Chch debrief

[Amethyst]

I don't know about everyone else but I personally think maybe moving on from a nappy expo might be good for next year

Maybe a baby sale/RNW expo/Baby wearing something?
If the babies on budget's stuff goes ahead there maybe funding we can draw on for promotion?

[Emma]

:
Are people more aware/educated about cloth nappies? Is a Nappy Expo the way to go or do we have a larger Baby Expo with a cloth nappy focus? That way we get people in the door and then convert them

I think there is a huge potential for this since we don't get the parent and child show anymore. That was a sponsor thing wasn't it? Could it be replaced by something smaller scale that may gradually grow?

[Amethyst]

:
Are people more aware/educated about cloth nappies? Is a Nappy Expo the way to go or do we have a larger Baby Expo with a cloth nappy focus? That way we get people in the door and then convert them

I think there is a huge potential for this since we don't get the parent and child show anymore. That was a sponsor thing wasn't it? Could it be replaced by something smaller scale that may gradually grow?

We do now it will be ever other year...unless they change their minds AGAIN .

[Amethyst]

Found this from an overseas ad for RNW:

Organisations across the country will be celebrating the week with unique events, and the Borough Council will join with Leicestershire County Council to hold a Baby Fair.

The fun, free event will take place at Hinckley Leisure Centre on Wednesday 29 April from 10am to 2pm. The Baby Fair will be jam-packed with real nappy stalls, advice, presentations, baby product stalls, children's activities and refreshments.

The first 75 entrants to the fair will receive a £15 voucher to spend on real nappy products on the day.

Not a bad idea?

[Goldilocks]

One thing I did notice when I came out from the diy room..was there weren't very many retailers! I was expecting there to be way more to look at! A bit of a shame I think

Does anyone know how many people (a-round-abouts) we had come through?

[Kaz]

Who has the money from the preloved table?
Maybe we could reimburse Gabes for the advertising instead of her getting it from TNN.

[Kaz]

I think if we were to go down the Baby Fair Route, we would need to start planning now (I can't believe I am thinking about it, slap me quick)

[Emma]

:shock: I think if we were to go down the Baby Fair Route, we would need to start planning now (I can't believe I am thinking about it, slap me quick)

Now is actually a really good time to start, while everything is fresh in your head. If 'we' decide to got that way it may be worth having a rnw committee and within that have convenors for each area eg one person handles advertising, one diy, one venue etc. It doesn't mean that person has to do everything, they just have to make sure it happens I can go into more detail but I won't bore you - I'm on an events management team and we do conferences and other events regularly so I have a few ideas that might work for rnw.

I feel like I can't say much since I couldn't be involved this year but I am keen to be next time I think you all did a great job given the circumstances.

[gabes]

Who has the money from the preloved table?
Maybe we could reimburse Gabes for the advertising instead of her getting it from TNN.

I've been in touch with CC. I need to get an invoice from The Star. Didnt get a chance to do that today.

I dont mind either way. Just let me know what is easier.

[Dunners]

Preloved nappies
$25 made for TNN ($15 commission, $10 for a nappy).

I have the float (my money) and the $25 made for TNN.

From the noise POV, I think the DIY is better off being somewhere seperate as if all the machines were going it could have hampered conversation

We weren't very noisy IMO - most of the time the machines weren't even running (Claire & Carla snapping, Hannah & I otherwise occupied by Arlo/Will/chatting wth visitors etc. I am thinking that it would be good to be "less removed" next year - maybe a corner of a large hall partitioned off, or more visible from the main area.

Also maybe needed to be better set up with a table across the length of the room that clearly had the steps happening in order - as when I came in found it difficult to know where I was supposed to be standing and what I was needing to look at --IYKWIM

Yeah, but you're one of us - we're not going to step you through it, are we? When people came in the door they were greeted and we directed them to the area(s) of interest. Not need to do that with you eh

Not many posters were printed and put up as I only had 6 people ask for the PDF. Did anyone else send it out?

Yes, I did - to a couple of TNNers and to various organisations as well.

