We’d love as many paraplanners as possible to start your own Paraplanners’ Assembly – however and wherever you’d like.
But don’t feel you need anyone’s permission to create your own event because, just as Tim Berners-Lee once said about something else: ‘this is for everyone’.
What we would like to do is support any Assembly as much as we can. So here’s a few tips on how to start your own Paraplanners’ Assembly.
Let’s start with the organising principles behind the Paraplanners’ Assembly and how this might apply to your very own event. Then, we’ll explain the practical ways in which we can help one another and support your successful Assembly.
The spirit of the Assembly
The Paraplanners’ Assembly stemmed from a simple idea:
To provide a place where paraplanners can meet to exchange views about the future of our profession, to learn things, to fix things and to share things.
We’d love to see Assemblies – no matter how large or small – adopt that self-same spirit that led to the very first event. (So keep that thought at the back of your mind throughout.)
The six organising principles of the Paraplanners’ Assembly
We’ve adopted some ‘organising principles’ that we think give our events their distinctive character. If you’re thinking of putting on your own Assembly, here’s what they were:
1. (At least) two’s a crowd
Take inspiration from the organisers of other local Assemblies and share the load: Find at least one other person you know and organise the event together. And if you can’t find someone, let’s see if we know anyone you can partner up with.
2. Assembles are not-for-profit events
That’s right. Assemblies are voluntarily organised by paraplanners.
Every penny that participants and supporters part with is invested entirely on making the Paraplanners’ Assembly possible.
Our ambition was to create a place where paraplanners could meet at the lowest possible cost. And, ideally, the lowest cost would be ‘Free’. That’s what we suggest for local Assemblies.
3. Assembles belong to paraplanners
We adopt an ‘unconference’-style format. This means that, in advance of the event, participants get to pick the topics they want to talk about and decide on the priority through voting.
Organisations or brands who are supporting your Assembly should only contribute to discussion about topics that paraplanners themselves have determined or participate in ‘the spirit of the Assembly’, which we mentioned above and doesn’t mention ‘pushing our products and services’.
4. Assemblies are unwaveringly independent
What we mean by that is that the Assemblies are not forums in which organisations or brands can pitch-up and flog their wares.
Because the event is designed by paraplanners for paraplanners (see 3, above), it’s paraplanners who decide what’s on the agenda rather than being subject to the agenda of others.
Organisations and brands supporting Assemblies are precisely that: supporters (not sponsors). Sponsorship brings with it certain rights for sponsors, whereas being a supporter brings no rights at all.
But that doesn’t prevent direct involvement in the event by supporters of Assemblies, so long as their participation is in keeping with the spirit of the Assembly: ‘To provide a place where paraplanners can meet to exchange views about the future of our profession, to learn things, to fix things and to share things’.
5. Participants – not ‘delegates’ or ‘attendees’
Assemblies aren’t events that are put on for people; people are the Assembly, so make sure people realise they’re there to take part before they turn up!
6. Wherever possible, chocolate and top-notch sweets should be provided
Because life’s a box of chocolates; not a saucer of boiled sweets.
6 practical ways to a successfully organise your own Paraplanners’ Assembly
1. We’re all in this together
As soon as you’ve resolved to set up an Assembly, feel free to get in touch by e-mailing [email protected].
We’ll set up a project for your Assembly using a bit of kit called Basecamp. Basecamp provides an online space where organisers of your Assembly – no matter how many there are and where they are in the country – can decide on things, set tasks and keep tabs on progress without clogging up your e-mail.
It means that everyone, who needs to be, is in the know about your Assembly’s organisation.
2. Our survey said…
Because Assemblies are designed by paraplanners for paraplanners, you’ll need a tool to gather opinion from potential Assembly participants on subjects from the preferred date and location of a Assembly, to voting for topics to discuss on the day.
To do this, we use the survey tool, Typeform, and we’d be very happy to set up surveys for you.
3. Where in the world-wide web?
Your Assembly will need its own page on the web where people can find out information and book their spot at your event, so we’ll build you one here at paraplannersassembly.co.uk.
And, speaking of booking a spot…
4. The future’s Eventbrite
For the Paraplanners’ Assembly, we used the online event management tool, Eventbrite, to handle all the ticketing and bookings and cancellations and wait-list and delegate lists and all that palaver. Eventbrite’s brilliant, so we’ll set up an Eventbrite page for your Assembly – which will include a gizmo to plug-in an online booking form for your Assembly’s page at paraplannersassembly.co.uk.
5. Getting the word out there
We’ve been in this game for some time and have accumulated quite the following hair flick. We’ll help you get the word out there on our social channels and before you know it, they’ll be hammering down the door.
