CoTech Spring 2019 Gathering : 25-26th April in Sheffield

Thanks for the suggestions @polly, that’s very helpful, we also have a management committee meeting tomorrow and we will discuss these things there and work out a plan.

1 Like

Hey Chris,

We noticed that 24th-25th April is a Wednesday and Thursday, but I thought we were going for a Thursday and Friday. Can you confirm whether we’re talking 24th-25th or 25th-26th?

Polly

1 Like

Sorry that was a typo, the idea was Thursday-Friday. I’m afraid our committee meeting didn’t happen yesterday, as soon as I next see @jonathan we will have a chat about following this up, hopefully this will be early next week.

Ok so it’s 25th-26th. I mentioned it to Outlandish. We will of course send some people. We just need to work out how many.

Sorry Chris, I’ve only just seen this. Ed is no longer here so wouldn’t have seen your tag. We’re pretty flexible so 24th-25th would work for us. Not sure who we’ll send yet, but we’ll at least try and get one or two of us

2 Likes

@chris I’m sure we from Agile Collective will come along… Let me know if you need any logistical help

1 Like

This afternoon @jonathan and myself had a look around DINA and the upstairs room and the space adjacent to it looks like it would be fine and the bar downstairs would be great for a party on a Thursday night. I’m waiting to hear from them regarding costs.

In terms of a evening party, DINA would be suitable on a Thursday in their downstairs bar but they have other events there on a Friday plus a Friday would need a bouncer, so we might need to do the party on the Thursday night or use another venue for a Friday night party.

@jonathan has committed to ringing around the CoTech co-ops who might have missed this thread to see how many people would be on for Thursday 25th - Friday 26th April 2019 for a CoTech gathering in Sheffield and ask:

  • If people are aware that there is a proposal for a CoTech Spring Gathering in Sheffield from 10am on Thursday 25th to 5pm Friday 26th April
  • How many people would be able to commit to coming
  • Which night would be best for a party (a Thurdsay party is bad for productivity on a Friday but you set off home on a Friday evening, a Friday party means people would be in batter shape on the Friday to hack on stuff but people would then need to stay in Sheffield on Friday night and leave on Saturday)

The potential venue in Sheffield (http://dinavenue.com/) have offered a price that’s even cheaper than first mentioned: £240 for the two days (£120 each day) and £250 for the party. Total £490.

They have a cafe downstairs with vegan options & proper coffee, (or previously stated tea and instant coffee at £1.20/day/pp); they could do us some kind of deal on lunch etc. if we choose.

Quite big rooms, not very pretty, but pretty good, and they can provide a bar. Chris and I at Webarchitects are happy that this place will be good. And I’m happy to act as the co-ordinator at this end, if it’s agreed that we go ahead.

Polly can you perhaps get in touch for a chat some time?
Thanks
Jonathan

2 Likes

Northants I think rather than Derbyshire. Certainly doesn’t count as ‘north’.

I’d be able to get along for some of the time at least, subject to the agenda.

1 Like

Just filled in the poll. Thanks for getting this started! :grinning:

I don’t think anyone’s mentioned half-term and Easter holidays, which might be an issue for parents like me? They’re different around the country, of course, with ours in Northumberland being:

  • Half-term: week beginning 18th February
  • Easter: weeks beginning 8th & 15th April

I’ve asked my We Are Open co-op colleagues to fill in their availability too, although the rest of them don’t live in northern England…

1 Like

I haven’t discussed this with all my colleagues as a final decision but everyone’s informally indicated they’d be happy with Webarchitects (me in particular) taking the lead on this, in other words inviting everyone to Sheffield Thursday 25th to 5pm Friday 26th April and arranging ticketing, and I guess we could upfront the cost of a deposit to confirm the venue booking IF CoTech agrees ?

If so where do we go from here? A Loomio vote?

Thanks,
Jonathan

1 Like

Autonomic are in favour!

1 Like

Sounds good @jonathan
Personally, I don’t think we need to vote on this as people will vote with their feet by attending or not. Let us know here what the upfront costs are and I’m sure we can find a way to finance it. What is the need for ticketing? Is this to cover the upfront costs of venue hire?

DINA looks great, nice work! I say go for it…

1 Like

Agree with Aaron that there’s no need to vote on it. That will take a helluvalongtime! We didn’t do a vote for the thing in November in London.

Looks like there’ll be 3 of us attending from Outlandish.

Polly

1 Like

That’s great, I’ll go ahead and book the venue then, and either we can upfront the cost or with Aaron/Agile’s offer to help (it’s only £490 total).

2 Likes

ANNOUNCEMENT:
Confirmation of “CoTech Northern Gathering - Spring 2019"

Venue: DINA Sheffield (city centre)
Thursday 25th April 2019
and Friday 26th
(Thursday night = social/bar in the venue)

All CoTech welcome!!

THE VENUE IS NOW BOOKED so if you want to arrange travel etc.
Webarchitects can take the lead on arrangements, it’s in our city.
Next week I’ll send out some more details.

Cheers, Jonathan

5 Likes

Polly can I request a quick chat by phone about co-ordinating this gathering, please? I’d like to learn from you what works best. Any time, weekend or in the week. Many thanks,
Jonathan

1 Like

Hey Jomathan,

Absolutely. Just tried to call. I am around all day today, but I’m going to grab some lunch soon so maybe leave it til 1.30 ish before trying me?

Polly

1 Like

@jonathan and @polly don’t forget that this thread is public and might be indexed by search engines — best edit you phone numbers out of the posts above if you want them to be private.

1 Like