I got sent this through the other day from Leoni at coops uk.
As Co-tech has either expressed interest or exhibited at previous Co-operatives UK events, I thought it may be of interest to exhibit at our upcoming Congress 2018. The event takes place on Saturday 23 June at 155 Bishopsgate, London.
If you are interested and would like to confirm your exhibiting place, please do complete and return the attached form at your earliest convenience.
Please note that exhibition tables will be placed around the edge of the foyer of the venue (see venue layout below) which is where delegates will be registering and networking during the refreshment breaks and lunch time. Unfortunately we cannot reserve a specific table for you and these will be allocated/chosen by you when you arrive on-site on Saturday 23 June.
Our exhibition places include:
1 x trestle table with space either side for a standard size banner or a wide banner behind
1 x exhibitors pass which allows the person to man the stand and attend sessions
Organisation logo and biography on our event listing and within the event programme
Refreshments throughout the day consisting of tea, coffee, water, cake/biscuits, and lunch
Direct access to our c.200 delegates
Price to exhibit:
Co-op UK Members ā Ā£500 + VAT
Non-members - Ā£800 + VAT
So a couple of questions
Should we do this?
yes
no
0voters
If anyone is thinking of attending and would be available to be at the stand during the breaks catch up afterwards etc then fill this in. https://doodle.com/poll/ztpivypscummt9x3
Last year Kayleigh and I went and we dished out loads of leaflets so might be good for some of us to be there in a more official capacity this year Also can we budget this? Not sure i have access?
Let me know if this is already being sorted in another place.
This is a great item to discuss in the community call next week. I added it to the agenda. If you canāt make the call, Iāll discuss on your behalf and see what folks think, then Iāll tell them to vote!
I believe weāve (separately) been invited to run a whole strand of the conference on technology, which I think sounds like something we should be doing. The co-op movement is still spending 98% of its tech spending outside the co-op movement.
This reminds me John from Coops UK emailed me about this (Congress).
There are two workshop slots that they are open to CoTech running. An hour long each. They donāt want them to be too sales-y, so its about finding a nice way of getting across the benefits of working with CoTech members indirectly.
My suggestions for the themes were
āHow to not get ripped off when buying technology servicesā - or something like that. Joint workshop session with CoTech and Coop Digital possibly(?), with the angle of us telling people the secrets from the inside kind of thing, so they can commission tech work effectively in future.
āInnovations of the Tech Co-opsā - or something like that. Could do combination of different little demos, including some fun VR stuff like Animorph, practical stuff like Co-budget. Format could just be little demo stations around a room that people can visit.
How do those sound?
Thereās also apparently a room free from 9.00- 10.30 that we are free to use for a member meet up if we want.
Itās been a few years since I went to Congress, so things may well have changed for the better, but there used to be a good many of what I would call ālay membersā of retail societies. Often influential people, but not decision-makers. If thatās still the case I would suggest focussing one session quite broadly, maybe on the role of digital technology, and why it is so important to the 21st century co-operative economy. This could maybe also cover some of the politics of the extractive platforms like FB etc (as it will probably still be in the news then), and the value of the co-operative approach to tech. As you suggest @dansmallaxe, this could be used in part as a showcase of some of the work by CoTech members.
Maybe balance this with a more businessy second session as youāve outlined for the āhow not to get ripped offā piece.
Sadly I canāt be there on the day, but generally willing to help on content development.
Thanks Graham - I went last year and I think your characterisation of the audience is still pretty accurate.
Iād hope that the ādemoā session would be pretty accessible - we can just have a room full of little activities rather than any speakers. Hopefully a good way of getting into conversations with people. Then the other one would be the more traditional format, with speakers. I think we could cover some of the wider political/economic context and rationale you mention in that probably. Definitely will get you involved in developing them anyhow.
Theyāve just come back to me actually, and are keen to book these in fairly soon, and start discussing specifics. Anyone else got suggestions/ideas/offers for these two sessions?
Not sure where you got to with discussion, from my point of view it would be great to get multiple stands (shows the diversity of the tech sector but also helps me sell more than one exhibition stand!) but could put them all next to each other in a shared areas to highlight the shared network.
If its a costs issue Iām sure I can do a co-tech bulk buy discountā¦ or attach more delegate tickets, as we really do want a good contingent from the tech sector at the event.
It all went a bit quite on a full strand/shared branding which iām happy to re-kick off, currently talking with Dan about two specific workshops spots which are open for ideas. If itās worth a quick conference call happy to do one? but we are only 8 weeks away now!
Just flagging this up again - anyone up for being involved in either of these session at Coop Conference?:
āHow to not get ripped off when buying technology servicesā - Joint workshop session with CoTech and Coop Digital , with the angle of us telling people the secrets from the inside kind of thing, so they can commission tech work effectively in future.
āInnovations of the Tech Co-opsā - combination of different little demos, including some fun VR stuff like Animorph, practical stuff like Co-budget. Format could just be little demo stations around a room that people can visit.
@athertonjohn will be able to answer any questions on practicalities of the day
Iāve just noticed that one of the CoTech hack days is Sat 23 June - the same day as Co-op Congress 2018. That probably reduces the number of potential CoTech members able to attend Congress.
Hmz good spot, although I guess perhaps on purpose? Lots of co-op people will be in London for Congress and itās less than 30 mins door to door between two venues so perhaps there is some hope for a bit of cross fertilisation?
Unfortunately we are using all the space for workshops other than a slot before the official start, so you could use a room from 9.00-10.00 Sat morning for a pre-meeting or something but donāt have the space to give over a room for the whole day, sorry.
As central london, conference venue, guessing the facilities/wi-fi are good.
Ok in that case I think letās just keep the hack in Space4. But indeed, plenty of room for cross-pollination since thereāll be even more reason for people to come to London!
Perhaps a hack at Congress next year? Would be interesting for the non tech co-ops to see what is going on, and I think it would be fascinating for them to learn about.
I recommend basing it on the scene from āThe Social Networkā, where you need to down a shot every few mins j/k!!
j/k!!