Talk:Training the Trainers/February 2013 event

Location

Whilst Newcastle is a fantastic city, I'm not sure if it is the best location for this course - it would take me 3 hours to drive there and 4½ on the train. Of the six people who have signed up so far, at least four are based in the North West. I don't know where Katherine Bavage and Richard Nevell are based, but I get the impression that they're not from the Newcastle area either. So everyone is going to have to travel a long way, which would increase the costs and environmental impact. Of course, it is early days and North Easterners could still sign up, but I think it would be a better idea to change the location to Manchester. Alternatively, Leeds might be preferable as it is more central for both the North East and North West. Bazonka (talk) 20:44, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Personally speaking, Manchester would be much better for me; it would save several hours driving. (Or, failing that, Leeds / Liverpool / York / Sheffield / wherever). However, if a Newcastle is definitely nailed down and inflexible, so be it. Bobrayner (talk) 22:42, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

I queried the choice of location at the 8th Jan board meeting, on the basis that five of the potential attendees for this event were from Manchester, and the other two (Katherine and Richard) were from London, but I was (somewhat fairly) accused of micromanagement at that meeting as a result. The explanation of the location choice was that the office had selected this location so that it would generally appeal to to Scottish and Northern volunteers, who were going to appealed to by email based on our donor database, which is fair enough given that the last two training events were based in London. I'm looking forward to seeing the outcome of that appeal. At the same time, I would recommend that we hold a training event in the north west sometime soon. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 23:02, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

(COI note: I'm based in the north west, and I would like to undertake this training at some point, however I'm neutral as to the location that the training takes place as I'm equally happy to travel or not travel as appropriate). Mike Peel (talk) 23:12, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Yes, that would be micromanagement at the board level. It's the kind of thing that should be overseen by the education committee, but I don't think that exists yet. --Tango (talk) 00:42, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

I agree that it was a good idea to try and get NE and Scotland editors involved in this course, and I can also see the point that an attempt to change this from the outset could be construed as micromanagement. But that was then and this is now. This call for interest has been open for some time now, and absolutely zero North Easterners or Scots have so far expressed an interest. The initial rationale for holding this event in Newcastle doesn't seem to have borne fruit, so at this stage it would be more pragmatism than micromanagement to reconsider the location. Of course there is still time for others to sign up (the geo-notice about the event has only recently been published), but presumably the longer this is left unaddressed, the harder it will be to change. I can make it to Newcastle (one of my favourite cities); my main concern is the cost of transporting several people to somewhere that they don't really need to go to. Bazonka (talk) 07:59, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

I'd concur that Newcastle is a very long way, given the lack of NE and Scottish people who are suggesting they'd like to come. Also, I'm curious to know how many spaces there are on the course? Worm^TT(talk) 08:49, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

I'll chime in, that wherever it is, I'll likely be taking the train. I'm based just north of Manchester, so I'd personally prefer it to be near there, if it's not too late to change it. Mark M (Talk) 09:49, 11 January 2013 (UTC)