Cometh the hour, cometh the man (or women)

Hi all,

I put the headline title for two reasons, firstly to give an overview of the #StC/Positive Choices Leadership event in Leeds and secondly to give an update of the paperclip conference and some of the people behind the scenes who are supporting the event.

So what was #PCLeads  about ?.    Its a leadership course for third year learning disability nursing students. Students from the four countries attended this intensive two day conference which aimed to strengthen leadership in clinical practice. This is part of the ‘decide, commit, proceed’ programme from Positive Choices, and will support the Strengthening the Commitment initiative. The conference will incorporate presentations, group work and individual learning to maximise outcomes for the delegates.

If you want to get a feel of what was covered then follow the Twitter #PCleads. It will be good to see what happens to the participants over the next 12 months; what tribe will they start ?.  It was also another example of how the #StC report is making real changes. Any participants that want to write a short blog on the event should contact us.  Me being me I have to stress that there  is more to leadership than just clinical leadership and hope that social equity was given time on the programme as well.

My own time management skills took a tumble this week. An opportunity to take part in a Social Enterprise Challenge event meant my conference schedule took a bashing.  I could not miss the chance of getting up to £50,000 funding for a learning disability employment training project (If successful). I will be pitching next Friday for the first £5k so fingers crossed.

So basically we are a week or so behind schedule but do not fear the tickets will go live asap and either Rebecca Hill or myself will be in touch with all the speakers and workshop organisers so we can then design the final programme. I have made contact with the self advocacy groups about helping the management of the event on the day and have also sent out a online survey so you can help shape the award categories http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZVRKR7P . Entertainment is taking a bit longer than expected but I will follow up some contacts given by Joshua from Birmingham City University.

A new blog site will be available next week, it will have the same  feel as the venue we are using, so will be funky and innovative. Chris Hardy from Wolverhampton University has been designing this behind the scenes for a few weeks now and I cannot wait to share some of the great work he has created.

Finally can I steer you to some of the great books donated by Bob Gates, some are signed so will make a great keep sake or present (university student of the year prize hint hint – get your wallets out).  Its on our Ebay shop and all profits will help pay for the awards ceremony prizes so dig deep.  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Care-Planning-Delivery-in-Intellectual-Disability-Nursing-Signed-by-Bob-Gates-/300928243176?pt=Non_Fiction&hash=item4610b895e8.  If you do not wish to bid via Ebay I can take bids on your behalf and bid for you (just email me with your bid and contact details).

If you have anything you would like to donate to help improve award slush fund please contact me asap.

Speak soon

Back to the business plan for the social enterprise bid ( what is social value impact again )         🙂

 

Conference Travel Information

Hi all,

I promised to send some information about how to get to the conference and where to stay; a download is available at the bottom of this page. I have also given a brief overview of the various rooms we will be using. I hope (fingers crossed) we will have a new dedicated website and email for the conference, full programme details and where to get your tickets from all ready and live in the next few days.  I have not attached a parking diagram yet because this will be changing in the next few weeks with the opening of a new Tesco right next to the venue.

 

Our specialist Ebay shop will be selling a few limited edition items next week to help fund the event, so get ready to bid on a few signed Bob Gates books !!

Download conference travel and hotel information by clicking   The Paperclip Conference

If you are having any problems downloading the PDF please email me at info@paperclipchallenge.co.uk

Conference event about to go live

Hi everyone,

It seems like an eternity since I started the paperclip challenge and I am so eager to open up the event so people can book their tickets. So what’s the delay ?

A few bits of technical stuff to sort out around event management of ticket distribution. I also wanted it to be a conference where it’s full of people who are up for the cause  and not just turning up  for a day out.  So  every delegate applying will be asked to share their StC pledge.  The best StC pledge will then get an award on the day of the conference.

This conference has learning disability service user input throughout and that takes time to organise. I have made contact with lots of local groups to make sure the event is truly inclusive, still lots to do about organising the evening entertainment but it is getting there.

I will be ringing all of the speakers and the people running the workshops to get a flavour of  their planned input and to shape it into something which  supports the aims of the conference. I will also be contacting a few key people to help me on the day as it will need a team to make this event run smoothly.  Chris Hardy has already agreed to support the event on the day by offering his expertise around IT and the planned live web feed etc.

So tickets will be available in the next few days. I will post a info pack over the weekend showing local hotels and transport routes etc.  Anyone who wants to help on the day or evening please email me  via email or Twitter.

A full blog entry will be put on over the weekend

Cheers

 

 

What do you think of this venue ?