6. We’ll send e-mail for you
(We couldn’t think of a snappy title for this bit.)
We’ll help you raise awareness for your event with all of our email subscribers. We don’t mean to boast but we have quite the subscription list.
And once you’re ready to roll, we’ll help you communicate with people who have signed up with the essential information for coming along the the event.
So that’s it.
If this has piqued your interest why not get in touch about organising an Assembly? Just e-mail us at [email protected].
A festive wrap up with a paraplanner quiz to boot.
Today, we’re setting out our plans for the Powwow in 2015. (Just click through the slideshow above for the potted summary.)
It’s been two years since the idea of an unconference-style Paraplanners Powwow was originally floated – and almost 18 months since the first national event was held.
Since then we’ve held a second national Powwow and – including today’s Powwow In The Middle and North of the Border – a total of nine Powwow events.
In the past year-and-a-half, more than 300 paraplanners have participated in Powwows in Edinburgh, London (x 2), Manchester, Nottingham (x 2) and Leeds.
No fewer than 16 paraplanners have teamed up to organise mini Powwows – for some it’s the first event they’ve ever had a chance to organise in their career so far.
Thanks to the participation of paraplanners across the country, it’s fair to say the Powwow is a flourishing not-for-profit movement.
And thanks to Powwow supporters – 7IM, AXA Wealth, James Hay Partnership, Prudential and Transact – we’ll be able to stage another national Powwow in 2015 and invest in new ways to Powwow.
Because that’s what we want to do this year: To extend the reach of the Powwows so no matter who you are, where you are and how you do it, if you’re a paraplanner you can take part in Powwows.
To do it, we’re going to expand the ways that paraplanners can participate in Powwows. In 2015, we’ll introduce:
- Howwows: Webcast-based powwows – with content voted for by Powwowers – offering practical tips on day-to-day paraplanning including techniques, trends and technology.
- The Big Tent: A digital teepee for paraplanners with a forum for online debate and discussion hosted at a spruced-up Powwow website.
- Grow your own Powwow: We’ll make it easier for paraplanners create their own Powwows by providing the tools and behind-the-scenes support, to run a successful Powwow event.
What’s more – as we said in a recent post – we’re exploring the idea of shared ownership: a cooperative in which, if it’s possible, all Powwow participants will be entitled to an equal stake in the Powwows and their future.
Last week, we gave you a flavour of the organising principles behind the Paraplanners Powwow and how these might apply to starting your very own event.
This week, we’re letting you know about 6 practical ways in which we can help one another and support your successful Powwow.
1. We’re all in this together
As soon as you’ve resolved to set up a Powwow, feel free to get in touch by tweeting us at @ParaPowwowor e-mailing [email protected].
We’ll set up a project for your Powwow using a bit of kit called Basecamp. Basecamp provides an online space where organisers of your Powwow – no matter how many there are and where they are in the country – can decide on things, set tasks and keep tabs on progress without clogging up your e-mail.
It means that everyone, who needs to be, is in the know about your Powwow’s organisation.
2. Our survey said…
Because Powwows are designed by paraplanners for paraplanners, you’ll need a tool to gather opinion from potential Powwow participants on subjects from the preferred date and location of a Powwow, to voting for topics to discuss on the day.
To do this, we use the survey tool, Wufoo, and we’d be very happy to set up surveys for you.
3. Where in the world-wide web?
Your Powwow will need its own page on the web – like PowwowUpNorth’s – where people can find out information and book their spot at your event, so we’ll build you one here at paraplannerspowwow.co.uk.
And, speaking of booking a spot…
4. The future’s Eventbrite
For the Paraplanners Powwow, we used the online event management tool, Eventbrite, to handle all the ticketing and bookings and cancellations and wait-list and delegate lists and all that palaver. Eventbrite’s brilliant, so we’ll set up an Eventbrite page for your Powwow – which will include a gizmo to plug-in an online booking form for your Powwow’s page at paraplannerspowwow.co.uk.
5. Twitter ye not?
Alright, so @ParaPowwow doesn’t have an enormous following on Twitter, but it does have more than 200 followers, and that’s a start when it comes to letting people know about your Powwow.
In other words, we’ll tweet news and information about your Powwow from the @ParaPowwow.
6. We’ll send e-mail for you
(We couldn’t think of a snappy title for this bit.)
In the run-up to the Paraplanners Powwow, we collected lots of e-mail addresses from potential paraplanning participants.
We’ve used this same list to e-mail people about Powwow Up North, and so we’re happy to let people on our list know about further possible Powwows using e-mail too.
So that’s it: How to start your own Powwow in two parts. Missed part one? Here it is.
