PAS 10th Anniversary Conference - Tickets available

[fbirder]

You can now order your tickets on the PAS website - pernicious-anaemia-society....

Members cost £20.

Non-members cost £50

[Foggyme Administrator]

Thanks fbirder. Ordered. Note for others - there are 77 members' tickets left! Not sure of allocation for non-members.

Should be interesting. Very much looking forward to it.

[LtAngua52 in reply to Foggyme]

Would love to go but can't find accommodation in Birmingham which is close to the conference site and reasonable price. Two nights in the Burlington where the conference is held was £329! The cheapest one in the city centre was £195 I think. Too rich for my b12 deficient blood.

[Foggyme Administrator in reply to LtAngua52]

Hi LtAngua. The Premier Inn in BHX city centre (New Street Station) currently have rooms for £50-£67 per night. Five minutes slow walk from Burlington Hotel - if that's any better.

Also posted details of less costly accommodation options on fbirders other post about the conference, a couple of days ago.

Some of the rooms are cancellable up to 9am on the day of arrival so it would leave your affordability options open until the last minute.

It's such a shame that people are not able to attend because of cost, travel and health issues!

Take care

[fbirder in reply to Foggyme]

The Premier Inn is cheap for the Friday night, but it's over £100 for the Saturday 😕

[Foggyme Administrator in reply to fbirder]

Good grief...that's gone up quickly...rooms must be running out! Shame 😖

[scorpiojo in reply to Foggyme]

There's a few in Birmingham the New Street one it say's by the station.. Stayed at the IBIS when I went to a political parties conference a few years back (ok I wouldn't say any real difference to a Premier Inn had a bar) and the Burlington was where they had their Gala dinner.. Very posh and nice...

[LtAngua52 in reply to Foggyme]

Thanks will take a look at that. Sounds reasonable.

[fbirder in reply to LtAngua52]

Ibis hotel in New Street. £120 for the Friday and Saturday night (£128 if you want the possibility to cancel up to the same day).

I'm just about to book.

booking.com/hotel/gb/ibis-b...

Actually, that's a 15 minute walk away, so I may be cancelling and staying at the Premier Inn for just the Friday night after all.

[scorpiojo in reply to fbirder]

Do they have a summer one? Or just one every winter brrr x😊

[deniseinmilden in reply to scorpiojo]

I went to the B12d Conference at Loughborough University a couple of weeks ago and that was very good. There will be another one, again in the summer, next year.

It was repeated 2 days running so there were plenty of places and the focus was on trying to get as many health professionals as possible to attend to get knowledge of B12d, as well as PA, to where it is needed. Although the programme finished at 5 we could stay until 7 pm talking to the experts and each other.

I'm rarely critical but feel this one is happening when we're already under too much pressure with Christmas coming, it's dark and the weather can be terrible for driving.

The pricing is "curious" (not purely cost based) and it's crackers if there aren't many spaces.

There are theoretically 12 speakers and if we have an hour for lunch that gives them half an hour each, minus time for promised tea and coffee! That's a huge amount to take in or each talk will be very brief.

Will there be any time for questions and meeting people?

That said I would love to go and meet some of you! Hopefully see you there!

[fbirder in reply to deniseinmilden]

Ive not heard a dicky bird about the outcomes of the B12d conference.

[fbirder in reply to deniseinmilden]

How do you get 12 speakers? Have you seen something we haven't?

What's 'curious' about the pricing? Surely £20 is a lot more realistic than £62 (the cost of the B12d conference).

[deniseinmilden in reply to fbirder]

Sorry - I didn't want to offend anyone and probably should have kept my observations to myself.

I must have more fingers than you!! 😉

Anyway it'll be great to see you there - I'm looking forward to seeing friends from here "in real life"!

[fbirder in reply to deniseinmilden]

No offence meant or taken.

I was wondering where you got 12 speakers, as I've not seen any mention as to who may be talking, or how many sessions there would be.

From my experiences of such conference I would have though that 8 speakers over 4 sessions (start - coffee; coffee-lunch; lunch-tea and tea-end) would be more likely.

