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Conference Committee Final Report – LCI Conference 2011, Hamburg 1 / 28

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F I N A L R E P O R T

L C I C O N F E R E N C E 2 0 1 1

H A M B U R G - G E R M A N Y


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Conference Convenor In the early stages LCI2011 in Hamburg was just an idea, after being chosen in Aberdeen 2008 it was a work assignment and out of this it became a vision which was planned, organized and filled with life, fun and colour in the upcoming three years. To fulfil the convenor job a lady should be passionate, ambitious, responsible, flexible and sleepless. For three years she’ll be a combination of slave, entertainer, juggler, trouble shooter, punching ball, team mum, personnel trainer and spider in a web. During the first month my job was focussed on strategic things like:

- be sure that your partner/family will support you 1.000 % - calculate and forecast the budget which seems to

be a view into a crystal ball - make a call for bids to find the right registration

agency where soft skills and professionalism have to weigh against each other

- check for required insurances - open a bank account - discuss the cooperation and involvement of the

national board - clear financial liability and the signature

authorisation regarding the contracts - find a logo, motto and theme of the conference - and last but not least complete the team Parallel I had to confirm the big points like how to handle the registration, find a conference hotel and a location for the opening ceremony and the welcome party. Implement a web site and negotiate with hotels within walking distance to the conference hotel due to room contingents and so on. From the beginning of our conference duties I set up full team meetings once a month and closer to the conference I divided them into individual team meetings. We also had 3 intensive weekend meetings with the whole team segmented in brainstorming, update and finalizing meetings combined with team building activities with an external trainer (sponsored ;-). Another duty of the convenor is to have meetings/discussions/phone calls with all heads of the individual projects to discuss the path, brainstorm from left to right, assist with former conference know how and be a sparing partner for the team members. Every convener should keep in mind that she is responsible for the contact and network between all project groups. She has to keep always a worm's eye view as well as a bird’s eye view of all items. She’s the glue who has to hold it all together. I was responsible for spreading regular news and information national and international via articles in the German LC journal and newsletters as well as fill the homepage with figures and post information on facebook. Leaflets and the conference booklet have also been created. As the convenor, I was the main contact person for the national board, the LCI board as well as for all national and international questions from several ladies all over the world. That means a lot of fun and friendship and thousands of mails and phone calls.


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I spent most of my holidays at national and international 2011 conference promotion tours. I’m proud to say that I was accompanied on every tour by some team members which meant that also some executive team members spent a lot of time on promotion tours (as well as for travelling to our 2011 meetings which took place most of the time in Hamburg and some of the team ladies had to travel about 2 hrs. one way to the meetings). If I have to name just three requirements for a successful LCI conference I summarize them as: a high motivated team, good weather and a professional internet based registration form. The first two points are explanatory but also the registration form is enormously important because all teams need every time correct and current registration figures. These figures are the one thing which is highly relevant for every team member! Please note that all needful plans and decisions have to made in advance – during the conference you are just on autopilot ;-) The biggest challenge for me was how to give the LCI2011 feeling to a team if not every lady had already attended at an LCI conference and how to hold the team motivation at a high level over three long years. The most clever decision I made was to choose Claudia as my Vice Convenor: Without her daily 24 hr support, engagement, work and ideas I wouldn’t have been able to do this job and without the whole 2011 team it wouldn’t have been such a success and incredible event.

The most thrilling moment was to look around 600 lucky faces from 34 different countries at the opening reception. The craziest thing I never believed was to wake up with 2011 and to go to bed with 2011 over three years ;-) The most important thing I learned is “You should take things as they come. But you should make sure that things happen the way you want to take them.”

At this point I would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to the wonderful 2011 team members, their partners, families and all the ladies who supported this project. All these ladies and friends made that little row boat into a big cruise ship. We all got unforgettable lifetime memories: A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL SAILOR LADIES WHO CRUISED WITH US. Svenja Postawka (LC 10 Hamburg) Conference Convenor __________________________________________________________________________ Secretary and (from a later date) Vice-Convenor There is not really much to say about this job. Everybody actually knows what the secretary of a circle or at work does. When starting on this challenging task of organising the 2011 LCI Conference, for me it was the chance to give something back to all ladies, nationally and internationally and of course


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to some special ladies who had set out on this task. Our German Past President Karen, the LC Germany-President Silke and Svenja, who also had been a LC Germany President and Nicole, who was our national treasurer at the time. That was back in 2008. I felt happy in this task as it gave me the opportunity to use my abilities acquired when living in England for 3 years and it was actually just putting my LC Germany job as Secretary on an international level. So easy. What is great about this job is – you know every thing that is happening! At least that is how it should work as you have to put in words what everybody is doing, thinking and working on. Advice for anyone picking up this job:

- get yourself a reliable computer and an internet connection that always works (I had problems when moving) (so probably the next advice should be: Don’t move house while on this job ☺)

- enjoy going to all the meetings - love talking on the telephone - don’t ever think that your English is not good enough! It will be fine for all others with

English as a second or third language - have the capacity to listen to three conversations at the same time while typing

everything in the computer and translating it at the same time. - Tell your ladies from the different teams to send in the results of what they have done by

the next meeting. That is very !!!!!! useful and would have saved much time, a few misunderstandings and would have helped the teams to get their workload organised and presented to the rest of us more structured. I only thought of this “pre-meeting-digitally-prepared-information” when it was too late ☺

- Last but not least: Have fun doing it and get involved! Don’t just feel you are only putting things on paper that others have thought of. It is sometimes of great importance to them and your convenor to bring in your ideas. As the secretary, you get the overall picture and have to digest it twice - first listening and then writing it – so it sticks with you much better than with all the rest.

What else did we/ I do?

- We tried to set up rules for our correspondence such as always stating LCI in our Email-headers. This helps especially the convenor to sort out these emails and find them much quicker.

- We produced a couple of necessary items for our correspondence and our work such as letterheads (for every team or member I produced these documents so that our appearance was always the same), the layout for the v-cards,

- we created standard information sheets for the teams. In the beginning these gave an idea of former Conferences and how procedures had been, number of participants for the specific event, costs of the past 3 conferences, information on what will be needed during the Event, a rough time schedule and what must not be forgotten. These sheets were first assembled by Svenja, Silke and me who had been to several conferences. The teams then used them to work with.

- We had an overall timetable from the beginning to have a rough idea what needed to be organised, decided or done. Some of the dates were pretty clear even years before and from those set dates we counted backwards i.e. with printing-deadlines etc.


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- I kept the list of the LCI Conference-committee-members with all the vital information, especially later, when we started to get helping hands of new team-members joining during the year from other circles.

