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The Future for Conferences: more debate, less sun
David Kimber, who manages the ATL annual conference, predicts annual get-togethers will be more metropolitan, high-tech and focused in future.
Every Conservative and Labour annual conference from 1950 until 2005 was held in Blackpool, Brighton, Morecambe, Scarborough, Bournemouth, Llandudno or Margate, except for three trips to London for Labour. Trade unions and the TUC also preferred to take their delegates to the seaside. Coastal venues were considered more attractive to delegates as they seemed less stuffy and more convivial than cities. They provided the perfect setting for the ‘work hard, play hard’ culture.
Labour broke the mould in 2006 by taking their conference to Manchester, the Conservatives waited until 2008 to move inland. Even the TUC, a great fan of the seaside until 2009, has left and is yet to return. This trend has been repeated with individual unions too. I believe there are two main reasons for this.
New venues and technology:
Liverpool opened the BT Convention Centre in 2008 and Manchester’s GMEX and the Manchester International Convention Centre were combined and rebranded as Manchester Central in 2007. These two venues, along with the older ICC in Birmingham which has continued to invest in technology, provide up to date facilities such as simultaneous wired or wireless internet access for many people and multiple telephone and ISDN lines. Big cities tend to have TV and radio studios, a greater choice of bedrooms, more options for catering and better transport both to and from the city itself and between hotels and venues.
Separation of work and play:
The tradition of the working lunch has almost disappeared from UK business in recent years and this shift seems to be evident in party and union conferences too. Whereas conferences would be spread out over a number of days and delegates, often with their partners, were invited to numerous fringe meetings and dinners, all serving alcohol, today’s events are more compressed and more business-like. Trade unions have sought to update their image and moving their conference from the seaside to a major city can help them look more serious.
The ATL experience:
ATL has not stuck to the seaside as rigidly as some other unions; in the 34 years from 1978 to 2011, delegates were taken to the seaside just 13 times. In recent years we have started to look at securing deals with venues for repeat business; the six years from 2009 to 2014 will see us hold conference 3 times in Liverpool and 3 times in Manchester. Such repetition would not have been as easy to sell to members in previous years; today cost is far more important. Another important consideration is transportation; venues need to be on a major railway line.
The ATL conference has been compressed. Until 2009 delegates arrived during Monday, settled into their hotels and worked for just a couple of hours in the evening before conference began in earnest on Tuesday morning. Conference didn’t then finish until Thursday lunchtime. This is four working days. Conference today starts on Monday morning and finishes on Wednesday afternoon. This reduces venue hire time (and cost) and makes conference just three working days, with only a very small reduction in debating time.
Another key change is the introduction of sector conferences and learning zones. For 90 minutes delegates split into smaller groups to discuss issues relevant to their sectors (primary, secondary, early learning, special educational needs etc) and for a further 90 minutes they are given CPD on items as diverse as managing behaviour in the classroom to writing a press release. The learning zone in particular, makes conference a richer experience for delegates and helps them justify to their head why time off to attend is good for their institution as well as for them.
ATL’s conference recently introduced a change to its rules and constitution to encourage new people to conference. Now there are 60 special places reserved for 20 newly qualified teachers, 20 students and 20 members who have never previously attended conference. Whilst it is very important that there are plenty of experienced members at conference, there needs to be new delegates each year to provide alternative viewpoints and experiences.
We have also introduced a relaxation zone. This allows delegates to have a break from the sometimes relentless pace of conference. This has been extremely well received and is something we are likely to continue.
The future:
I think measures to reduce costs will continue. The TUC, followed by other unions such as ASLEF, have recently decided to hold smaller conferences in London every other year. I suspect this trend will spread.
There is much talk of virtual conferencing where delegates join via their computers or where smaller regional meetings are combined electronically to make up conference. I do not see this happening in ATL. A tremendously important part of conference is members meeting each other face to face; in this age of multi-tasking, I don’t think delegates would be willing to sit in front of a PC for three days to take part in a virtual debate. I do however think that there will be more electronic voting and more use of electronic voting devices to gauge delegates’ views on issues other than those being voted on throughout conference. These also help us to know exactly who is in the hall at any one time.
