UKISA 2017 Leadership Conference

We are pleased to announce the United Kingdom, Ireland & South Africa judge leadership conference 2017, which will take place once again in Royal Leamington Spa. Thomas Ralph is taking the lead for logistics/venue issues and Jack Doyle will be organising the seminar programme and all other aspects of the event.

Dates and times

The conference will take place on Saturday 15 July and Sunday 16 July. Start time on Saturday will be 10 for 10:30 and finish on Sunday will be by 6pm at the latest.

Luncheon on both days is included at the hotel and dinner arrangements will be announced in due course. The function room remains available until 11:00pm on Saturday for socialising, with a cash bar available.

Programme

The draft programme:

Caturday

• 10:00-10:45 Registration, welcome, tea
• 10:45-11:30 Address of our Dear Leader and state of the region (JD)
• 11:30-12:15 Discussion: GPs in 2018: CFBE, contracts, insurance 
• 12:15-13:00 What can we do to improve the judge reputation amongst the UK player community (IT)
• 13:00-14:00 Luncheon
• 14:00-15:00 A brief update from our Area Captains
• 15:00-16:00 Emotional fallout when others don't meet our expectations (MC)
• 16:00-16:15 Break
• 16:15-16:45 Discussion: "Microconferences" and if we'd like to support them
• 16:45-17:45 Level 3 AMA
• Afterwards: Dinner, Commander, etc. etc. etc. 

Eligibility

The following judges are invited to apply:

• Level 3 or higher judges resident in the UKISA region
• Area captains in the UKISA region
• Other judges who have received a specific invitation from or on behalf of the Regional Coordinator (you'll know if this applies to you)

Applications are open until mid-June but we would encourage applying as soon as possible to help with planning.

Other judges are invited to instead attend the national conference which will be announced at a later date.

Travel

Leamington Spa station is a short walk from the venue, with Chiltern Railways services from London Marylebone and Birmingham Moor Street, and CrossCountry services from Reading, Southampton Central, Bournemouth, Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester Piccadily, Stockport, Birmingham New Street, and Birmingham International, and London Midland services from Worcester Foregate Street via Kidderminster.

For those travelling from further away, Birmingham (BHX) is the nearest airport and is 23 minutes away by train from Leamington Spa. Trains run hourly and the fare is £8 return.

Accommodation

Accommodation at the Angel Hotel itself costs £70 for a single room or £95 for a twin room. Prices include full English breakfast. We do not have a room block and you can book directly with the hotel at http://www.angelhotelleamington.co.uk who will require upfront non-refundable payment.

Other hotels in the immediate vicinity include the Regent Hotel (https://www.travelodge.co.uk) £100 (£80 non-refundable) room only, Episode Hotel (http://www.episodehotels.co.uk/hotel-overview.html) £115 (£103.50 non-refundable) B&B twin, Lansdowne Hotel (http://www.thelansdowne.co.uk) £61-84 B&B for single/twin, Victoria Park Lodge £77-102 B&B single/twin/triple available (http://www.victoriaparklodge.co.uk/). Slightly further away are Thomas James Hotel (http://thomasjameshotel.blogspot.co.uk), Leamington Apartments (http://www.leamingtonapartments.co.uk), Best Western Hotel (https://www.bestwestern.co.uk), 

Prices relate to Saturday night and were checked on 15 March 2017.

Judge foils

Judges who attend and actively participate in all seminars (or, where applicable, are excused) will receive a selection of promotional foils as a gift from the Judge Programme as a token of appreciation for their participation.