- I kept all records meaning saving all emails, documents, information A good time through our first year, and after Nicole was elected as International Treasurer, we were looking for a new vice-convenor. Having no kids, an easy going husband, no commitments at local or national LC and an easily-overlooked and safe job as well as already being always in the full picture, it was pretty clear who would take the job. So when I took over from Nicole I just continued what I had been doing in the first place. I don’t know, whether I was in charge of leaflet and booklet, banners and web-text as a secretary or vice-convenor. I enjoyed it greatly either way! The leaflet had to be ready for the next conference and it was a challenge to get all the information necessary by that time – and get it in properly. The booklet turned out be not only a “last minute” but a “last second” task. We got so many changes during the last days before printing, that the graphic designers were well chosen. We used some that I have had plenty of experience with, I knew their work pace, their capacities in late changes and I knew what to expect with the first draft of the booklet. I was pretty sure, that they would find a good solution to fit in with our web-design, logo and general ideas. That made the first stage easy. What we got a bit late – also because we ourselves didn’t think about it early enough, were the greetings from LCI, RTI, AGORA, Tangent and LC Germany. It takes time to get to them, to remind them and then get them to make changes if required (i. g. length of text). In the end I did it myself and sent them the text with a deadline to get back to me or otherwise they agreed to the changes. Especially difficult were all the last minute changes to the lists in the booklet (also referred to elsewhere). There were mistakes – we know, but that also has do with ladies making up their minds sometimes “on a whim” and “verrrrry late” ☺.

Thanks to Svenja, who loves talking on the phone at all times of the day (and night ;-) ), my vice-convenor job was limited to staying in touch with her and the LCI-Board. As I do not living in Hamburg, Svenja kept up all the contacts there and was never resting in her efforts to keep things running. I had the pleasure – and that’s what I really mean – to being Svenjas left or right or hand and keeping up her humour, listening to and diminishing her doubts, going through ideas with her before bringing them to the whole team – and hopefully giving her the feeling, that she has someone to rely on who could step in any time.

I think that is the most important task for a vice-convenor: To be there! I thank everybody allowing me to be a part of Ladies’ Circle (even a little over the allowed time of a Lady as I had had my birthday in May.) It was a great pleasure to be there for all of you and be part of the “machinery” LCI Conference 2011. Everybody made it worthwhile and – I would do it again – not straight away, but …. Claudia Wollkopf (LC 27 Hannover) Secretary / Vice Convenor __________________________________________________________________________


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Treasurer

My work as a conference treasurer had times of business and times of laziness. The first busy time was the calculation. The wish of the conference convenor and the national board was to provide the Ladies with cheap prices. We agreed on the “break even participant” – no. of 400 full paying ladies, as the conference committees before. All event-committees tried their very best to negotiate valuable prices and all tried their very best to stay within the budgets. I hope everybody was fine with our calculation.

Unfortunately, you always have to live with unexpected surprises when you plan such an event. The closer the AGM comes, the more interesting are the surprises. Therefore the conference treasurer has to update the budgets regularly in order to cope with this. We passed the registration/ accommodation to an agency, which did a great job as well as a lot of the treasury work.

The next peak of the treasurer’s work was after the conference. I really was sure, to be ready with my work at the end of October 2011 or middle of November. Well, wish and reality….. some invoices came later than expected, some personal “challenges” plopped up. Therefore I am still on duty (please apologize) but we will make a small profit, this fact is sure. As conclusion: It was great to be member of the conference team and it was a pleasure to cruise with you to Hamburg. Kirsten Preßl (LC 33 Geest-Bremen) Treasurer __________________________________________________________________________ Registration Registration involves the complete handling of a participants registration processing and correspondence for the attendance at the LCI Conference. The complete registration process is an exceptionally busy, time-consuming and patience requiring job. It was decided by the Conference Team to outsource the part registration/accommodation to the Agentur Ressmannn, based in Mannheim. Two employees of the agency joint the project from the beginning till the end, including 3 employees at the LCI registration desk during the whole conference. These topics were handled by the registration agency:

- The online registration form included the registration for the programme points, the hotel booking and the credit card processing. It was our job to check each registration with the programmes chosen, if they were chosen correctly or if anything was forgotten.


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- Hotel booking – We had a choice of three different hotels that could be booked. As soon as we received a hotel booking in the registration, we included the participant onto our hotel list, which was then given on to the hotel. The hotel list included name, arrival date, departure date, what kind of room booking, as well as with whom they wanted to share a room. We were completely responsible for the correspondence with the hotel.

- The registration form had to be changed for example as soon as a tour was fully booked and could no longer be chosen.

- Registration also included written confirmations for ladies, who needed this to get their travel Visa.

- We also processed the credit card booking. Here again we had to check each booking, whether everything was correct, as ladies had often repeated the credit card procedure. In this case the money was also taken off several times. The wrong bookings then had to be cancelled by us or transferred back to their bank account.

- Databases were saved, with which we worked in Excel and created important lists. 850

data positions were entered onto our database, from which several data had to be cancelled or changed. Time-intensive work.

- Being part of the registration team means receiving hundreds of e-mails per day, when it

comes to the peak period, no matter what time of the day it is! You always have to be available and answer as soon as possible to solve questions, problems and concerns. Help is always needed! The main method of communication was e-mails, as they could be answered and sent from Germany at any time. Very often also the telephone was one of our communication tools. E-Mails were sometimes not answered after days and when it comes to something very urgent, we had to call the delegates, no matter where in the world.

- Most registrations came in just before the early bird deadline and just before the absolute

deadline. - Coming nearer to the event, we were responsible for the name badges. The layout was

chosen and our job was to produce these professionally. - Check In: The hotel already had an

extra registration desk for us. This was great to set out the sorted name badges and all the other equipment needed for the registration. Envelopes with name badges, registration confirmation, a conference bag and the conference booklet were given to each delegate at the registration desk. At peak times, we were 7-8 persons behind the conference registration desk. We had one to two persons who were responsible for the on-site registration and additional bookings. This way we could handle a quick registration process. The registration desk was used for check-in and as an information desk. The opening times were daily, from morning till late in the evening, always depending on the programme and arrival times of the participants.


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- In conclusion you require much patience, friendliness, willingness and much more to keep an eye on everything and to be ready to solve any problems / situations occurring at the registration desk.

Problems that has occurred throughout the registration process:

- We had a differences in registration fees; one-event registration when the participant chose one programme point, full registration fee when choosing more than one programme point. We had several Ladies that had chosen more than one programme point and still clicked one-event registration fee (although this was mentioned on the website and explained very well!). This mistake had to be solved with a re-registration and ended with endless work.

