Useful Information for future community champions

[Susana465]

Tips from 2021/2022 community champions

Do you have any tips for how much in advance to book places in London?

• It'll depend a lot on what the activity is and for how many.
• Regular things like pub trips for example we usually just booked the week before/sometimes even a couple of days in advance.
• Typically we'd get around 15 people max. at a time so this was enough notice to find somewhere. If you've got more attending I'd imagine you'd maybe need to book a little further ahead.
• If you're looking at doing a Christmas dinner I'd book that now, as a lot of places will fill up!

How about booking places that require a booking fee?

• By and large we just avoided these where possible, but I think you'd be responsible for paying the fee yourselves (however you'd want to split it).
• We did do one or two that had a minimum spend requirement when we were confident that we had the numbers to hit it, and Tom or I just provided our own card details if needed.
• There is a social fund for the year but I believe it's to be used for activities that benefit the most people possible (e.g. we used it to provide catering for a lunchtime lecture with an external speaker). I think it is £1000, Georgia should be able to confirm I'm right!

How did you get around organizing socials/any general tips for doing this in the coming months, please?

• Generally for organising anything we'd put a poll on slack with a choice of dates then book for whatever was most popular. We did a pub night most weeks, then had a bigger social once every month or so (dinner etc). For the things that had a minimum spend/we needed a more solid number we used google forms and asked people to sign up in advance. We found that the Scottish Stores (pub), Mabels Tavern (pub, good for food too),
• Sommers Town Coffee House (pub, does have food) and Simmons (cocktail bar, does a happy hour and there's quite a few across London - this was a favourite for a while!) were good for booking for a bigger group and all 5-10mins walk from the library. We tried where possible to stay near-ish to kings cross to make it easier for those travelling in by train which worked well. We did try scheduling a regular coffee break but found this was better just done as and when everyone felt like it!

"Lunch and Learn"

The other thing that we did that worked really well was to host a "Lunch and Learn" session once a week where we'd book a meeting room and bring our lunch along, and we took turns to present our research (some tutorials on different techniques, some "I have a problem does anyone have any suggestions" etc). We did these hybrid with some people presenting/attending via Zoom, which would give the community award holders something to get involved with too!

To organise this doc:

• [ ] places recommendations
• [ ] events recommendations

[Susana465]

Tips from 2022/2023 community champions

Do you have any tips for how much in advance to book places in London?

• Pretty much same as above, although our numbers usually were 15 to 20 people coming each time. So we required booking often, usually booking was done with 1 or 2 weeks in advance.
• One person would book the place (usually book a few less than official number as there's always last minute cancellations), and hope that everyone would come.

How about booking places that require a booking fee?

• Usually if you book via phone or email (instead of online forms), they might not ask you for a booking fee.

How did you get around organizing socials/any general tips for doing this in the coming months, please?

• Same as above, put dates on slack, and gather numbers there.
• A lot of it was choosing a place we knew was good, and going for it.

"Lunch and Learn"

• Our cohort did not organize these, but they are still run by other people at the Turing.

Recommended Venues that were total success and people loved:

• Tofu Vegan - went here twice, people loved it so much that we had to repeat it!
• Purezza Pizza - went here a few times, it is conveniently close to Kings X, and they are very adaptable and friendly people willing to serve big groups of people, even with short notice.
• Mildreds - did a few socials here too, conveniently close to Kings X and always a guaranteed success.

All of these places have options that are accessible for all dietary requirements: vegan, gluten free, nut free, and most of all, very welcoming and caring about these.