RE: UKHA 2003/4 (long)

[Scott Crowther <scrowther@xxxxxxx>]

All good plans Graham, and your concerns over not turning this into a
'Automation-R-Us Ltd UKHA Conference' are well founded.

That said, I volunteered help to Mark in promoting the event, and do feel
that a media sponsor (eg Digital Home Magazine) would give the event just
that little bit more profile.

Either way, can I register our interest in attending and presenting at next
years' event, and if there is any other way we can help, just shout.

BTW, I felt one thing lacking was the actual ability to buy anything there
and then. While I understand the problems involved in that, it would have
been great to be able to walk away from the exhibition with a new X10
control kit, remote control, or other gizmo, bought from Lets automate,
Simply automate or Laser... Maybe you could suggest it to the retailers for
next year???


Thanks

Scott


Scott Crowther
Marketing Executive
Intamac Systems Ltd

Tel : +44(0) 1604 679260
Fax : +44(0) 1604 679531
Mail : scrowther@xxxxxxx
Web : www.intamac.com


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-----Original Message-----
From: Graham Howe [mailto:graham@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 23 May 2003 00:03
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] UKHA 2003/4 (long)

Well I am finally starting to recover after the weekend :-) I am absolutely
delighted with the response we had on the days and the reaction afterwards
on this list. Thank you all for you kind words (both in public and
privately) and an even bigger thank you for all the suggestions to improve
things for next year.

Mark and I have already discussed several things that we would like to
change and there have been lots of great suggestions here too. However,
there is one thing we will not change (at least not for next year) and that
is our control over the event. I am sure that if we worked hard we could
get
significant sponsorship, but I don't want this to be the 'Automation-R-Us
Ltd UKHA Conference' quite yet. We as a community have done really well to
get to this point and I think we are capable of taking it a little further
ourselves before involving the 'professionals'.

Here is my list of what I would like to achieve for next year, more things
will no doubt be added over time:

1. The venue and dates will be booked and published 6 months before the
event. Where possible discounts and deals will be worked out for bedrooms,
refreshments and other facilities.
2. Bookings will be encouraged as soon as the details are published. Those
booking early will receive discounted rates as will 2-day bookings over
1-day bookings. Those doing presentations and demos will have to book early
and to state their requirements in terms of equipment.
3. An initial agenda will be published as soon as the early booking period
has ended. At this point all demonstrations and presentations will have
been
identified for the event and will be published. Running order will not be
available, though there may be an indication of presentations that are only
available for a single day, where possible everything will be repeated on
both days.
4. Key organisation team will have access to the venue from the preceding
afternoon and will install infrastructure (wired and wireless network,
power
points, tables and chairs, projectors and screens). There will be a single
network connecting all rooms so that those doing presentations in the main
rooms can connect to servers or other equipment in other rooms if
necessary.
5. Presenters and demonstrators will be encouraged to setup and test the
day
before the event. For those actively demonstrating any equipment this will
be a requirement, but basic PowerPoint type presentations and static
displays will not be subject to the same rules.
6. The venue will have two big rooms with permanent presentation facilities
setup. The presentation setup will include power and network connections to
the projector point so that laptops can be connected up easily. Projectors
and required cables will be supplied by the organisers as will laptops with
presentation software.
7. All presentations will be submitted in advance of the event and loaded
on
these laptops (with harmonised templates) so that presenters will not have
to bring their own equipment. A CD of all the presentations will be
available at the event for attendees to take a copy and will be sold for a
small contribution after the event for those who can't attend.
8. Small rooms will be used (or possibly a third large room) for static
displays and these will be located as close to the main rooms as possible.
Tables, chairs, power and network will be allocated and shown on a floor
plan for each room.
9. If there are to be any audio, video or other equipment shootouts then
they will have to be setup and tested the day before the event. Due to the
complex nature of these particular types of demo, they will have to be
tested, scripted and rehearsed so that they fit in their nominated slot.
Equipment required for such demos must be dedicated to them, in general it
will not be acceptable to borrow equipment from other stands or
presentations.
10. Saturday will start at 10:30 and finish at 18:00, Sunday will start at
09:30 and finish at 17:00. All presentations will be 30 minutes long (some
exceptions may be allowed) and will kick-off on the hour. With 2 rooms this
means a maximum of 7 presentations in each of the 2 rooms. However, it
seems
sensible to plan a break in the middle for people to grab some lunch or
check out the stands, so I would suggest we limit the number of
presentations to 12 per day. We could start earlier, end later, pack
presentations closer together, but it would not be fair for those
travelling
long distances and would give us no contingency.
11. There will be an official social event on the Saturday night which
although not covered in the price of the ticket, will take advantage of a
group discount. Attendees will need to state whether they will attend the
evening event when they book and may not be able to attend if they book too
late.
12. Some of the organisational duties will be assigned to specific
individuals (volunteers/conscripts to be confirmed) such as collecting
bookings, producing names tags and other delegate materials, accepting
money
on the door and treasurer. Other organisational items like determining the
agenda, room layout, running order and so on are likely to be by committee.
13. All information relating to the event will be available on a dedicated
web site including discussion forum, latest agenda information, delegate
packs, presentation templates and floor plans.
14. Those booking early will be entitled to partial refunds if they have to
cancel, the refund will taper off the closer the cancellation is to the
event to reflect the way venue cancellation clauses tend to work. In the
very unlikely event that the whole thing is cancelled, all money will be
returned after actual incurred costs have been subtracted.
15. At the very latest, the full agenda and running order for both days
will
be available 2 weeks before the event though a target should be a month
before.
16. Either the venue or the organisers will provide some sort of PA for
presentations.
17. I would expect the cost of the event to be very similar next year, it
seemed a reasonable amount to pay for such an event and very few of the
improvements suggested actually require additional funds. The actual price
will be determined after gathering quotes from the venue and getting some
indication of the number of attendees.

Right, I think that's enough for now, but please feel free to send me any
other suggestions and I'll add them to the list. I will be contacting the
hotel in Hatfield in the near future to discuss the possibility of
returning
next year as I think it was a good venue and with a little more planning
could be perfect for at least one more event. Following the success of this
event I would expect them to offer good deals on rooms, evening meal,
refreshments etc.

For those of you that are interested, I am still in the process of working
out all the figures from this year's event, but after paying for rooms,
prizes and a few minor admin costs, it looks like we will have over £700
profit. This will of course now go forward to next year to ensure further
success. As soon as I have the final figures I'll post them here.

Regards

Graham Howe


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