- Credit card payment; some ladies repeated this procedure several times because they

thought the payment had not worked. This lead to several amounts that had been booked off the credit card. Another case was that some ladies did not have credit cards, so that it had to be transferred into a bank account from LCI. Some ladies had forgotten to transfer money or did not bother. Here again, everything had to be checked three times and then contact the participant several times and remind the lady to pay!

- Hotel bookings; the ladies couldn’t decide, with whom they wanted to share a room, since

everyone had always named someone else. Then arrival dates were often changed or rooms were booked, although the lady only wanted to check, after having registered herself, how much in the end it would cost in total.

- BUT, as soon as you click the hotel and finish your registration, don’t inform us about this mistake, the room is booked! We ended up receiving the invoice from the hotel, with an amount of money to pay for “no shows”!!

Future recommendations for registration teams:

- As experienced in the past, the programmed online registration platform always created problems. The LCI motto is “Keep Ladies Circle cheap” but to avoid these problems in future, we recommend that a basic adaptable registration portal, is designed, programmed and implemented in one way that it can be used for all future LCI Conferences. This means in detail, that a platform should be created in a better way. This way is surely much more expensive but could be the general portal for all future LCI Conferences. The input fields for personal data are always the same, the programme structure is always the same, and the credit card payment is always the same procedure. All in all, the basic frame can be programmed. For each new conference, the data content, for example background design, names, time schedules etc…can be adapted to the actual conference taking place. In this case, no basic platforms have to be new created each time, saving money for the creation, programming and much more. Maybe there is the possibility that the basic registration portal can be saved on a server from the LCI, so that it can be adapted and available for further registration teams at any time.

- Do not decide to have the early bird period ending at the weekend! This is one of the

most frequented times of the registration, where the e-mail account, as well as the telephones do not have a break. At this stage the registration team has to be completely available. Better to move the early bird deadline to Wednesday or Thursday, so that the registration team can answer all questions and queries.

- Decide to mention some nice hotels on the registration portal where the participants can

stay, but do not handle the complete booking of the hotels. It would be best if the participants could reach the hotel by foot, so try and find hotels near to the central site of the conference and maybe if possible even to the evening locations. Make sure you


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negotiate with the hotel that you can block a particular number of rooms and that you receive a special room rate. Then mention the hotel, including address, contact number and contact person, so that the delegates can book themselves. All they need to do is for example mention the name “Ladies Circle” and the hotel knows, this lady belongs to the group for which the rooms are blocked. This way you simplify the handling of hotel bookings and don’t end up with tremendous invoices and confusion with extras the participants had at the hotel. Each participant pays on-site and book themselves.

- Decide, whether you want to offer on-site registration. If so, do not mention this before the registration deadline. In order to encourage, everyone should register before the registration deadline.

- The opening times of the registration desk should be thought through thoroughly.

Definitely consider the arrival times of the participants. These are, for example, our opening times we had at the LCI Conference in Hamburg:

Wednesday: 12.00 to 20.00 h (external 8 helpers) Thursday: 08.00 to 21.00 h (external 8 helpers) Friday: 08.00 to 18.00 h (external 3 helpers) Saturday: 10.00 to 12.00 h (external 3 helpers)

17.00 to 19.00 h (no external helpers) Always open at least one hour before each programme point starts in the morning. We would also recommend opening in the morning after the Admirals Dinner, when most delegates depart. You never know what information is needed or what queries appear. Have enough helpers behind the registration desk. When it comes to the peak times, these helpers are needed. Please see above, how many helpers were needed at the registration desk.

- Be aware that even after registration deadline, your e-mail account will be flooded with

requests to register. - Be aware, that you will receive daily changes that have to be made, since participants

cannot decide what they want! - Inform participants who need a Visa to inform the registration team as soon as possible,

so that the confirmations can be written accurately and not one night before Visa deadline.

Finally we would like to mention two issues, which we would like to highlight and maybe should be thought about for possible future changes/improvements: - AGM

Delegates were not happy about having to pay the one-event registration fee for attending the AGM without lunch, which is actually free. After the conference we also received the information that some delegates attended the AGM without lunch, without even having registered for it. Delegates did not understand having to pay for something that should be free?! We recommend that the AGM should be created differently. To not have this differentiation, it would be useful to think about having only one possibility to choose; “AGM”. The AGM could be put together into a kind of “package”. This means for example that in future the AGM includes conference material, drinks and a lunch snack. No more differentiation between AGM without lunch (free) and with lunch. Participants can then also choose the AGM


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separately to all the other programme points when registering, because we will have the AGM cost (for example € 50,00) covering the expenses we have for each participant. This means we would not differentiate with one-event registration or full event registration. We need to find a break-even point to make it fair for everyone. Should a participant, for example only attend the AGM, she will then not get a conference bag and all the other material, someone else would get for a full-registration. What would also be very reasonable for the future is the availability to watch the AGM via live stream on the Internet. Depending on the conference location, there will often be the difficulty of finding a suitable room for the high number of participants. Also it would allow ladies all over the world, who do not have the possibility to join the conference, to be part of the AGM at that moment. Even if they do not have the possibility at the same time, it should then be possible to view the AGM at another time in the Internet. This procedure guarantees all Ladies, all over the world, to attend the AGM for free – like it is the standard of the Ladies Circle International rules. This is just an impulse for future conferences. - Credit card fee and bank transfer

Not all delegates have the possibility to pay via credit card. This is why the chance has to be given to pay via bank transfer. The problem with these two possibilities is that both have different fees. It should be discussed, how the fees for both ways of paying can equal out, not that the person paying via bank transfer pays more than the person paying via credit card or the other way round. Many thanks to the LCI Conference Team in Hamburg for giving us the opportunity to handle the registration. The immense work was exhausting but the experience and lovely time on-site was unforgettable! Melanie Köhler Registration agency __________________________________________________________________________ Transport I was responsible for the transport in general during the week of the conference. First of all, due to the fact that the Hamburg airport is very close to the city, one big part of the responsibility of the “Transporters” job was dropped. We realized that we did not need a bus transfer from the airport to the hotels. For this reason we decided to give the transfer to the hotels into the hands of the travelling ladies – to go by taxi or city train. As we decided to offer hotels closed to the conference hotel and nearly every meeting was in walking distance to the Hotel, even the start of the Welcome Parade. Considering these facts I “only” needed a welcome team at the Airport and Train station during the days of arrival to welcome all the ladies and to explain how to get to their hotels. It is useful to ask very early in your Circles who are able to spend some time at the Airport or Railway station for support. The LCI Conference is like Christmas – suddenly the time comes and then there is a lack of time.


