCRC.doc)
for either 2 or 3 days. If we go for 3 days, we suggest Weds-Fri 20-22
Sept. If we go for just 2 days, we suggest Thurs-Fri 21-22 September. At
Newcastle we talked about a third day to focus on action. We wondered
how
many people would be interested in attending this day. I suspect it may
be
a smaller group, and in this case, we would only need to book part of
the
Priory Centre.
The facilities at the Priory include one large hall and 2 smaller spaces
adjacent and another upstairs (each of these rooms would be suitable for
workshops and small presentations for about 20 - 30 people, the hall
will
hold 100 +). I don't think the upstairs room is accessible to people in
wheelchairs, and so we will need to consider whether to use this room at
all, and if so, how to arrange the programme so that nobody is excluded
from parts of the conference that they would like to attend because of
accessibility problems. I think we could do this by being organised
enough
in advance to ask people who need wheelchair access about their choices
of
workshops. I'll check out for definite if there is access or not.
But maybe this is too much detail?
We'd like to book it up quite soon, so please let me know if there are
any
major concerns about the dates, the venue or anything else. I'd also be
grateful if we could get some feedback on whether they think a third day
for action is a good idea.
I can give more info about the planning as we go along, or if anyone has
particular suggestions or questions (like who's involved, etc). We'll be
looking for a bit of help from the list in a couple of areas,
particularly
in seeking out potential presenters and reviewing abstracts, so any
volunteers would be most welcome to get in touch.
Best wishes,
Wendy
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