The date of the next national donorflex User Conference has been decided.

The two-day event will take place at Aston University's Lakeside Conference Centre on:

  • Monday, May 16, 2011
  • Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Releasing the dates more than a year ahead is a first for the Care Data Systems team, but we're anxious to give clients as much notice as possible so that they can plan and budget for what we confidently expect to be the biggest and best DUC ever.

While the theme and agenda are in the course of being put together, we can confirm that the event will cover the fundraising, finance and lottery tracks and appeal to a broad spectrum of roles within user organisations.

We began taking soundings from users at last summer's donorflex Regional User Group meetings, and have continued at every opportunity since. As a result, we've given careful consideration to:

  • Timing: Avoiding other conferences in early spring period, and the Easter holidays that already have an impact on your diaries
  • Location: Once again, a central location in Birmingham. We're going back to Aston University's Lakeside Conference Centre – this time taking the whole venue to make it as comfortable as possible for delegates to relax and make the most of the day
  • Cost: We've stuck to our objective of a two-day programme, but we're planning an agenda that minimises the need for delegates to add a costly overnight stay – and we're striving to set delegate rates that will slice as little as possible into next year's budget

"It becomes a bigger and bigger challenge to dovetail all the needs and pressures and come up with a date and format that suits the majority of our friends in the donorflex community," says client services director Judith Todd. "However, we believe the dates achieve that.

"We know there's an appetite for using donorflex to its maximum potential, and a growing desire for people to keep their database skills as sharp as possible. So we're working hard to ensure that, more than ever in the current climate, the conference will be exceptional value for money."

More details will be released in the coming weeks via the donorflex weekly newsletter and the website.