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Checking the times of arrival is necessary – I recommend sending emails if the booking seemed to not be clear. Unfortunately, not every detail of the registration is fulfilled correctly or there might be some misunderstandings. At the first hint of mistake contact the lady! The transport to the several Homeparties is very special and challenging. Our wish was to enable all ladies to arrive at the same time at their Homeparty. This challenge is nearly impossible to achieve with several Homeparties quite far away. You have to coordinate the transport of around 400 ladies and they are not always on time. Pay attention to the timetables. It is very important to organize a lady for each bus who is responsible for this bus tour and contact person for both the driver and the ladies. As conclusion: - I recommend to take care of offers for transportation as soon as possible to get a general

idea of the estimated costs because there is still a chance to change the course of events,

- you need a lot of helping hands – ask the ladies in your country quickly and have them commit themselves,

- check the timetables of the incoming ladies, - make sure to plan a generous time table as handling so many ladies for a fixed departure

time is challenging - and last but not least - enjoy your part! Brigitte Colberg (TC 10 Hamburg) Head of Transport __________________________________________________________________________ Sponsoring Main tasks:

The main task was to generate a main (general) sponsor for an attractive Welcome Bag gift as well as to generate € 5,000 in conference booklet advertisements. Team:

I was responsible for the sponsoring assisted by the conference Convenor. We contacted a lot of potential sponsors via letter, mail, phone calls and personal contact. Aside from the 2011 Conference team some national ladies or Ladies’ Circles put their effort in sponsoring or generated donations. Money:

The main income was generated via advertisements for the conference booklet with a total amount of around € 4,000. Giveaways:

Due to a personal contact of a German lady we got the international fashion company BOSS as main sponsor for the Conference Bag gifts. Every lady received a beauty case including a 10 % discount voucher for the BOSS Shop in Hamburg. Aside from this we could generate some giveaways like band-aids, chocolates, fragrances and rain coats.


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Conference:

The city of Hamburg took over the costs of the Opening Ceremony (around € 1,000). The sponsoring of the Homeparties beverages was taken over by our Convenors’ husbands’ company, Trinks Gmbh. Summary:

Just 1/5 of the contacted companies were interested in sponsoring, although we thought that Ladies’ Circle is a perfect target group for these companies. The main challenge for the contribution in kind was the number of requested gifts (600). The biggest challenge was the early approved marketing budgets at most companies. In fact most of the big companies support their own foundation or are closely connected with their own social projects. An acquisition is just with a personal contact successful; in light of this we advice involving all Ladies’ Circle, Tangent Clubs, Round Tables, 41 Clubs as well as all befriended clubs. Iris Beuerle (LC 10 Hamburg) Head of Sponsoring __________________________________________________________________________ Website The idea:

If you host an international conference it is necessary to provide all necessary information online. This guarantees the advantage that all necessary information like dates, venues and so on, are easy to find on the World Wide Web quite early. Some information regarding the LCI Conference are also be published on the LCI Homepage but with an own conference homepage you’re able to promote the conference at a very early date in the look and feel of your conference theme. When we started:

Go live of www.lci2011.org was shortly after the LCI Conference in Bruges. This go live time point had two reasons; on one hand we would like that all ladies could put their focus in 2010 at the conference in Bruges and on the other hand we wanted to implement all the learning from Bruges in our project. What is necessary?

The lady who is responsible for creating and implementing the website should have a professional background with new media. To create a web site is at first glance is quite easy and quick but to sound out and implement all possibilities and fill the pages with life it is a lot of work and needs little more than a basic know how. During the conference organisation as well as during the conference it is essential to update all current dates and figures as soon as possible to provide all basic figures as well as helpful information to the ladies.


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What would we do better the next time?

The web site could be connected more intensively with other social media sites like facebook, Xing or twitter. This possibility may open the chances to push the PR activities. In general a conference web site is a necessary media for both the ladies to pick up information and to provide an attractive commercial platform for sponsorship. Inga Skowranek (LC 10 Hamburg) Web-Lady __________________________________________________________________________ Councillors Dinner Setup of venue - we selected this particular venue because of the following aspects:

- It is in walking distance to the conference hotel. - As Circle Meeting place, this venue offered special prices for the 3 events we booked. - Value for money was best by far. - Beautiful setting, something to see and experience for the Councillors even though they

are working most of the time.

Challenges to overcome:

The venue did not have any sound system, which had to be rented elsewhere. We set it up ourselves without assistance from a professional technician, which saved the participants money. I used to work in the entertainment industry, and decided I could do it without help. The only other small challenge was to find a maritime decoration for zero funds. We found a lady to sponsor material and made little lighthouses ourselves, which served as decoration.

The food served was 1500 pieces of fingerfood for 72 Ladies plus 400 pieces of dessert fingerfood. However, despite of the seemingly large number, it may have happened that not everyone got enough food. The cook was embarrassed, as apparently the Ladies had been by far hungrier than at normal events. Thus we can only recommend to plan for plenty of food for the Councillors’ Dinner, as the Ladies appear to arrive very hungry. Important tasks to be taken care of several weeks prior to the Conference:

- For this very light and uncomplicated event, it is more important to put your heart into it than to follow rules and guidelines

- Do not plan too much entertainment, just something small Important Tasks to do right before the AGM

- Put up the LCI flag - Make sure everyone has sufficient food and drink and

adjust your plans for the evening, if necessary, to the mood of party

Silke Schael (LC 27 Hannover) Head of Councillors Dinner __________________________________________________________________________


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Councillors Meeting Setup of venue - we selected this particular venue because of the following aspects:

- It is in walking distance to the conference hotel. - As a regular Circle Meeting place, this venue offered special prices for the three events

we booked there. - Value for money; was best by far. - Beautiful setting, something to see and experience for the Councillors even though they

are working most of the time. Challenges to overcome:

The planning phase was easy, as the manager agreed to everything we needed. However, when arriving at the venue on Thursday morning just after 8, we found a crowded room with 56 seats for the 78 delegates that were booked. It also promised to be a hot day and the room did not have air conditioning, but large windows. Seating of the Councillors was crowded and the helping members of the LCI Team served the councillors at their seats with drinks due to the hot weather and crowded conditions. This saved the situation for the hard working LCI Board and councillors.