Well this is the venue I hope to book for the StC conference  Its called the Public and is based in West Bromwich, which is about 5 miles from Birmingham. It has a metro system and bus station within 5 mins walk and a train station about 1.5 miles away.

It has a main theatre that can hold up to 270 people and has great light and sound facilities

It has two workshop areas that can hold up to 250 people and which can be divided into smaller areas

workshop area 1

workshop area 2

It has four smaller rooms for luggage, speaker areas etc (Funky looking)

It has a interactive exhibition area 

It has a shopping complex with a Tesco about to be completed

It will have a #StC pledge video igloo where you make your own pledge

It will have a #StC paperclip photo booth so you get a memento

On the Friday night we will hold a evening of music and drama from local learning disability and non- learning disability groups. So you can stop over on the Friday if you want and have a great night. 

So give us some feedback please

 

 

We are nearly there

Went to view a venue for the StC conference today and it really ticks most of the boxes

Its got 2 large rooms for workshops, each holding up to 250 people which can be divided into 2 again

trade stand area

reception area

Theatre ( a bit smaller at 250-275  ) with lighting, stage and projector facilities

4 smaller rooms for luggage, speakers rooms etc ( each room holds approx 20 people)

disabled access

Central UK location

Good transport links

Lots of parking nearby (not free but just a few ££’s)

Shopping centre next door

Its in the top 1000 buildings to visit in the world ( biggest clue yet )

 

one of the workshop areas

 

The added benefits are 

A cool StC video igloo will be provided where each delegate can post their own StC pledge and they will all be compiled into a DVD

A StC photshop booth where each delegate will get their own StC paperclip conference picture as a memento . The new StC logo will be on each picture background.

May be even able to do a live stream of some of the conference to our main website.

They will give us the theatre and some extra space so we can put on a show on the night that will be run and performed by people with a learning disability. Bands/Drama groups etc. This event will be open to all but hopefully some of you may wish to stop over on the Friday and sample the entertainment !!!

So hopefully after a few more emails and phone calls tomorrow we will be able to confirm the date and location of  the first paperclip conference. Its looking like the 20th of September is the date though, so start filling out the diaries !!!!!

50 ideas update

Its a bank holiday weekend and my son is away at a Scouts camp so I thought to myself why not use one of the techniques you have learnt on the NurseFirst course.  So i thought I would have a go at creating 50 ideas around the conference idea and its amazing what ideas can come from just writing some random thoughts down on paper. So what did I come up with your asking

Well this was the first idea, a light bulb which has a paperclip element and the #StC wording.  There will be 3 of these light bulbs with the headings of networking, innovation and creating underneath each individual one. These are the 3 main aims of the conference.

Then I was thinking about how the conference could meet these aims and came up with the idea of using the workshops as an opportunity for delegates to give their own solutions by creating 50 ideasworkshops.

• So how do we make sure we network better in the future ?
• How can the StC paper get its message across to the masses ?
• How can we improve services for people with learning disabilities in our  area?

Well anyone attending the conference will get a chance to be creative and think of ways to help answer the questions above.  We can then use this feedback to help shape any future events. We want every person who attends the conference to make a #StC pledge that will be put onto a giant board.

I will make sure that registration on the day, awards judging and some of the workshops will have direct input from people with learning disabilities. once venue is set then a local self advocacy group will be contacted.

I had written about some limited edition paperclips being available that would be more sought after then a Banksy piece of art so I have now got someone to paint a StC murial that will have a paperclip hidden within it. The artist cannot be named but bank on it being a masterpiece. I will then sell this piece to fund part of the conference.

Next bit I worked on was venue ideas and I think I have come up with an amazing venue idea but cannot give it out until I go to see the venue manager on Tuesday. We are also waiting on a few universities to get back to us this week as well. Fingers crossed by the end of this week we may be able to confirm.

The awards categories are going to be based on what you have done,not who can answer a few questions the best. We are going to make it  as easy as possible to apply.  To tie in with the conference aims there will be categories for networking, innovation and creativity .

I cannot give out all of the ideas for the conference that came out of my 50 ideas session as some were quite crazy but it did give me the time to think about what outcomes I would like to see achieved from the conference. It has also given me a few ideas that I can follow up and if they come off will give the conference a extra wow factor.

