Tag Archives: 2020 autumn conference

Mary Reid

Conference Directory published – fringes, training, exhibition

By Mary Reid | Sat 22nd August 2020 - 10:40 am

A couple of weeks ago the Agenda for the online Autumn Conference was issued. That has now been joined by its companion publication, the Directory.

While the Agenda contains the timetable for all the formal sessions in the Main Hall – policy debates, speeches etc – the Directory lists all the other fun things you can do over the Conference weekend. You can read and download the Directory here.

So what is on offer?

Fringe meetings

  • Dozens of meetings organised by Lib Dem and external organisations, most with key speakers.
  • Watch out for the Comedy Night
  • We understand that information about Glee Club will follow.

Training sessions

  • On a wide variety of topics including pastoral care, being an effective agent, councillor or campaigner, using tools such as Lighthouse, Connect and Affinity, and, of course, winning elections.

Campaign surgeries

  • 30 minutes free consultancy on a range of campaigning techniques
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Mary Reid

Conference agenda now available

By Mary Reid | Fri 7th August 2020 - 10:39 am

The agenda for the online party Conference in September can be downloaded here. It is at the same time both very familiar and rather different from usual.

All the expected elements are there: policy motions (with amendments), business motions, speeches, Q&A’s, reports, consultative sessions, fringe meetings, training, exhibition stands and helpdesk. There is even a feature that enables you to network with other members at random, just as you might chat with someone while queuing for a coffee. Conference Extra and Conference Daily will be published as usual and the Conference app will be available nearer the time.

The most obvious changes from the norm are with the timing. Auditorium sessions will run between 2.15pm on Friday 25th September and 9pm on Monday 28th September, in shorter bursts than usual – presumably to avoid screen fatigue. This means that many more sessions will be accessible to people in full-time work. The (new) Leader’s speech will be at 2.50pm on the Monday afternoon.

And, of course, it will be much more affordable this time. The only cost will be the registration fee, as travel and accommodation will not be needed!

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Mark Pack

The party President writes…Key party decisions coming up at the Federal Board meetings next week

By Mark Pack | Fri 15th May 2020 - 9:36 am

How do we improve as a party and achieve greater success in future elections? That’s the theme running through the bumper set of key decisions the Federal Board is looking at next week at our meeting. (Or rather meetings, as to avoid Zoom fatigue, we’re splitting one long meeting into halves on consecutive nights.)

Included in that will be the Board’s first considerations of the independent election review, headed up by Dorothy Thornhill and coming out later today. Thank you for all their hard work to her, her colleagues and everyone who contributed evidence to the review.

Even without that review, there are some things we already know we need to change, in particular our use of technology. That’s why the Board will also be looking at major plans to overhaul our approach, learning from the best of those outside politics and from politics overseas. A big part of the plan is much better use of volunteer expertise.

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged , , , , , , and | 17 Comments
The Voice

+++Plans for Lib Dem autumn conference on hold – online options to be explored instead

By The Voice | Tue 31st March 2020 - 9:00 am

The chair of the Federal Conference committee, Geoff Payne, has posted the following text in the Lib Democrat Federal Conference Facebook group:

In the light of the coronavirus epidemic, the Federal Board has decided to put on hold plans for the preparation of a traditional party conference in the autumn and will make a final decision on whether to cancel the event in May.

In the meantime, the Federal Conference Committee will consider the feasibility of an online event, which might include some elements of a formal conference. Part of that will be the way in which the key elements of party accountability might operate online if a traditional party conference did not go ahead.

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 12 Comments
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