Announcing WorkFest 2014 sponsored by Barclays featuring Jo Malone, Emma Bridgewater & lots of fantastic career experts

[PatrickMumsnet]

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all well.

Are you thinking about returning to work – either after maternity leave or from a longer career break? Maybe you’re already juggling work and home life, but have a burning desire to change your job or the way you work? Or perhaps 2014 is the year you plan to take the plunge and set up your own business?

If any (or all!) of these apply to you, then check out Mumsnet WorkFest sponsored by Barclays, our inspiring one-day conference dedicated to all things work, which will be taking place on Saturday 7th June at BAFTA in central London.

In a jam-packed day, you’ll hear from a range of inspirational female business leaders including Jo Malone, Emma Bridgewater, Heather McGregor, Shami Chakrabarti, Sara Bennison, and Sharmadean Reid, who’ll address everything from taking the plunge and starting up on your own, to boosting your confidence, overcoming fear and self-doubt, and getting back into the workplace post a 3 year+ break.

There'll be a chance to pick the brains of our experts in our one-to-one career clinics – and you'll meet other working parents, as well as entrepreneurs and potential employers.

You'll leave feeling inspired, positive and – crucially – armed with the info and skills you need to return to work, change paths, or set out on your own.

Click here to find out more. If you hurry, you can book your ticket now at the discounted early-bird price of £75.

We've also got a limited number of subsidised tickets available priced at £45. If you are on income support and are finding it tough to afford a ticket to the event, just email me on [email protected]. These will be offered first come, first served.

I hope to see lots of you there.

Best wishes,

PatrickMumsnet

[stonehairbrush]

MN is loving Barclays ATM

[TheBabyFacedAssassin]

Oooooops I totally read the total as Wankfest...

[InMySpareTime]

Why are these things always in London?
They would be a lot cheaper to put on, and more accessible to small business people, if you put it somewhere like Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool or Leeds.

[SalfordSky]

I was yes! This is me! Oh joy!

£75?

[Freshnclean]

Hey Mumsnet, would love to go but it's too expensive. At £75 a go you're not exactly appealing to the average returning to work mum. Shame as it looks great

[PollyWhittaker]

Yep. Too expensive, both for the ticket and for the transport.

[Laconia]

Looks great - but £75 is two weeks food budget for us.

What I need to do is get back to work and earn some more money so I can afford a ticket...


...oh.

[InMySpareTime]

Is anyone actually forking out the cash for this? MNHQ has been strangely quiet about the objections...

[ballseditup]

It's a bit odd in it's target. I thought for £75 it would be targeted at women in work looking to advance their career to a more senior level. But its quite basic stuff & clearly about getting into work, so £75 will be steep for many.

However, it is cheap in comparison with a full days training (these can be £500+)

Seeing as Barclays are sponsoring can you get them to stump up more and do a cheaper rate? ( I do understand MN is a business &needs to turn a profit!)

[InMySpareTime]

£500+
I'm in the wrong profession! I should do training.

[PatrickMumsnet]

Hi there, thanks for all the posts about WorkFest and sorry for being slow to respond. The truth is, we'd love to be in a position not to charge anything for our events but, unfortunately, there are costs associated with putting these things on in a high-quality way. And we're quite particular about making sure we pick a good venue, serve a great lunch and send everyone home at the end of the day having heard from a huge range of exceptional speakers. That said, we're doing our best to keep the ticket price as low as possible by providing an EarlyBird ticket offer and running competitions to win tickets – details of which we'll post here soon. We're also aware, of course, that specifically with WorkFest, those who might most wish to attend - i.e. those who're currently out of work and looking to return - may well be least well placed to be able to afford it, which isn't what we want at all. So with that in mind, we're offering subsidised rates for those on income support - so do drop us a line on [email protected], if this is you. PatrickMumsnet

[InMySpareTime]

Most people starting their own business aren't eligible for IS anyway as income is usually too erratic for benefits purposes.
Personally, I think you'd have made more overall on this by pitching the price nearer £20, not having it in Central London, not including lunch.
That way, you'd have got more interest from small business owners, making it a more worthwhile networking event.
IMO (and I'm not alone in thinking this) you've pitched the price at a corporate "expenses" level for a demographic that won't want to access the event.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Surely you could save lots of £££££ (and attract more punters) by having it at a high quality venue somewhere more central like Manchester?

[InMySpareTime]

I think it might be just you...

[PatrickMumsnet]

@ItsAllGoingToBeFine

Surely you could save lots of £££££ (and attract more punters) by having it at a high quality venue somewhere more central like Manchester?

Thanks for the suggestion. We really hope to be in a position to run a similar event outside of London in the very near future and will definitely keep you posted.

[PatrickMumsnet]

@proseccoco

patrick am I the only person coming?

Hi Proseccoco, thanks very much for registering for WorkFest – it will be an informative and inspiring day, we promise. And we have already sold 40% of the available tickets to the event so you definitely won't be the only person there. If you know others who are interested, there are still a couple of days left to bag an EarlyBird ticket.

[boggon07]

Would like it little up north leeds please