GFTU BGCM 2019 Minutes

like the charging pads that you all got at supper last night are all branded to be

whoever and make it a very tangible, real way of getting your message in front

of people. We have also got in the room John from Eagle Graphics. Eagle

were with us last night and it is good to know that you can pick the phone up,

get straight to a graphic designer, from the graphic designer know that it is

printed and it is dispatched and it is all done very quickly. We find that the

service is very good and they work hard to make it right.

I think we will agree that as a venue, this is a little bit more spacious than

where we were last year in Stratford. The advantage we have got here, and

we use it for work that we do with Manuel for TSSA for education sources, is

that we have found a different venue sourcing company called Crème

Conferences and Sarah will be here later on. They are quite happy to get a

commission from the hotel. They do not charge for finding venues. They work

with the hotel to put everything on. It took away a whole load of hassle for us

this time, because when we realised the hotel was not quite going to be ready

in time for the BGCM we picked the phone up and within a week or two we had

viewed here, we knew it was fit for purpose and here we are. Again, I am keen

that we make it easier for people to do their jobs. We have all got a massive

workload, but if we can make it easier by sharing good practice, sharing ideas,

it does make life a lot easier.

Some of the stuff we do not do very often, do we? Every three years

somebody’s first aid certificate might need to be replaced, so we have got an

arrangement with Red Cross, as Doug mentioned yesterday. We have got

Andy in the room from UK Engage and they do balloting. There are not very

many companies that are registered to be able to do balloting and Andy will tell

you about the best way of managing that process without it costing a fortune,

including emerging e-balloting opportunities for indicative ballots. So there are

a lot of opportunities in the mix. From UIA we have got Jodie with us doing

insurance products, so car, travel, household insurance. With some of these

products, because they have been designed to be a standalone product to

make an offer to members, they have actually been badged as GFTU products,

because it would not be reasonable for them to have to put together a product

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