It’s party conference season – we’ll be there, will you?

Katie Howe was part of NCVO’s Parliamentary and Media Team and has now left NCVO. Her posts have been archived here for reference.

Party conference season is almost upon us, and if you’re going – we would love to see you there.

As a newbie to conferences, I’m keen to experience all they have to offer and looking forward to the chance to meet all those from the sector there, and any interested parties. There will be NCVO staff at all three conferences, and we would like to meet as many of our members attending as possible.

So if you are planning to attend – come along to our events. These are ‘in conversation with…’ style events with high profile political speakers, providing insights into where the parties are looking to be in the run up to the next election, reflecting on their political careers and discussing the role of the voluntary sector in society.

‘We make a life by what we give – personal reflections on public service and society’

Come along to our fringe events

Liberal Democrats (Glasgow) – Tuesday 17 September, 18.15 – 19.30.

Location: Crowne Plaza, Jura (secure zone).

Speaker: Duncan Hames MP, Liberal Democrat, PPS to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. Elected to Parliament in 2010 to serve the Chippenham constituency he became Wiltshire’s first Liberal MP in more than 80 years.

Labour (Brighton) – Tuesday 24 September, 18.00 – 19.00.

Location: Holiday Inn, Lancing 2 (secure zone)

Speaker: The Lord Wood of Anfield, Shadow Cabinet Minister without Portfolio. Labour peer Lord Wood is a former Special Adviser to Gordon Brown at Number 10 and is leading on Ed Miliband’s intellectual work and the development of his long-term political agenda.

Conservative (Manchester) – Tuesday 1 October,  19.30pm – 21.00.

Location: Manchester Central : Central 8 (secure zone)

Speaker: Danny Kruger, Chief Executive of Only Connect, a crime prevention charity working with prisoners,ex-offenders and young people at risk of crime. From 2003 to 2005 he was a policy adviser to Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard, leaders of the Conservative Party, and he had a spell of being chief leader writer at The Daily Telegraph, before returning to the Conservative Party as special adviser and chief speech-writer to its new leader, David Cameron.

Having browsed the fringe guides, I’m impressed by the number of interesting events taking place throughout conference, but by their sheer number, I understand that many of you will have other commitments that mean you are not able to attend our events.

We’re trying to meet as many of our members as we can at conference, to hear about your work and the issues that are affecting you at the moment. It would be interesting, too, to hear about what you’re setting out to do at conference.

Even if you’re not at conference

Alternatively, even if you’re not planning to be at conference, but are around in Glasgow, Brighton or Manchester and would like to talk to someone from NCVO, we would really like to meet up with you too – if you fancy a cuppa around the conference venues, please do get in touch.

PS. Any tips?

And finally, as a party conference novice, any tips would be much appreciated – get in touch at katie.howe@ncvo-vol.org.uk. Hope to see some of you there!