Who Are We?
Oxford Conferences was originally set up in 1998 as an offshoot of Oxford School of Learning. Unlike the OSL, Oxford Conferences is essentially a non-profit-making organisation. The total fee for the conference is made up of two discrete elements:
- Petrol expenses
- A £60 donation to the Dystonia Society, OR to direct to those suffering from Dystonia.
In the past the donation has been used to buy a printer for someone with dystonia, to run such sites as www.dystonia-support4u.com or buy books for the Dystonia Society to pass on to members. Full details of the money raised are given here and here.
Latest letters include these:
We sometimes even give the entire tuition fee to charity!
The visit raised £100 for the Dystonia Society
2nd June 2003 - £124 - Times Educational Supplement
22nd June 2003 - Help Me…Help You!
23rd June 2003 - £48 - Ms Y Myrna
24th June 2003 - £50 - Bexhill College
24th June 2003 - £398 - Thank You Chris
1st July 2003 - £50 - Ms Fairweather, Head Of Business Studies at St Helen’s School
31st August 2003 - £50 - Newent Community College
31st August 2003 - £150 - Newent Community College & the BBC
31st August 2003 - £100 - BBC
16th September 2003 - £50 - Corsham School
16th September 2003 - £50 - Thank You Chris
Chris you’re doing a great job!
The purpose of a Conference is threefold:
- To deliver tailor-made conferences over 1-2 days.
- To raise awareness of dystonia.
- To raise funds (as detailed above).
Why host a conference at your school?
There are so many reasons why it is better to have a conference at your school than attend a jam-packed one in London, Birmingham, etc., that we simply list the first ten that spring to mind:
- YOU can find out about the speaker – in detail. Testimonials are listed on the site and several schools are featured. Why not telephone them and find out how the conference went?
- YOU control the topics to be covered. None of this ‘amass 1000 people in a hall and cover ‘exam technique’ when the audience includes candidates sitting a variety of boards’ nonsense. The only beneficiary of this apporach is the bank account! YOU decide the topics. YOU decide who the audience will be.
- Date and time. This is arranged by negotiation. The chances are the first date ‘booked’ by you/your school will be met.
- Costs. Work it out. Mileage and charity donation compared to the costs of shepherding your class to a conference off-site. Cover; administration; travelling costs; seminar/conference tickets.
- Flexibility. In 2005/6 several conferences were scheduled to finish at around 4pm – but in fact went on for several hours afterwards (at no extra cost to the school). That doesn’t happen elsewhere!
- Occasionally we bring along TWO speakers instead of just one. This means that the audience can be split and two groups can work separately. Of course, no extra fee.
- The calibre of the speaker. Yes, of course, there are other good conference speakers around – but how many have been to over 100 schools? How many are equally at home in a variety of syllabuses – and subjects?
- Freebies. Often at conferences we bring along free copies of just-released textbooks and/or manuals. Those attending are encouraged to enrol in the online class – a class where the entire A level Business Studies can be covered in just a few weeks.
- Range of subjects. It is quite feasible for a one day conference to cover: A2 Business Studies a.m.; A2 Economics during lunchtime; GCSE Business in the afternoon; INSET for teachers 4-6. This way you book several conferences in one!
- The entire fee goes to help those disabled by Dystonia. During the conference there will be a 2-3 minute digression during which dystonia is explained and illustrated. Pupils attending thus know where the money is going – and why.
Our Credentials
The main Conference Speaker is Chris Sivewright. His track record is impressive.
Chris has run over 100 conferences, authored 90 books and 200 cassette tapes and has been an A level Examiner in Business Studies (linear and modular: UCLES) and Economics (Edexcel). He has also been an Examiner for several boards offering GCSE.
His work is currently featured by the Guardian where he designed the Business Studies lesson pack, the BBC and at SamLearning.
Click here to find out about our other speakers.