To fellow veteran conference goers.. I must confess

I have a confession

I did not use my time well at Labour Conference. There were loads of people I missed, conversations I wanted to have and didn’t, and I feel cheated.

Conference for me is where all my worlds collide. Everyone I know from being active in local politics, combined with everyone I have ever worked with, clients, colleagues and friends meet.

The lack of industry events and shift to a lot of political and policy discussions now being online mean that I haven’t seen a lot of these people much over the last few years. I miss them. I am energized by meeting people, they spark ideas, inform my views, keep me sane and make me smile.??

Conference for me is never really about the main hall, as important as it is for setting the mood, projecting an image and setting out the direction of travel. The value and the joy is in the bars, on the fringe and in watching the week unfold. It’s the familiar faces, the quick hellos, the side conversations that form your views, who is up and who is down in politics and industry, the camaraderie and renewing of bonds, even just a wave and the briefest of conversations, so what are you doing now, have you had a good year, I saw you have moved/married/had a baby/ etc. Good to see you, let's catch up.

There is a sense of belonging in this, a shared experience, and a feeling of being part of something, of being on the inside where the outside is looking in.

The more years you have been going, the more people you know, the more people you want to catch up with, the more difficult it is to plan your time.??

I know it pays to be organised, think about who you want to talk to and why, but I had some responsibilities, not just to colleagues and clients of @Inflect, but also as part of the @progressive Britain team to help deliver their events, and as a Vice Chair of @Labour business, we facilitated some of the discussions at the Business Forum and there was a stand to attend to in the main exhibition space.

Maybe I had too many hats on.

If I was giving myself advice, I would say, decide on your priorities, what is it you want to get out of conference, and be ruthlessly focused on spending time on things that help you to achieve those objectives.

It’s good advice and perhaps I should have been a bit more organized, but I still don’t think I would see everyone, and maybe I would still feel slightly cheated.

So to all you veteran conference goers out there – many of whom are probably on the train to or already at #CPC22 right now - I’m curious to know if this is a shared experience, and if not then what am I doing wrong?

I am in Birmingham on Monday and Tuesday and must do better! Give me a shout if you’re there too and we can (try and) catch up…