Important Tasks to be taken care of several weeks prior to the Conference:

- Make sure all country signs are in good shape and correct – have new ones made if new countries are present or country signs are missing

- Make sure the sound system in this small room is in place or ordered, as even in a small room it is much easier for everyone if a simple sound system (as we did) is booked and used with a microphone an speakers for the presentations

Important Tasks to do right before the AGM:

- Put up the LCI flag - Set up country signs on the councillors seats - Set up the Candle of Friendship Silke Schael (LC 27 Hannover) Head of Meetings __________________________________________________________________________ Annual General Meeting Setup of venue - We selected this particular venue because of the following aspects:

- In the center of the conference activities and thus easy to reach. - Even in a city like Hamburg, it is not easy to find a room which will seat 300 as easily as

700 participants. - Audio visual support for presentations was overseen by professionals.


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Find a venue which will offer the above at an affordable price. Price negotiations and personal connections presented us with a cost structure that was feasible, nonetheless not really inexpensive, but the best that could be found.

Seating of the Councillors with regard to the audience as well as the screen / speakers tables is a key issue for the AGM floor plan. The left picture shows the changed floor plan, which was suitable for both, giving the audience the chance to see the Councillors and the Councillors to see the presentations.

Even though the venue at the Grand Elysee Hotel offered a great deal of advantages, it would have been even better to have theater seating, provided that the technical support for the audio and visual aspects of the conference are also provided. Important Tasks to be taken care of several weeks prior to the Conference:

- Get the new Conference Location added to the banner - Sort through the country flags and country signs to make sure every country is

represented (often a country has been added throughout the year) - Make sure the country flags can be hung in the selected venue Important Tasks to do right before the AGM:

- Put up the country flags - Set up country signs on the councillors seats - Set up the Candle of Friendship - Put up LCI banner - Put up Conference Banners Silke Schael (LC 27 Hannover) Head of Meetings __________________________________________________________________________ International Contact Meeting Setup of venue - We selected this particular venue because of the following aspects:

- It is in walking distance to the conference hotel. - As a regular Circle Meeting place, this venue offered special prices for the three events

we booked there. - Value for money; was best by far. - Beautiful setting, something to see and experience for the Councillors even though they

are working most of the time.


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As the setup from the CM was maintained and the number of participants less than for the CM, preparations were easy and no special challenges had to be overcome. Seating of the Councillors was crowded but less so than for the CM. The helping Conference Team Members continued the drinks service established during the CM, but all in all the meeting was much more relaxed. Important Tasks to be taken care of several weeks prior to the Conference:

- Make sure all country signs are in good shape and correct – have new ones made if new countries are present or country signs are missing

- Make sure the sound system in this small room is in place or ordered, as even in a small room it is much easier for everyone if a simple sound system (as we did) is booked and used with a microphone an speakers for the presentations

Important Tasks to do right before the ICM:

- Put up the LCI flag - Set up country signs on the councillors seats - Set up the Candle of Friendship Silke Schael (LC 27 Hannover) Head of Meetings __________________________________________________________________________ Welcome Opening Ceremony:

We had a short nice welcome reception (35 minutes) to our LCI-Cruise in the main building of Hamburg University. There were about 650 ladies, two pirates playing the flute, 4 speeches (LCI: Malin, LCD: Linda, Conference Convenor: Svenja, Hamburg Senate representative: Wolfgang Schmidt), all the flags for decoration, all the ladies in their national costumes, wonderful atmosphere, cheerful ladies! Really helpful was the minute-by-minute schedule which all the speakers got in advance. A challenge for Alexandra was the change of location in July: we were invited to do the Opening Ceremony in the Town Hall, which was not possible any longer, because of a political meeting there. The big PLUS was that the Senate paid for all our new costs.


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Welcome Parade:

Our 25 helping hands who escorted the ladies from the hotel to the ceremony were waiting in alphabetical order outside and showing the national flags/ shields (which are in Sweden already). This was announced in advance – so everything went smoothly including taking pictures, chatting…this took 30 minutes.

The nice policemen we booked stopped rush-hour traffic at Hamburg Dammtor train station for us. It was a good decision to have a walk through the park instead of a public parade on the streets. We booked 24 degrees – and we got them! It was a wonderful and colourful parade through the park “Planten and Blomen.” The Samba group was fantastic, the people friendly, no dangerous traffic…. what else could we have wished for. The walk (1,5 km) took about 45 minutes. Welcome Party

We had to find a central location for at least 1000 guests which was the main difficulty. After finding this location there were no more worries: We booked a package incl. drinks, typical German barbecue buffet, DJ, security and the rights to play music; wonderful weather, flowers and so on. It was good to have inside/ outside areas and a variety of places to sit, stand and dance. The LCI Shop, the LCD Shop, the NSP Shop and some German circles offered their products at a special shopping mall. (By the way: You can order our LCI cookery book at [email protected]).

The party went until 2 o`clock. After chatting, saying hello, eating, exchanging sweets and pins, introducing the Conference team (which relaxed the schedule of the Saturday-Gala team), the dance floor was crowded. Maybe we should have given more signs to the way out…but no-one got lost. There was a shuttle bus to the hotels from 23:00 to 02:00 h, but most ladies choose the short walk there. It was really good to have short walking distances. Sandra Eilers (LC 56 Lüneburg) Head of Welcome __________________________________________________________________________ Homeparties We started organising about three years before the conference as usual. We searched for a caterer and found one who is a member of Round Table and has catered various private functions of quality. We soon had an acceptable offer and he confirmed the date for us.


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One difficulty proved to be, that no one knew in advance, how many ladies were to attend the Homeparties and where exactly they will be held. We lost a decent number of LC10 Hamburg members during the planning phase and so the locations of the Homeparties changed along the way. The caterer did not understand how many different parties there were going to be. Communicating all possible scenarios is essential.

After finding a caterer we started looking for hosts. This process was also difficult due to the LCI rule that the travel to the parties should not take longer than 30 min, which was known to be impossible from the start. Fortunately, during the process the LCI board realized the problem we were facing and we were able to widen the radius and include the surrounding Circles and smaller cites around Hamburg. It would be helpful to take this rule out of the LCI guidelines to avoid frustration and difficulties in the organisation. We had to reject some offers of hosts because of that rule at the beginning of the progress and to ask them for their help again later.

