The background

Once a term our Local Authority organises a meeting for the secondary ICT / Network Managers with presentations from suppliers and information about new developments from the LA.

It is also a good opportunity to meet with colleagues from different schools, many of whom are not part of normal working lives, and to share ideas with them.

The idea

After speaking with some colleagues I have started to plan a national event along the same lines, with a termly meeting taking place in Central London.

The venue is in WC2E and the event will run from 2pm to 6pm, with 2-3 speakers and some time to network. Further networking can take place in a nearby pub afterwards.

My feeling is that an afternoon event gives people the opportunity to travel into London off-peak and also to enjoy some social time with fellow ICT professionals. Although events tend to be London centric, it is +/- 2 hours by train from Norwich, Leeds, York, Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff so hopefully that will not be too much of a problem.

The cost

Being very conscious that cost needs to be kept as low as possible, I am hoping that our speakers will able to provide their services under the banner of corporate responsibility / marketing and will not make a charge. The venue cost, however, will mean that I need to pass on a charge of £15 per head for the half day event.

At this point in time I envisage that the first event will take place during the summer term.

Call to action

If you think this event will be beneficial to you, please take a few moment to fill out the polls to the right and drop me a message via Twitter (@jameswwright), Skype or LinkedIn so that I can let you know about further developments.