WE ARE STILL LOOKING FOR:

• Looking for companies willing to have a stand at the conference (great opportunity for recruiters)
• Looking for companies to sponsor delegate goody bags
• Looking for a great venue

if you can help with any of the above give us a shout

#StC paperclip challenge – Speakers & Workshops Fully Booked

Hi all,

We have been overwhelmed with the amount of support people are willing to give free of charge. So whats been happening I hear you say, here are a few pledges I can share:

Annie Cooper has offered to help run a workshop with Jayne Brown (what a double act that could be)

Chris Hardy, a student nurse from Wolverhampton University has offered to design a website for the paperclip challenge updates. Christopher has amazing design and IT skills and we are looking forward to seeing his final design.

Paul Horan from Trinity College has offered to speak at the conference. Anyone who has met Paul will be looking forward to that.

Change and Inclusion North have both come back to us today with further offers of support depending on where the conference is located

So with all these offers of speaking and running workshops we can now announce that ………….

speaker and workshop spaces are full

How amazing is that ? in a few weeks we have got the speakers and workshops, admin/event management, catering funding, and some amazing award prizes.

What next ? we still need to confirm the venue and date, we need some trade stands, we need  a few more award sponsors etc etc.

Thanks for supporting the #StC paperclip challenge and please follow and share this blog and our main website at http://www.learningdisabilitynurse.com

Cheers

Sean Ledington

#StC Challenge Update

The conference has a working title thanks to Ruth Northway, its based on the StC theme and will be called Strengthening the Connections – Improving Outcomes and Practice.

OK its a weekend so it will be quite on the paperclip front, right ? not really, lots of emails and potential swaps and trades. The ones I can give details on include:

June Brown Consultant Nurse/Clinical Lead in Learning Disabilities has offered to mentor one of the award winners for 12-18 months on leadership. Once again a priceless swap that will benefit one lucky nurse for the rest of their career.

Inclusion North should need now introductions, they do amazing work and are one of my inspirations. They have offered to run a workshop and a few other things that we need to confirm. If the event is staged around their area maybe we may see Inclusion North having a big part in facilitating the awards ceremony (how good would that be !!!!). I have asked about a possible John O’ Brien appearance  (fingers crossed on that one).

We are looking at award categories so if you have any good ideas please get in touch by leaving a comment on this page.

still need a venue that can hold 400 plus nurses

do you know of any suitable places ?????

then get in touch

please share and follow this blog and have a think how you can make this event happen

#StC Paperclip Challenge

Hi all,

With all these paperclips being traded around I thought surely a office supplies would like to sponsor the event, have sent a few emails and waiting for some replies

Jane Smith a LD Nurse working in general management and nurse leadership. Interested in nursing and informatics and member of NNIST  offered the following swap

Hi there I would be happy to offer a workshop on nursing informatics and the challenges for ld nurses either at the event or by webinar

Then today I received a trade that will go a long way to guaranteeing the conference will go ahead. In fact we have set a provisional date of the 20th September TBC

 

The offer of a paperclip swap came from an email from Hazel Powell

The UK Steering Group for StC think the paper clip challenge and all the offers coming in are amazing and that this reflects the values, initiative, drive and passion that is at the heart of learning disability nursing. To help this come to fruition the UK Steering group are offering Ros Moore, CNO Scotland to Chair the event, keynote presentations from each of the four countries, to cover the catering for the event and to provide members for the judging panel.

 

So we have most of the speakers, some amazing workshops, an admin team, some great award prizes and now we have funding for the catering so just the venue to confirm and then it is all systems go. Will keep you informed.

Paperclips & Networking – The Link

 

 

The power of Twitter and Facebook never fails to amaze me. The paperclip challenge has had nearly 1000 hits just via Twitter alone. The picture above shows a few of the main aims of the conference.  We want the event to be a chance not just to network face to face but with the help of LDNursechat via social media platforms as well.

The event will aim to show real examples of positive outcomes within learning disability nursing by sharing good practice and innovation either via presentations or the range of break away workshops that are being planned.  Leadership will also be a theme of the event and we hope to be able to celebrate some of the best examples with an end of conference awards ceremony.

The overriding theme that will cover all these areas is that of Strengthening the Commitment  If by the end of the event everyone comes away with a greater awareness of the StC then it be deemed a success. So we need lots more paperclip swaps to make sure it happens.

 

To give a visual slant to the paperclip challenge and stealing the idea from Helen Laverty , I will produce a chain of paperclips with the name of each person and their swap offer attached. This will hopefully become a little piece of art that will be shown at the conference. If anyone would like to take on this challenge please get in touch.

So please share the paperclip challenge idea with your friends and work colleagues. If you know any companies looking to recruit RNLD’s then tell them we are looking for a few organisations to have trade stands. They will have direct access to 100’s of nurses and would have space on our website.

Thanks