The first two hours at the CIPD annual conference

Having registered and had coffee with several other community 'regulars' I went to visit the exhibition.
The exhibition is in a maze of halls attached to the main conference centre While the halls are very quiet (it is early on day one) there is a pleasurable atmosphere , unlike HRD at the Excel centre. My first walk around any exhibition is just one of orientation , to see who is here and who I may want to talk to. Unlike many, I rarely plan my visits to exhibitions, preferring a more gestalt approach.

Networking has started well meeting Margaret parkin (she does great use of story telling), Adrian of the training foundation as well as Cheryl and Martin from the CIPD. Cheryl asked me not to publish a photo of her having coffee.

Conference bags.
This year are a black satchel style bag containing much the same as the joining pack sent last week.
Missing items appear to be paper and a writing implement. Missed sponsorship opportunity ?
Its near to 11 so off to my first session.

update - it appears that there should have been a pen in the bag - and the handouts are provided at each session for note taking - but something hard to lean on would be appreciated.

5 days to CIPD annual conference 2008

With just 5 short days to the start of the conference, I have spent the past couple of days making contact with other members and arranging meetings - both formal and informal. Having the excuse of making contact to see if people I know are going to Harrogate has been of great value, it gave a reason to call and chat to people that I otherwise do not talk to often enough. Some of the people I expect to meet are attending the conference - others are day visitors to the exhibition and exhibitors themselves.

My mail box is a little light....
the one thing I have noticed this year is a less active 'fringe' programme... or is it just that I am not being invited? If you are running a fringe event please add the details to the comments field on this post.

More coming soon....