Well it’s Friday, and I’m back in the office after a tough week of regional conferences. I thought I’d blog some of my reflections on regional conferences as a concept, my experiences, and frustrations. If you can’t have a rant as an outgoing NEC member, when can you?

This week myself, Stephen and Bubble (joined by Claire and Louise for 2 days each) went from London to Preston, Preston to Birmingham, Birmingham to Plymouth, Plymouth to Reading, and then Reading back to London. It was hard work and tiring.

In my time on the NEC I’ve never missed a regional conference. That’s because as it’s a constitutional duty to attend them, I’ve always prioritised it in my diary- not because I’m any less busy than other NEC members. I accept that for part-time NEC members it is rarely feasible or should be expected that they attend all, and also that sometimes there’ll be events that for the good of NUS, full-timers should miss regionals for. However, it is really frustrating being one of the ‘good old reliable’ people who will always make sure there is at least some NEC at regional conferences.

It seems to me that no-one is really clear on the purpose of regional conferences- are they to inform, to be held accountable, to share best practice, or for all or none of the above? I’ve never met anyone who’s defended both the existence and format of regional conferences. To tell you the truth, I spent my 21st birthday at my first ever regional conference, and not falling asleep whist I was talked at all day was in itself an achievement. Hopefully things have changed a bit, and I certainly think over my 2 years on the NEC they have become more interactive events, with more focus on NUS hearing from the membership, rather than vice-versa. That said, at my first regional only 3 NEC members turned up then- so maybe things haven’t changed that much.

It’s also downright embarrassing when those NEC who are there, aren’t equipped to properly answer questions. I felt this was summed up in the South West during the report and plan, when I found myself asking conference floor if they had “any more questions, for us to attempt to answer…badly?”. I’m proud the culture in NUS had shifted, so that NEC members are no longer prepared to sit at the front slagging off their colleagues, and I said as much, but this week has underlined for me the pointlessness of regional conferences- the lack of accountability, the high cost both time and resource-wise involved.

Welfare officers generally love networking- in my opinion they’re some of the officers who benefit the most from ‘sharing best practice.’ My opinion is that in the governance review, its essential that capacity is found in our structures to make this happen- even better than it already does. However this in itself isn’t a justification for regional conferences. I guess the biggest message I cans end out to other people who share my frustrations, or have different ones of their own is this: ENGAGE IN THE GOVERNANCE REVIEW! Now is the time to change things, rather than just tampering around the edges- I’ll certainly be feeding my experiences as an NEC member in to the melting pot.

Finally I have always had a degree of fun on regionals despite my moaning, and I have to thank Stephen and Bubble (in yr 2) for that. From adjudicating in a fun-bus full of presidential contenders weeks before conference, to jointly dealing with the fallout of the AUT strike last year, my experience on regionals would have been much more of a load of old sh*t without the company of Stephen and this year Bubble has been a great anecdote to long drives with buses full of members of the NEC taking themselves too seriously.

So I’m pleased I can boast I’ve fully fulfilled my constitutional obligations…but I’m also glad that they’re all over!

Many thanks

VK

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