Page 8 - BPW-UK - E-news - Edition 110 - March 2023_Neat

BPW NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2023

A HOST’S PERSPECTIVE
It’s Thursday 9 March 2023 and after a hectic week, sorting the final arrange-
ments for the BPW AGM, Public Speaking and Conference, I’m having a well-earned
rest sipping a cappuccino at Costa in a nearby shopping centre.

Looking out the window I can see it has started to snow but not lying at the
moment. However, it isn’t long before it starts lying. I’m aware it has also been
snowing heavily in parts of GB and I know that around 20 delegates will be travelling
by air and many others will be travelling by car. Will they all manage to get here?

My thoughts go back to 2010 when the conference was last in Belfast. A num-
ber of volcanic eruptions took place in Iceland between March and June that year
and caused considerable disruption to air travel. Some delegates were unable to get
to conference and others had to make alternative arrangements.

I know some delegates have already arrived but others won’t arrive until later
in the day and some will be travelling by car the following day. Thankfully everyone
managed to get to Belfast though a few had serious delays and some re-routing.

Being the host and organising venues, dinners, etc comes with a degree of
anxiety. Will everything go okay? Will the delegates be happy with what has been
organised? Thankfully the arrangements went well despite a few last-minute calls
from one of the venues. All the speakers were very good and the Gordon Holmes
speaker, Naomi Long MLA, was excellent.

It was a delight to see everyone in person and to get to be able to chat which
is hard to do over Zoom. The last conference I attended was a number of years ago
and I enjoyed talking to people I knew and others I only knew from Zoom. All lovely
ladies and one brave man.

I hope everyone enjoyed their time in Belfast and will come
back and spend more time in the city and explore the rest of
Northern Ireland.

Heather Louden. NI Regional President