Andrew Wiseman writes…Changes to Spring Conference registration

We are trying something new at this year’s Spring Conference. The Autumn Conference saw a record-breaking members’ attendance with more first time conference attendees than ever before and we are keen for even more members to come to conference and actively engage with the Party’s policy making process.

The Spring Conference in York will be the first conference under One Member One Vote and in light of this we reviewed, amongst other things, the current registration system. At our short weekend Spring Conference we will now only be offering a full Member’s registration option so that everyone attending has the right to speak, vote and receive conference papers. This means that we will no longer be offering day visitor passes at Spring Conference.

The original idea behind day visitor passes was to encourage members to get a taste of conference and encourage more attendance. It was felt that rather than offering an additional, more restrictive, ‘taster day pass’ it makes more sense to reduce the first timer’s rate to conference to enable those trying out conference to get the full experience. Therefore the first timer’s rate for the spring conference has been reduced to just £35 for the whole weekend.

Further, we are looking at ways to better support members to overcome barriers to coming  conference through a Conference Access Grant. Details of this will be publicised in the New Year.

 

* Andrew Wiseman is Chair of the Liberal Democrats' Federal Conference Committee.

Read more by or more about or .
This entry was posted in Conference and Op-eds.
Advert

5 Comments

  • George Potter 23rd Nov '15 - 1:17pm

    Where does this leave members who don’t have time or can’t afford to come for the whole weekend but who just want to pop in on one particular day?

  • This seems sensible to me, to be honest.
    George: the price point is reasonable IMHO, esp if there are bursaries. £35 is what we pay for Y&H regional and that’s only half a day, really (10-4). Mind you we do get lunch thrown in at regional conf…

  • Ruth Bright 23rd Nov '15 - 7:27pm

    Andrew – will there still be a £5 registration for under-16s?

  • So we are into OMOV, which is very democratic. Until the decisions of any particular conference are tilted by a massive influx of people from the locality, whichever it is. This may not matter on some issues, but it could mean that something very significant is given a ‘northern’ or ‘southern’, or ‘London’ or, yes, Scottish, bias. Or are there enough steady, well-heeled conference addicts to offset this effect?

  • Andrew Wiseman 24th Nov '15 - 11:10am

    @Ruth Bright There is a £5 weekend rate for U18 and a £16 weekend rate for claimants.

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • Steve Trevethan
    Might root causes of unjustifiable poverty in the 6th richest nation in the World include the following: 1) A (constructed) mal-distribution of wealth https...
  • Peter Martin
    I'd expect that most Lib Dems will consider that Dame Rachel de Souza's shocking report should mean that benefits need to be increased. However, my suspicion is...
  • expats
    Tristan Ward 15th Jul '25 - 7:57pm... To move from that to the method of dismissal is a non-sequitur... Hardly.. It is the obvious next step.. The inept way ...
  • David Warren
    @SimonR As I said you know little if anything about trade unions....
  • Ruth Bright
    Lovely post. You don't have to go all anthem for doomed youth Caron. You don't look 40 years older - which is the main thing x Loved the bit when the young M...