Due to another LCI rule concerning food that is to be served (should be the same at all Homeparties) we decided to have the main caterer also catering the Homeparties of most of the surrounding Circles which also proved to be a problem. Due to unexpectedly high temperatures and some mistakes on the caterer’s side the quality of the food was not the same everywhere. For various reasons, it would have been much better in our case to use local caterers and work out a menu for them to prepare. Logistics was the main issue we had. We had sponsors for most of the drinks which was a big financial bonus, but again, logistics proved to be difficult and time consuming. Financial sponsoring and local drink supply would have saved us a lot of trouble. We shuttled the ladies to their Homeparties in private cars, busses, public transport and some of them walked. All were accompanied by one or two ladies from local circles. To get 450 Ladies „up and running“ for their Homeparties takes more than an hour. Due to a miscommunication at the AGM, some ladies arrived very late which made the others wait. A good solution would be to set a time sharp for the transport to leave. Late registration during the process of getting the ladies to their transportation should be impossible. We suggest a waiting list to fill slots that become available due to sickness etc. We hosted 450 ladies at 29 Homeparties with the number of guests varying between 8 and 25.


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The host ladies showed a lot of flexibility and creativity in dealing. All the parties were very successful and the guests were happy. Thanks again for all the help we found in the surrounding Circles!!!! Things to do differently next time:

- All hosts should be clear that the decision of them having guests or the number of guests can only be made by the orga team about 3 weeks in advance, after the registration is closed.

- In case of Homeparties being far away from each other, use local catering! Perhaps a set menu and a budget should be given to the hosts. They need to get offers from local caterers early to minimize the stress in the orga team.

- Definite sharp time of the shuttle service to leave; the ladies can decide themselves how much time buffer they need.

- One week before and one week after the Homeparties the team needs about 5 helping hands for all sorts of errands to be run, make a plan before the weeks of the conference.

- The Homeparty convenor should NOT host a party herself.... mine only worked out thanks to my brilliant mother who prepared everything and looked after the kids at the same time!

Annike Ponta (LC 10 Hamburg) Head of Homeparties __________________________________________________________________________ Galadinner LC 31 Walsrode took over the responsibility for the Gala dinner in January 2010. At this time, the venue for a maximum of 700 persons was already chosen and the price for the 3 course meal including free drinks for 5 hours was fixed. At our first meeting we discussed the additional costs for music, gifts, decorations etc. We came to the conclusion, that we would rather spend the money on the band than on the presents for the participants. We noticed from former conferences, that we could not remember each of the gifts we had received, but could remember whether we had good fun, joy, and great musicians a result, we chose the „Gazzguzzlers“ as our band for the Gala dinner.

The group responsible for the Gala dinner consisted of 8 members. On average, we were 5 members at the meetings. At each meeting minutes were taken. When we had finished our strategy and plans for the event, Karen travelled to Gent in Belgium in October 2010 to meet Laurence, who was responsible for the Gala dinner at the LCI Conference 2010 in Bruges. It was very fruitful to hear about the experiences of the Belgian ladies. The next detail we planned was the decoration of the tables. As the motto of the conference was Maritime, we collected and prepared natural materials from beach and riverside. Because of this we were able to save enough money to buy a small boat with a candle of friendship as a gift for each participant from the decoration budget. We seated 8-9 persons at each table.


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When we reached the breakeven point of 400 registrations for the Gala dinner, we thought about some extras like “Schorch”, who played typical sailor songs on the accordion, and the costume for an admiral, as the theme of the Gala dinner was “Admiral’s Dinner”. The programme was as follows:

- 19.00: Welcome drink and President’s Cocktail - 20.00: Welcome speech by the Master of

Ceremonies followed by the meal. In between the courses the speeches were held. Each speaker was informed 5 minutes in advance. Iris was in close contact with the Chief of Service from the Hotel to stick to the schedule.

- 23.00: Those partners, who had booked the Partner’s Programme, joined us and 470 people started the PARTY, which ended at around 3.00 a.m.

Karen von Koschitzky (TC 31 Walsrode) Head of Galadinner __________________________________________________________________________ Merchandise Shop

I hadn’t joined Ladies’ Circle for such a long time but I’m open minded and I’m always up for some fun. At our national AGM in 2010 I was asked by the LCI Convenor Svenja to take over the job as Shopkeeper. I didn’t know what I to expect but I said yes, of course (because I loved to have a sailor shirt ;-) Despite the work in advance and during the conference and a little follow up I actually can say that I had valuable experiences. I had a lot of fun to be a part of the conference committee and it was impressive for me to see that no challenge is too big to handle because we are Ladies. During the conference I got a lot of support from the team and I got the possibility to meet ladies from all over the world. I had no single boring minute, every time colourful and noisy, like it should be. My duties started one year prior to the conference (look for suitable Shop articles, invite offers), frantically busy was the time 6 months prior to the conference (negotiate with suppliers, set up orders, approve examples). An important task is to schedule orders and deliveries and keep all deadlines in mind. That means that the early bird catches the worm and you have to keep cool if something goes wrong. Communication will solve most problems ;-)

My main topics prior the conference were:

- Choose the merchandise articles - Invite offers - Negotiate prices - Set the quantities and orders - Approve examples - Acceptance and stocking of the articles - Pricing - Planning the look and feel of the shop


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I was also responsible for the layout and order of the Welcome Bags, rain coats as well as the name badges for the conference team. Last but not least the conference pin had to be created and ordered. All these topics were involved with endless thumbing through catalogues and web sites, hundreds of e-mails and phone calls and last but not least find solutions and make decisions. During the conference the merchandise shop was located next to the registration. The shop opening times were the same as the registration opening times from Wednesday till Saturday. At this shop we offered also the LCI pins for the international board. Opening hours shop:

Wednesday: 14.00 to 19.00 h Thursday: 10.00 to 24.00 h Friday: 09.00 to 16.00 h Saturday: 10.00 to 12.00 h Saturday: 17.00 to 20.00 h Additional to this we also offered our conference merchandise goods at the shopping mall during the Welcome Party on from 19:00 to 24:00 h. We offered the following merchandise goods:

- T-Shirts (green, blue, yellow, pink and orange) - Handbag hooks - Travel neck pillows - Softshell jackets - Sailor shirts Fortunately I got a lot of support from several ladies and a shift schedule was written and sent out to the involved ladies prior the conference. Nevertheless it was necessary for me as the shopkeeper to have one week holiday during the conference. The main challenge for me was to decide which articles should be ordered in which order number for which price. What do ladies really need, what is easy to carry home and what’s going happened with the weather. Due to my youthful foolishness ;-) I thought that ladies would wear – in the summer season with up to 30 degrees - colourful T-Shirts instead of Shoftshell jackets but - far from it! It is also very important to check the offers not only price and volume but also with a special view on delivery period as well as needed printing files. An easy communication with the supplier saves nerves. At the end of the day the Shopkeeper has to take care to promote the offered goods. In light of this fact I produced a small number of shop articles and sold them on several LC meetings and events prior to the LCI conference. Which means to spend a lot of – of course funny - time before the LCI Conference with promotion weekends ;-) Again communication is essential. Finally all bills have to bring to account with the treasurer and if you are lucky you’ll reach the break even point.


