Thanks for spotting that problem @naomi, it was a result of me adding March after creating the other options and you can’t edit a poll for more that 10 minutes after creation, so here it is again, corrected, @Sion can you vote again please (@Sion had placed one vote for 9-10th May, the days before the Workers Co-op Weekend which is going to be about 40 minutes drive from Sheffield, starting on the evening of 10th May).
On what dates would people be able to attend a CoTech Spring Gathering in Sheffield?
Thursday 7th March — Friday 8th March
Thursday 14th March — Friday 15th March
Thursday 21st March — Friday 22nd March
Thursday 28th March — Friday 29th March
Thursday 4th April — Friday 5th April
Thursday 12th April — Friday 13th April
Thursday 18th April — Friday 19th April (Easter is 21st April)
Thursday 24th April — Friday 25th April
Thursday 2nd May — Friday 3rd May
Thursday 9th May — Friday 10th May (Workers Co-op weekend starts on 10th May)
Sorry to be pinging all of you but unless we have some more votes on this poll we won’t be able to set a date for a spring CoTech gathering and we wouldn’t want to do that because it’ll be awesome .
Note that the Workers Co-op Weekend is no longer going to be at Thornbridge in Derbyshire, it is at the Frontier Centre in Northamptonshire which is probably more like a drive of an hour and a half from Sheffield, see this thread:
76% of votes cast have been for 24-25th April 2019, would it now be appropriate to see if we can book a venue for those dates or should we wait to see if more than 17 people want to cast a vote?
I will bring it up in the next Outlandish members meeting on Wednesday to see who thinks they can make that weekend. Maybe others who are active here can do the same for their co-op?
@chris last time I telephoned every co-op to find out if they could make it which I think it quite effective because lots of people aren’t very digital seemingly Do you think any of you have capacity to do that? I have a list of various people’s numbers, or many of them are on the website.
I’m happy to speak to DINA and see if they have availability that weekend if people want. Or seems to me that the other best option would be a combo of Access Space and the WebArchitects office. What did others think on the venue front?
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.
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?
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.
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
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
Just filled in the poll. Thanks for getting this started!
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…