Opinion; ‘Aiming 4 Excellence’ Conference 2010

Attending this month’s Charity Leaders Conference, ‘Aiming 4 Excellence’ at Swanwick gave me the perfect opportunity to experiment with conference tweeting!  Only you can give the true verdict, I just enjoyed it – although some might have thought I was welded throughout to my mobile!

For those of you who missed my twitter stream (Conference Hashtag #a4e10), here it is!  

Monday 29 November; at the UK Christian Charity Leaders conference in snowy Derbyshire; Aiming 4 Excellence. I’ll tweet a bit this week using #a4e10

1st Plenary with Bishop of Liverpool, Right Rev James Jones; Big society & nature of community

+James; ‘Aiming for excellence means excelling in creating a fairer society – creating a balance between need & abundance’

+James; ‘Wash one another’s feet (John 13) is the essence of true society – the big society – a mutuality of giving & receiving’

+James; ‘Big Society. Churches used to provide services from cradle to grave. Our time has come again, as the State can’t afford to’

+James; ‘Society is not bothered by a ‘fragmented’ church but whether the World religions can live together on this Planet without blowing it up’!

Evening seminar; the challenge of being a Christian employer, keeping up with employment law. Hopefully more answers than questions?

Wednesday 30 November; with 300 Christian Charity Leaders. Plenary sessions today; Prof Jim Saker, Sir Peter Vardy & Dame Suzi Leather; should be good?

Plenary 2 with Jim Slater (Professor of Retail Management) – ‘the changing socio-economic environment’

Whoops … Prof Jim Saker … Sorry!

Jim Saker; rapid overview of world-class brands. Nokia, Innocent Smoothies, Toyota, Apple, Red Bull, Obama

Jim Saker; ‘Organisations should build up social media, engage with influencers and embrace two-way online interaction’

Conference worship being led by Geraldine Latty; sensitive, worshipful, uplifting, spirit-filled

Snowing hard here in Derbyshire!

Plenary 3; Sir Peter Vardy & son Peter Vardy; values, distinctives & challenges – faith in practice

Sir Peter Vardy on Business; ‘Have right values, live by those values, set an example, do the right thing and pursue excellence’

Peter Vardy (son) on Leadership; ‘Combine a humble approach with a ferocious drive. Look on fast pace of change as a positive’

Sir Peter Vardy; ‘Having too many charities is an issue in itself. We have an opportunity and time is right for some to join forces’

Sir Peter Vardy; ‘I urge you (UK charities) to think about joining together. You are far stronger together than being apart’

It’s been snowing hard all day here at Swanwick in Derbyshire – still snowing now – tomorrows return home looks ‘interesting’!

Plenary 4 with Dame Suzi Leather, Chair of the Charity Commission

This could get interesting! CC chair, Suzi Leather is snowbound in London so this Plenary will be via pre-recorded video link!

Sadly no speech by Dame Suzi – defeated by the weather and the technology. Instead, an interview with Geraldine Latty

Dame Suzi Leather’s Plenary Session - available here - very disappointing that the snowy weather intervened

Good night everyone – here’s hoping that we can dig out and get away in the morning. I like Swanwick but not enough to stay any longer!

Wednesday 1^st December; Snow at Aiming 4 Excellence conference in Swanwick. Over a 1ft of the white-stuff this morning. What a week!

Phew; we’re out of Derbyshire. Over a foot of snow overnight. Our intrepid CEO dug out car before rest of us got up! Dedication indeed!

#a4e10 round-up; superb worship, quick-fire Saker, honest and incisive Vardy interview, disappointing Suzi Leather no-show, so much snow!

 

My post-tweet conference verdict?

Good overall, but not as engaging as in 2007 and badly affected by the Siberian weather.

You can view the Aiming 4 Excellence conference website here.