Conference 2007

The Big Friendly Conference: A personal reflection

VSSN hosted the annual research conference in partnership with NCVO for the fourth time in 2007 on 5 - 6 September 2007 at the University of Warwick. Duncan Scott writes:-

In the land of the Almanacs, a courageous warrior race armed with laptops and tables of statistical data about the size of the voluntary sector workforce or its de/increasing income, we must begin with numbers.

There were three main speakers:-

1) Stella Creasy from `Involve` - literally bursting with ideas about public engagement. How many hours in her days, how many minutes for rest and sleep, I wondered.

2) Phil Hope, Minister for the Third Sector - full of commitment and optimism. A coup for the conference organisers. I wondered about the numerical marginality of his Corby constituency amidst the then likelihood of a snap election.

3) Helmut Anheier - academic superstar and Commander-in-chief of international datasets. In discussions about future directions for voluntary sector research we caught a glimpse of interpretive possibilities of a more qualitative kind.

Threading the big three together were over 50 papers in around 20 sessions or workshops. A wide range of academic and policy content was attended by over 140 delegates from 25 universities (including people from Poland, Germany, Italy, USA, Uganda and Japan) as well as around 60 from the voluntary sector, 15 from government agencies and a handful of consultants.

My highlights were, firstly, an afternoon listening to and then commentating on seven short papers by new researchers, as well as viewing the first version of a supportive website by and for them. Three cheers for the organisers of this unique and inspirational session, so warmly and creatively rounded off by Mike Aiken. Secondly, sharing in the genuine collective applause for Tracey Coule`s receipt of an NCVO `Oscar`(=prize) for best paper, `Developing Strategies for Sustainability: implications for governance and accountability`. The clear-sightedness of her paper must surely reflect the characteristic care and attention of her Sheffield Hallam supervisor.

So much for the numbers. No doubt the adjective `big` with reference to conference numbers will trouble some. But, as any qualitative researcher will tell you, big can describe more than numbers. For example, the organisation of the conference deserved the label because of the vision, commitment, accessibility and warmth of all those involved. Of course there was room for improvement - the display area was poorly sited, and thought may be needed when pondering on the fact that of the 60 or so attendees from the voluntary sector, over a third were from NCVO.

At the end of the day, this conference remains the best place in these islands to sample what`s going on in voluntary sector research. So, a BIG `Thank You` to all concerned.