July 4th was a big day this year. Independence Day in the US, certainly, but also the day after England’s spectacular win against Colombia in the World Cup and, perhaps most importantly, the day of LCL’s National Forum!
We had a wonderful turn out this year with over 100 delegates and staff meeting up for a full day of workshops and networking at IGEM in Kegworth, Derbyshire.
A summary of the day
The day kicked off with a welcome from LCL’s director, Mark Krull and a presentation from Clive Buggins of EUIAS.
The introduction was followed by keynote sessions on the new 18th Edition IET Wiring Regulations and our new MLP. Phil Williams set out the changes to BS7671, which came into affect at the start of July, and Steve Mulvany and Andrew Jones gave a review of the MLP covering best practice and inviting feedback from centres. These sessions were repeated at the end of the day so that delegates had the opportunity to benefit from both.
After a welcome brunch break and an opportunity for attendees to meet up with their counterparts from other centres around the country, delegates were given the chance to attend three of six further workshops. We had three special guest speakers this year. Heather Venis, from Awarding First, who set out the new rules on GDPR, Tom Bradley, from NAREC Distributed Energy who presented an update on renewables and Jessica Lowe, from Jello PR, who ran a workshop to help centres get the most out of PR and Marketing. James Livingstone presented an update on Smart Metering.
Tracy Harker, James Livingstone and Andrew Jones ran workshops on EQA Audit Guidance and IV/IQA best practice, which gave delegates the chance to get down to the nitty gritty with some of LCL’s EVs. These sessions were particularly popular and many delegates valued the chance to spend time with the experts.
After a break for tea, sandwiches and cake and a re-run of the keynote presentations, there was a more informal EV surgery so that everyone got the chance to speak to iron out their particular queries with LCL staff.
Feedback from delegates
From the feedback forms we received after the event, it was clear everyone had a very good day. Ken Brown of Group Horizon was impressed by the ‘Excellent opportunities for group participation, discussions and Q&A’, Angela Kilner from ICD-Energy Training Academy Ltd said the Forum had been a great experience
far exceeded her expectations. Dawn Buzzing of COSAC really enjoyed the forum and said it was ‘Really useful to meet other organisations and have the opportunity to share in their experiences’ David Baalham of Complete Construction Services found the PR and Marketing talk particularly useful and now feels equipped to use facebook as a marketing tool. Steve Edis from Walsall Training Centre summed it up:
‘As always, Logic got the extra mile in putting this event, which is very beneficial to everyone.‘
We’re now starting to plan next year’s get together. We’ve outgrown IGEM, who have hosted us brilliantly for the last few years, so we’re looking for a new venue. Watch this space – location and date for LCL’s 2019 National Forum to be announced soon!