Glad u wer honest there Rich!

I really wanted 2 go to conference not for the free holiday (altho I gotta say Edinburgh is bluddy beautiful!) & shag, but cos I wanted to gain experience, information, understanding and develop contacts... I can quite happily say that I got all of this outta conference and so much more!

In all honesty, I was seriously doubting whether or not I'd be able to get the assembly set up, whether I'd get my head round everything and be able to do owt 2 make a difference cos I've never done nothing like this before in my life & have had a few knockdowns recently, which aint helped (Evie, I gotta gi u loadsa appreciation luv, thanks for listening n support when I told u bout all of it - ur a fantastic womens officer!). I've now come back from conference alot more confident cos I know that I've got my head round things, got a greater understanding & its really made me see that I can make a difference, as well as really motivating me to just go for it and do the best I can, I've sure as hell got the enthusiam & energy, as well as everything I've gained from conference!

I'm going to work my arse off to make a difference in our union & to motivate people to get involved and to provide every LGBT&Q student with opportunities to get involved and fight for a better deal in our union! Please take serious note of the e-mail about the assembly guys and consider it... this is our chance 2 make significant changes!

-- Edited by NickyDyke85 at 01:52, 2005-06-06

I'm terrified cos me n rich are agreeing on things... this dun usually happen.... ah well gr8 minds n all that :oP

Please put serious consideration into gettin involved with the Assembly. I know politics sounds as boring as hell and staying as a social soc clubbin n goin 2 pics etc sounds loads more fun but conference highlighted just how far behind other uni's we are politically. We've got around 200 members this year and aren't politically involved enough in the union, come September we can turn that all around, we WILL have the power to have our say in the union, we WILL have representation (in the form of my gob if nothing else, its big enuff!) As long as LUU has given us this opportunity, we SHOULD stand up and take it, NOT waste the opportunities to see our union change... We can do more about homophobia / biphobia / transphobia in halls and around campus, we can make incidents like the one at Fruity a thing of the past and we can now hold the union accountable for failing to deal effeciently with any complaints of heterosexist discrimination!

Ooh i posted a new thread to this on events which you might wanna sticky in here or delete. I'm a firm believer that conference is what you make of it and this conference for me was really interesting. It's fantastic that we have made so many friends and contacts for future socials and political campaigns. I have already got some great idea's for next years awareness campaigns and will talk about these wih Joe, Evie and Nic (who is politics big momma with her union council seat and all) and we'll see what we can run. A massive thanks to Nic, Adam, John and Rich (especially Rich) for making this weekend fantastic and i'm really glad you guys got a lot out of it too. And Alice i understand that conference cannot always be a positive experience, although I'm a firm believer that in life in general you should always look at the positives, that a small difference is he only difference you can make in the world but that it is such an amazing thing to do. I am glad of the positive outlook that has been gained and look forward to implementing this into our university. I think together that everyone can draw positives about themselves and create something beautiful! Thanks again everyone and check out the reports.

-- Edited by thaidave at 11:32, 2005-06-06

While I agree that it's important to look at the positives, I'm not going to ignore the things that I disliked about conference. I really wish I'd had enough courage to have run for a place on the Steering committee and I'm sorry for not making your weekend 'fantastic', Dave. I got a lot out of it, and that's all that's important to me.

I made some great contacts as well -- Bethan Griffiths gave me some excellent pointers on how to tackle biphobia and increase awareness of bisexual issues within our society, as did the chair and welfare officer of Hull's LGBT. And Alex Kemp's speech at the disabled student's caucus was brilliant; as someone with a hearing impediment, the accessibility issues of Conference were not ideal at all. (No hearing loop on the conference floor, no roving microphone, and impassioned people shouting out from the back of the row made for a few 'I have no idea what they just said' moments.)

It'll all be in my report. I'll try to keep it under 10,000 words!

Glad you got sum great contacts Alice. I'm tryin 2 build up a list of contacts who have said they will help us with issues, so that we've got a full list that the assembly can use wud u be able to give me the contact details please?

Dave sorry but i edited your post, theres sum things that we dun need 2 put on here about conference, thats the main one. Sorry4 lubing ur doorhandle this weekend n thanks 4 ur help this weekend 2, u've been a gem, luv ya.

If anyone else from conference has any contacts would u b able 2 give me their details as well please? Cheers xxx

Hey guys, I'm so glad you gained loads out of the confrence.

I would love it if in July we could meet (if any of you are around) and have a chat about what was said etc. It's all new to me and I want to be here to support LGBT and all LUU's soc's. I aint just saying it from a 'job' aspect, I do care. would that be cool???

We could do it over a coffee or a drink, I would really appreciate it.

John
xx

I would rather have coffee!

along with plans for the assembly and how you can help support us next year... as long as we can do it all over a drink cos i dun like coffee & love alcohol... :oP

cheers john!