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Finally some tips for the upcoming Shopkeeper:

- Decide at an early stage the kind of shop articles - Careful selection of the articles - Take care that you get the printing data early enough - You need a time buffer to provide flexibility (to rethink decisions) - Communicate, communicate, communicate - Ask ladies with conference experience I wish lots of fun and success for the next Shopkeeper. I can promise a lot of fun, work as well as sleepless nights but you’ll regret this experience. Don’t get yourself in a tizzy was my slogan for this job. Maria Wilhelm (LC 64 Osterholz-Scharmbeck) Shopkeeper

__________________________________________________________________________ Day - & half day tours One year prior to the conference I was asked to be a part of the LCI 2011 team; it was a very honourable and impressive job to be a part of this wonderful event. At this time the tours were selected by the executive LCI Conference team (The choice of the several city tours was not easy as we had to consider how we wanted to present the city and what we wanted to show to the Ladies. They should have the chance to get various impressions of the town.). My target was to just check the participants against the minimum for the tours (which tours would fall through). Information regarding the participants I got from the event agency. My real work started at the end of July, at this time we had nearly authentic participant figures. Now I had to decide to cancel tours or to renegotiate with the touring agency. Please note: Be aware during your organisation of the cancellation options until end of July – better beginning of August. It is necessary to receive the information regarding the cell phone numbers of the tour guides from the tour agency and be aware to contact the tour guides one day in advance to check up the details with the guide. Make clear that you decide on a meeting point, set up end points as well as that the participants are informed regarding sharp meeting times. It is quite clever to choose a meeting point which is well known, like the hotel lobby of the conference hotel. It is a good idea to give ladies familiar of place the cell numbers of the tour guides. Be aware to offer no foot walking, boat or bus trips on the first day because some of some the arriving ladies had an exhausting trip to get here.


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It is essential for the well being of the cruising ladies that the events are organised as short trips (2 hrs are quite enough). Catrin Taufenbach (LC 32 Itzehoe) Head of day- & half day tours __________________________________________________________________________ Pre-Tours On being asked to support such a big event, like an LCI Conference in your own country, one is pleased to help and support. Naturally it is an advantage to have participated in previous conferences in order to experience all positive and in some cases negative things yourself. Not necessarily a must but will help to identify what’s important for a circler. At this point I’d like to note, these tasks shouldn’t be underestimated. Just before the tour leaves there is an enormous peak in the workload.

Two years ago we started the organisation of four tours that we assumed would be attractive to international guests. We based our calculations on a minimum participation of 20 people. We received support from a circler friendly travel agency who planned complete tours tailored to our needs. These tours were spiced up by local circlers with an inside look.

In October 2010 we published the four tours in the internet with the hope of reaching our minimum registration by the end of “Early bird booking” (30.04.2011). Unfortunately we had to face the fact that our hopes were not met. We anxiously awaited the weekly registrations hoping for more participants. But sadly we were no closer to our goal. In total we received 6 registrations for 3 different tours. We decided to cancel three tours and go ahead with our “main” tour; as some circlers had already made arrangements. In discussions with each of the 6 we decided to gather to switch all to one tour. So, we turned back the clock and started again with the planning and organisation of this tour. The challenge was that we couldn’t make long term arrangements with partners anymore like you’re able to if you book for a group. We had to struggle with less revenue. The entire calculation collapsed. All arrangements made for busses, hotels and so on couldn’t be held anymore. We decided to cancel all arrangements and reorganise the tour – for example as a replacement we offered Homehosting and bed & breakfasts instead of hotel accommodation - without effecting quality and price including highlights, sightseeing, food & beverage and fun, fun, fun. All program items were booked and – very important - confirmed separately, we’re Germans ;-) All organisation and double checks have to be done before the tour starts. From the beginning of the touring one should just follow the path. An important point for the organisation is to know what the participants have planned after the tour. For example will anybody attend at the Councillors Dinner/Meeting, where will they stay? In those cases you might have to reschedule or switch something.


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The final confirmation has to be sent out to the participants latest one week prior to the cruise start. Some necessary things to be aware of during the tour:

- Sing the participants asleep with: Please be on time for every departure ;-) - Make sure that you have fantastic weather ;-) - It is a gladly-seen nice and warm gesture if Ladies from local circles attend a day tour or

join the group for lunch or dinner. - A survival kit is essential. Fill it with; water bottles, fruits, sweets, snacks, sanitary articles,

blister pads, umbrellas (which we didn’t need) and garbage bags. - Make sure that the tour guide has all mobile numbers of the participants and conversely

all telephone numbers of the tour stops. - To guarantee a high level and quality of information and background during the tour a

professional tour guide should be booked. They have even more information than every individual lady because it is their job.

- We booked a mini van for all transfers and my husband accompanied the tour as the driver.

- I got advanced money from our Conference treasurer to make all payments during the tour by cash and the final clearing was done during to the Conference.

Let me conclude my final report of the Pre-Tour with these words:

- I had a lot of work and challenges in advance. - I enjoyed a lot of fun, friendship, experience, new

people, lady-power and emotional warmth during the tour.

- I now have a lot of fantastic memories, new friends and intensive experience as a tourist guide for ever ;-)

- I would not trade this experience for anything!

Best wishes and good luck to the Tour organisation Team/Lady in Sweden. ☺ ☺ ☺. Petra Olsson (LC 6 Heide) Head of Pre-Tours __________________________________________________________________________ ADC When I jumped into this job I didn’t know what to expect but at this point it should be mentioned: The conference week was a varied and eventful week full of colour, joy, spontaneity, fun and not at any time boring. All these impressions – you couldn’t put into words - awakens a long-lasting effect in me. At least after this event you know what Ladies’ Circle really is. Now back to my range of duties which started in fact prior to the conference week. The current Agora Vice president, Elisabeth Hiller, provides us her flat in Hamburg for the board meetings and some accommodations. That means I had to organise food & beverages as well as bedclothes, towels and so on for the boardies.


