Why is it now £20 to attend my annual UK Ataxia conference on Zoom ?

[Sailor_Girl]

the host last year was a chump

[SueMillman Partner Ataxia UK]

Dear Sailor_Girl

Thank you for your question.

Last year was our first virtual conference, although we always charge for our face to face Conferences, we decided we shouldn't charge for this one as we didn't know how well we could deliver it. Judging by the feedback, it was a great success. However, it was very clear this required no less time, and nearly as much effort, as a face-to-face conference.

Ataxia UK will and must take every opportunity to fundraise, especially during the difficult financial times we have found ourselves in due to Covid-19.

Charging encourages a commitment to attend when the date of the conference comes. A significant amount of people signed up to the conference last year but didn’t attend when the time came. This is very frustrating as our numbers needed to be capped to the capacity of our account, so if someone signs up but doesn’t attend they have taken a valuable place away from someone who does want to attend.

I hope this answers your question of why the decision was taken to charge for attendance this year.

Finally, I must address your remark about our host, Paul Coia. Paul is a successful TV and radio presenter, as well as having been a Patron of Ataxia UK for over 30 years. During that time, he has chaired and hosted our annual conference year-on-year, both selflessly and diligently, and missing only one or two. We know from feedback from other Friends that they value his input and attendance. His skills have been, and are, a valuable resource to us and are a significant contributing factor to the effective running of the conference. In particular he provided continuity when it moved on line last year, and helped to evoke memories of the face to face event.

I hope this reply explains our thinking.

Best wishes

Sue

[Sailor_Girl in reply to SueMillman]

Cool Sue, I'll see how well off I am in October

[Libra7]

I must support Sue ‘s words about the lovely Paul Coia. I have been to three Ataxia conferences in different parts of the country and can confirm that Paul has always been friendly an efficient - a real asset to the Charity. He gives freely of his time and we should applaud him.