And if that’s piqued your interest why not get in touch about organising a Powwow? Just tweet us at @ParaPowwow or e-mail us at [email protected].
Since the first-ever Paraplanners Powwow (have you seen the pictures?), we’ve had quite a bit of interest from paraplanners asking how and whether they could create a Powwow closer to home – McPowwows in Scotland, Powwow DownSouth and LlanPowwow in Wales, for instance.
We’d love as many paraplanners as possible to grab hold of the Powwow idea and organise events – however and wherever you’d like.
But don’t feel you need anyone’s permission to create your own event because, just as Tim Berners-Lee once said about something else: ‘this is for everyone’.
What we would like to do is support any Powwow as much as we can. So here’s the first in a two-part post on ‘How to start your own Powwow’.
This week, we’re giving you a flavour of the organising principles behind the Paraplanners Powwow and how this might apply to your very own event. Next week, we’ll let you know about practical ways in which we can help one another and support your successful Powwow.
The spirit of the Powwow
The Paraplanners Powwow stemmed from a simple idea:
To provide a place where paraplanners can meet to exchange views about the future of our profession, to learn things, to fix things and to share things.
We’d love to see Powwows – no matter how large or small – adopt that self-same spirit that led to the very first Powwow. (So keep that thought at the back of your mind throughout.)
The six organising principles of the Powwow
For the first Powwow, we adopted some ‘organising principles’ that we think gave the event its distinctive character (apart from the fact that it was staged in a field in a massive teepee, of course). If you’re thinking of putting on your own Powwow, here’s what they were:
1. (At least) two’s a crowd
Take inspiration from the organisers of PowwowUpNorth and share the load: Find at least one other person you know and organise the event together.
For UpNorth, there are four organisers: Jo, John, Jared and Claire. (It’s not essential that at least half of your Powwow organisers share the same initial letter of their first names though.)
In next week’s post, we’ll let you know how the marvels of modern technology made managing ticket bookings and things really easy.
2. Powwows are not-for-profit events
That’s right. Powwows are voluntarily organised by paraplanners – even the first Powwow in Ayhno last month.
Every penny that participants and supporters parted with was invested entirely in the staging of the event.
The only people that were paid were the crews who built the teepees, the team that cooked the food and event support – like sound and vision crews, for instance.
Our ambition was to create a place where paraplanners could meet at the lowest possible cost. And, ideally, the lowest cost would be ‘Free’. (We didn’t quite manage that but, at £25, participants’ contributions were limited to a tenth of the total cost per participant.)
3. Powwows are designed by paraplanners for paraplanners
The Powwow adopts an ‘unconference’-style format. This means that, in advance of the event, participants get to pick the topics they want to talk about and decide on the priority through voting.
Organisations or brands who are supporting your Powwow should only contribute to discussion about topics that paraplanners themselves have determined or participate in ‘the spirit of the Powwow’, which we mentioned above and doesn’t mention ‘pushing our products and services’.
(Next week, we’ll let you know how we can help you decide on your Powwow agenda using the Paraplanners Powwow’s survey tool.)
4. Powwows are unwaveringly independent
What we mean by that is that the Powwows are not forums in which organisations or brands can pitch-up and flog their wares.
Because the event is designed by paraplanners for paraplanners (see 3, above), it’s paraplanners who decide what’s on the agenda rather than being subject to the agenda of others.
Organisations and brands supporting Powwows are precisely that: supporters (not sponsors). Sponsorship brings with it certain rights for sponsors, whereas being a supporter brings no rights at all.
But that doesn’t prevent direct involvement in the event by supporters of Powwows, so long as their participation is in keeping with the spirit of the Powwow: ‘To provide a place where paraplanners can meet to exchange views about the future of our profession, to learn things, to fix things and to share things’.
At the Paraplanners Powwow in September, for instance, Legal and General decided to create a workshop environment in which they could work with paraplanners to learn things and to fix things. And, in a selfless act, AXA Wealth’s Steve Owen took both barrels from the gathering about all platforms – not just AXA Elevate.
At Powwow UpNorth, UBS are providing the space in which the Powwow will take place (and that’s all).
5. Participants – not ‘delegates’ or ‘attendees’
Powwows aren’t events that are put on for people; people are the Powwow, so make sure people realise they’re there to take part before they turn up!
6. Wherever possible, chocolate and top-notch sweets should be provided
Because life’s a box of chocolates; not a saucer of boiled sweets.
Right. That’s the spirit of the Powwow and the six organising principles dealt with. Tune in next week (probably Friday. In fact, here’s a handy link to it) for the next instalment on practical ways in which we can help you organise your Powwow.
If you want to get in touch about organising a Powwow, just tweet us at @ParaPowwow or e-mail us at [email protected].