[deniseinmilden in reply to fbirder]

Hiya!

Glad I hadn't upset you!

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you - not enough signal.

I quite agree with you - I've been to a number of conferences over time and they usually follow a similar format with 8 speakers usually the maximum.

I use my phone for nearly everything and on the link you sent, if you scroll down on a mobile you get a heading "Confirmed Speakers" and it lists 12 people, starting with Dr. Chris Steele.

There is a disclaimer at the bottom covering the possibility of someone not turning up but I believe that all people listed are likely to present to us.

I guess we'll see... they all have good credentials and I expect are well worth listening to.

[fbirder in reply to deniseinmilden]

I apologise, I didn't see that list. It must have been added after I first loaded the page.

That sounds like a great selection of speakers.

I guess they'll have about 20 minutes each

09:00 - 10:20 Martyn + 3 others.

10:20 - 10:40 Coffee

10:40 - 12:00 - 4 speakers

12:00 - 13:00 - Lunch

13:00 - 14:20 - 4 Speakers

14:20 - 14:40 - Tea

14:40 - 16:00 - 3 speakers + Martyn

And 20 minutes should be enough time. Some entrepreneur once gave the 10-20-30 rule of presentations:

A PowerPoint presentation should contain 10 slides, last for 20 minutes and contain no font smaller than 30 point.

(It was Guy Kawasaki - marketing guru for Apple's Macintosh)

[deniseinmilden in reply to fbirder]

If they deliver to that it'll be a fantastic day, won't it! 😀

[fbirder in reply to deniseinmilden]

It should!

However, I've seen loads and loads of scientists give presentations. Some were good, many were dire. Intelligence and/or eminence seems to be no indication as to quality. I once paid to see a talk by the Astronomer Royal - it was obviously prepared on the train from Greenwich to Kensington.

[deniseinmilden in reply to fbirder]

I always dread it when they open with an apology for something!

I can remember going to a talk at Cannington College and I still remember the architecture of the room but have no idea what who spoke or what about - that one was dire!

[jillc39 in reply to Foggyme]

yes, me too Foggyme

[LtAngua52]

Just reserved my conference ticket! Booked into Ibis new street. I'll chance the 15 min walk if a few of us are staying there we could go mad and share a taxi on the day! Paid £128 for the 2 night. Looking forward to it.

[fbirder in reply to LtAngua52]

we could go mad and share a taxi

Now that's a good idea!

I've booked into the Premier Inn for the Friday night and the Ibis for Friday and Saturday. Then I can check on rail fares when they get released and see if it's cheaper to return on the Saturday or Sunday.

[Jose651 in reply to LtAngua52]

Hi LtAngua52,

Just what I was thinking since fbirder posted earlier today. I'm not able to go unfortunately but if I was able to, I would be interested in making it as cost effective as possible for fellow members.

Enjoy, Foggyme kindly offered to take notes and pass them on to me.👍

J x

[LtAngua52 in reply to Jose651]

Oh that is a good thing to do, share notes. Although I'm sure the PA society will cascade information. It's a pity everyone can't attend, but we will all probably take notes and pass things on.

[fbirder in reply to LtAngua52]

I wonder if Martyn would mind if I filmed it. Nothing flash or intrusive, just my GoPro.

[NicolaP]

If anyone doesn't mind a little walk and staying outside the centre of Birmingham, there is a Premier Inn at Longbridge which is about a 5 minute walk from the Longbridge station and 20 minute train journey out of Birmingham New Street which is close to the Burlington. Its somewhat cheaper than staying in town. Train fare I think is about £4.50 return from Longbridge to New Street off peak.

I doubt I shall attend as not sure it would be of much relevance as I'm only B12 deficient and don't have PA.

[Secondchance in reply to NicolaP]

I'm only B12 deficient and don't have PA. Me too but have PA family history.

Same symptoms and PA is only one cause of B12 def, plus there's only 50% chance of testing positive for PA if someone actually has it as the intrinsic factor test is rubbish aka poor sensitivity.