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The LCI President asked me to assist in organising and creating the conference hats for the board. After discussion colour, style and theme of the hats I bought all necessary things and started my second career as a modiste. The LCI board arrived Sunday prior the conference and I organised the transfer from airport/train station to the hotel. Due to the different arrival times we divided the pick up (including sight seeing) service between three ladies. The following three days were duly completed with several things, which had to be organised and dealt with. For example: buy raffle tickets, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, engrave the membership trophy, fix an LCI chain, organise a buggy, copy AGM documents as well as organise lunch and snacks. The ADC should be permanently reachable for the boardies to organise short noticed things. I opened my house on Tuesday to host the barbeque for the LCI-board, LCD board and the Conference Team.

I secured the participants of the Councillors Dinner on Wednesday to the event location and joined the party as well. I supported the 2011 conference meeting team at the Councillors Meeting on Thursday. Due to my presence at the meeting I was always reachable for the LCI board. Afterwards I guided some ladies from the hotel to the Opening Ceremony at the University.

I also assisted the meeting team on Friday at the LCI AGM and joined the whole AGM to take care if anything happened. After the meeting I had to hurry because I hosted a Homeparty at my house. It is Saturday morning and the last meeting day for councillors, boardies, meeting team and myself at the International Contact Meeting. After organising all hairdresser appointments for the LCI Board I jumped into my Admirals Dinner outfit and enjoyed a spectacular party at the Hotel Grand Elysee. Although every best party comes to an end and together with the Gala team I cleared up the ballroom. Tips for the next ADC:

- It is necessary to have holidays for the whole conference week. You never know what can happened and should be aware of everything ;-) Even taking care of big and tiny things take a lot of time – do not underestimate the time factor.

- It is helpful to have one or two reliable ladies in the background to be able to handle

several applications simultaneously at once without delay. - It is essential to enjoy organising, don’t loose your calm and sometimes it is helpful to

have a good intuition for interpersonal situations. Sabine Zange (TC 47 Mölln) ADC

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Conference Doctor Organisation:

The conference doctor was located at the conference hotel and accompanied the whole conference. He was present at the main events. For those events taking place at the same time but different locations, our guests could reach the doctor on his mobile phone to set up a time and place for a consultation. His mobile phone number was published in the conference program. In our case the conference doctor was a surgeon with a lot of knowledge in general medicine due to his emergency duties. He brought his own medical equipment and was able to provide first aid and write out prescriptions. During the conference about 20 patients consulted him. He was not paid for his work. Cases the doctor dealt with:

- Travel illness - Colds and coughs - Disordered stomachs - Small injuries - Twisted ankles - Inflammations - Infections

Need:

- 20 % of the patients treated needed remedies or bandages - 80 % of the patients treated were examined and advised Effect:

- If we had not had a conference doctor, our guests would have lost a lot of time trying to find a doctor in town and getting an appointment.

- They would have had to deal with language problems. Result:

Our guests did not lose much time due to their medical problems. They felt cared for and were calmed. Karen von Koschitzky (TC 31 Walsrode) for Dieter von Koschitzky Conference Doctor

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Partners Program „Escape your partners program“ – the title says it all, well close enough at least. This year’s Ladies’ Circle Conference was organised very well indeed by the Hamburg ladies and we of Round Table 84 St. Pauli would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in making this meeting so memorable! How it all started:

A couple of years back, when the Hamburg circlers had made their bid to host the conference, our then Chairman was approached to help with the partners programme. Enchanted and delighted Kai obviously agreed to taking on this honourable duty and bestowed some hectic days in spring some two years later upon some of rt84. To cut a long story short – we concocted something we thought would be adequate for the occasion – always in line with our reputation to be the table from the best known red light district in Germany. How we escaped:

We knew we had to be gentle on the gentlemen in the beginning. A harmless trip to the first venue on public transport seemed just down-to-earth enough to cut it for us. Nobody would suspect anything from friendly looking young men… How we nearly drowned:

A first couple of warm beers in the most delightful weather Hamburg had to offer loosened tongues, brought us closer together and set the right mood for a little canoe trip around the canals of Hamburg and the inner city’s lake. This was obviously accompanied by some more warm beer and some singing of pirate’s songs. We are happy to report that almost none of us or of our belongings drowned and there was even enough time to have a swift dive into the water… After the canoe trip, a refreshment in form of a barbeque waited for us close by and the group of 18 brave men with sore muscles enjoyed a nice afternoon on an idle Friday. Following the barbeque we arranged for a trip to the Reeperbahn – home to our table nights – and the best known of red light district in Germany. What happened in the red light district:

Well, as the saying goes: what happened on tour stays on tour. We’ll keep it that way. How we raised eyebrows:

On Saturday evening we abducted 17 men in tuxes. On our way to the restaurant we did raise some eyebrows; so many well-dressed men at one time – some females on the streets were obviously pretty delighted. After the meal we wandered down the street towards St. Pauli Museum, which happens to be one of our service projects. There we were greeted by one of the biggest aficionados of Whiskey this city has to offer. Chris was kind enough to give us a tasting of some of his finest single malts and blends. Those of us more into play had the opportunity to play poker in a tournament – all in the heart of St. Pauli. Once all drinks had been finished and all games had been played we headed back to the hotel where the ladies waited impatiently.


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How we returned the men:

I am sure all of you remember how we returned the men – in good condition, well dressed, handcuffed and gagged. You might wonder why we chose this – keep wondering or come and join us in Hamburg for a night in the best known Red Light District in Germany ☺ In retrospect, I would consider that the time spent at the partner’s programme was well worth every minute. We were thankful to have been supported so well by the ladies and the handful of fellows of rt84 during the weekend. Frederik Weiss (RT 84 St. Pauli) Head of Partners Program

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Conference Committee

Position Name Club

Conference Convenor Svenja Postawka LC 10 Hamburg

Secretary / Vice Convenor Claudia Wollkopf LC 27 Hannover

Treasurer Kirsten Preßl LC 33 Geest-Bremen

Registration / Accommodation external agency

Transport Brigitte Colberg TC 10 Hamburg

Sponsoring Iris Beuerle LC 10 Hamburg

Website Inga Skowranek LC 10 Hamburg

Meetings Silke Schael LC 27 Hannover

Opening Ceremony / Parade Alexandra Malcha LC 10 Hamburg

Welcome Party Sandra Eilers LC 56 Lüneburg

Homeparties Annike Ponta LC 10 Hamburg

Galadinner Karen von Koschitzky TC 31 Walsrode

Merchandise / Shop Maria Wilhelm LC 64 Osterholz-Scharmbeck

Day- and half day tours Catrin Taufenbach LC 32 Itzehoe

Post Tour Petra Olsson LC 6 Heide

ADC Sabine Zange LC 47 Mölln

Partners Program Marcus Bohn / Frederik Weiss RT 84 St. Pauli

Documents

konverentsi raport