2 of the pregnant mums were bookings from my hire kits (as I emailed everyone I had bookings from.)

Ahh! Great job Gabes!

Then maybe people could look through that and then ask us their questions, rather than us trying to explain everything at once and probably just confusing them!

I agree, but I think it's just the few of us whom actually take the time to read things It's easier to ask and listen than read

Can't be bothered quoting for these things, here's my response;

Baby Fair - I have been pondering this over the last week in relation to a Baby Basics/on a budget sort of fair (baby wearing, preloved & new nappies & gear, empowering with workshops - baby wearing, nappies, food, homemade toy ideas, gardening, etc). But I'm not sure how to make it work and it's going to take a heap of commitment to organise it. The other issue is that we'll possibly be clashing in timing with the Parents Centre Baby Fair this coming Saturday - not sure if that's a regular thing or not .

I have also been thinking about venues. I have no idea what the ins & outs of our new Church, Spreydon Baptist, are with hiring as a venue, but I can investigate (we're pretty new there so we know nadda about how it works and they may not even make it available to non-church activities). I was thinking that we could buddy up with the New Harvest Trust (I believe Spreydon Baptist has affiliations with NHT), and get some budget/educational focussed type Expo/Fair thing happening? And of course with a cafe on site that makes that side of things VERY easy Shall I make some enquiries?

Forgotten what else I was going to say Tea is ready Probably back later

[Laura]

From the noise POV, I think the DIY is better off being somewhere seperate as if all the machines were going it could have hampered conversation

We weren't very noisy IMO - most of the time the machines weren't even running (Claire & Carla snapping, Hannah & I otherwise occupied by Arlo/Will/chatting wth visitors etc. I am thinking that it would be good to be "less removed" next year - maybe a corner of a large hall partitioned off, or more visible from the main area.

when we arrived i suggested the DIY be on one side of the hall but no one agreed so it went in the side room. i alse didnt think the noise would be an issue and it would of been more inclusive if it was out in the hall.

sorry the hall wasnt free - im sure i said at the start that it would be cheap and i thought it was.

if people have specific questions for other maybe pm would be a good idea cause i didnt always have time to read through all the pages to see if anything was directed at me.

i thought it was good - the people there were interested and most brought a second hand nap or something else. which was what we were doing it for wasnt it? to get people to think about using cloth.

[gabes]

im keen to help/do something?
i thought the expo went well last year - maybe a better venue? my family church is a great location and would be free to hire?
just throwing it out there.

I agree Laura, I do think the hall was cheap and $10/hr is very reasonable considering the size and what was available. The point I was making is that it would have been good to have had more warning that we needed an extra $50. Since we were all working to the assumption that it was free as per your post above on pg1 of the other thread.

Maybe next time we do something the person who books the venue *is* someone who has time to keep up with the thread. PMs are a great way of getting someones attention but it doesnt make sure that everyone knows what is going on. We're all busy, we need to streamline some of this stuff for future years.

I thought the issue with DIY in the main hall was lack of power points?

[Laura]

my apologies.

[piggywiggy]

Just a random interjection on the baby fair idea.
There is an awesome that was in Porrirua last year that I went to when ds was little. I got my sling there. It was free to go to and IMO actaully better content than the spendy parent and child show - which cost me quite a lot to go to (not free and not much given away!)
Snazzipants were there and I had a great talk to snazzipippa's mum about retail stands at things like this. You could try and get in touch with her to discuss and find out the details. There were LOADS of people over two days and lots of sling and nappy stalls and all sorts of other baby stuff. I really enjoyed it because it was less "Sponsors" pushing their products and more WAHM etc doing great service and great products.

(lots of work ot organise though and you'd need a very committed team to do it, starting now)

[gabes]

my apologies.

I'm not attacking you btw. I just think there are some things that need to be recorded here (since this is the debrief and review thread) so we know what to do /not to do for the future. For me one of the things we need to sort out wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy earlier than we did this year is costs. This is not just the venue but also the cost of print ads (which are way more costly than most of us anticipated I think). I just want us to have this recorded for next year so we can get sorted earlier.