My Conference preparation has not been entirely successful so far. The biggest failure was the lamination of my voting pass. Somehow I put the bit with the hole at the wrong end. I am going to ask my work colleague to rescue it with a hole punch this norning. The galling thing is that I took the most care I’ve ever taken doing it.
As I vainly struggled with the approximately 723 million items on my to do list yesterday morning, I started to thinking about all the people who make Conference happen and thought it would be a good idea to get a few thanks in before the whole thing gets under way.
The first thanks must go to the members of Federal Conference Committee. As well as the usual Conference panics and to-do lists that are 723 million items long, they also have a tonne of paperwork and debate prep to get done.
They will be working so hard during Conference – chairing and aiding debates or being runner in the hall, checking the fringe is going ok and sorting out problems.
The second thanks go to the staff down there already who are putting the event together ready to deal with all of us, including stupid people who can’t put a badge together.
Thirdly, thanks to all the party organisations who put fringe meetings together. It’s a load of work. A huge round of applause, and drink when I see him, to Joe Bourke who organised the LDV involvement in 3 events.
Fourthly, thanks to everyone who donated to the Conference Access Fund and made it possible for people to attend Conference.
Finally, thanks to everyone who is going and everyone who will be following the events from afar. It really is a bit like a biannual family reunion and I know I’ll come out of the 4 days feeling knackered but refreshed.
So that’s me down to 722,999,986 items left on the to-do list. I need to realise that only about 10 of them are absolutely vital – for example, pack pass and medication, write speech for the debate on the controversial migration paper. Pre Conference burnout really is a thing. But once we get there, what we haven’t done we’ll just have to wing.
To everyone who’s going, have a great time. Let’s show the world how brilliant we are over the next four days.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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3 Comments
I have always found it odd that as a reward for all the hard work FCC put in that they are expected to pay full fees to go to conference.
I know what you mean about lamination, as a registration steward (stewards not mentioned above, upset, esp Mike & Jodie who do a lot of pre-conf work) I have seen the lamination combinations possible, lol.
All I would say to all those dedicated members who will be attending this year’s Autumn Conference is to make sure not to forget how less politically motivated people might view your machinations. It’s unlikely that you will be getting much air time or many paragraph inches in the papers, so don’t give your ‘enemies’ the opportunity to ‘have a go’.
It’s easy to forget while passing motions and debating issues that may be close to many peoples’ hearts that there is a world out there that may possibly be taking an interest and might possibly be persuaded actively to support a viable alternative to Tory and Labour, if that ‘alternative’ can behave as if it is in touch with the legitimate concerns ordinary people have.
Thanks, Caron. I know FCC will appreciate that. See you in Brighton, Geoff