Thanks to those of you who attended. We will obviously await the evaluations but my general impression through speaking to members was that they liked the new venue and enjoyed the conference.

Congratulations to Wigan Council who received the Team of the Year award and commiserations to the other shortlisted authorities. They can all feel very proud of themselves. Well done to all the learners who received their certificates, to Gary Wood (Waverley Council) our Learner of the Year, and to Emma Denny (North Norfolk District Council) and Rachel Williamson (London Borough of Wandsworth) for receiving commendations for their excellent work within their authorities.

Our guest of honour at the dinner was Councillor Jackie Morris, Sheriff of Nottingham. Jackie was an absolute star and really entered into the spirit of the evening, presenting the awards with great enthusiasm and humour. We also had five delegates who had travelled all the way from North Miami in the USA to attend conference. We really enjoyed their company.

If you attended conference and haven’t yet returned your evaluation forms, then please do so within the next few days. We will be reviewing feedback at the meeting on 9th December and the more forms we receive, the more informed that discussion will be.

We made a number of decisions at the AGM meeting and a couple of the major ones are below.

I’m pleased to say that the following Director appointments were confirmed:

John Austin – Chair

Dave Burn –  Vice Chair

Peter Sass –  Board Secretary

John Lynch – Director of Finance

Sue Keogh – Director of Development

Wayne Chandai – Director of Communications

This is an excellent team, committed to taking ADSO forward in 2017. The AGM also approved a performance management process which will make all Directors more accountable for the work we do. Objectives will now be set annually for each post holder, based on ADSO’s Business Plan. We have also introduced a remuneration package of £4,000 per year for each Director, 25% of which will be subject to the satisfactory achievement of those objectives. The remaining £3000 will be paid in the form of a ‘basic allowance’ to recognise the work each Director does. Please see the AGM papers on the website if you would like further information or contact me at john.austin@adso.co.uk.

Photos of the conference are on the ADSO Facebook page and the presentations are listed below:

keynote-day-1-taking-good-governance-forward-diana-melville-cipfa

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workshop-local-democracy-the-next-generation-carl-whistlecraft

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workshop-the-future-role-of-the-councillor

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workshop-are-you-a-21st-century-public-servant

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workshop-devolution-what-will-it-mean-for-democratic-v1

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workshop-how-good-governance-impacts-on-frontline-services

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workshop-leading-through-change

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