1. To set out plans for the future of the BedPosts movement.
2. To advise accommodation providers of how to stay abreast of changing technology and the Internet.
3. To provide members with the chance to network with colleagues thereby enabling them to build on existing reciprocal recommendations.

Invited participants:	Owners and managers in the independent serviced accommodation sector including hotels, B&Bs, guesthouses, inns, restaurants with rooms, cottages, apartments
Date:	Wednesday 6th February 2013
Time:	10.00 am to 10.45 am arrival; Conference closes 05.00 pm
Lunch:	2 course buffet served during conference
Venue:	The Legacy Falcon Hotel, Chapel Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, CV37 6HA
Car park:	Hotel car park is free to conference delegates
Ticket price:	£34 per head (including lunch, tea/coffee & pastries/biscuits/cakes) - payable online here

Time	Content	Facilitator / Presenter
10.00	Arrival - Welcome cuppa and pastry and Registration
10.30	AGM - Retiring Chairman’s Report and Handover to New Chair	Carol Starkey - Retiring Chair, BedPosts
10.45	Increased use of Smart Phones by travellers to find accommodation - are you ready?	Ben Gooding - Director, Internet Results Ltd
11.30	Break: Tea/coffee and biscuits + Completion of Questionnaire to assess training needs
11.45	BedPosts Town Pages - are you getting the most out of yours? The Chipping Camden experience of forming a group	John Gooding - Director, Internet Results Ltd Gené Jeffries - Proprietor, Brymbo
12.30	Lunch - Chef's choice hot and cold 2 course buffet to be served in the main restaurant
13.30	Getting Our Act Together - Acting out a few difficult scenarios. To enable us to have our act together if they ever happen to us.	Carol Starkey - Retiring Chair, BedPosts
15.00	Online Booking - has it become essential for every accommodation business to offer this facility? One member's experience of using booking.com	John Gooding - Director, Internet Results Ltd Roy McGregor - Chair, BedPosts
15.45	Break: Tea/coffee and cake + Compilation of Questionnaire to assess the most liked Online Agent
16.00	BedPosts the Future - Incoming Chairman’s Report on the work of the Committee and the Plans for taking BedPosts forward.	Roy McGregor - Chair, BedPosts
16.50	Any Questions?	Roy McGregor & Carol Starkey
17.00	Conference closes; optionally join BedPosts BreakAway members for dinner £22.00 extra cost

The conference is at the start of a two-day get-together and conference participants are invited to join in other activities as desired:

1. Tuesday 5th February 2013 - Some members will arrive in Straford-upon-Avon and will meet informally.
2. Wednesday 6th February 2013 - Full day conference from 10.00 am; Three course evening meal at The Legacy Falcon Hotel.
3. Thursday 7th February 2013 - Full day and evening of organised leisure activities.
4. Friday 8th February 2013 - Departure.

For further information go to www.bedposts.org.uk/news/breakaway.htm

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BedPosts started as an Internet Forum in 2006 as a method of communicating with and seeking help from fellow-accommodation providers over badly-drafted EU legislation - The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 - resulting in overzealous interpretation and application by the UK Fire Services.

After discussion of hundreds of different topics and a substantial increase in numbers, the membership decided to progress from talking together to also doing things together. They chose the name BedPosts, having two meanings, a pun on the fact that members post messages on forum noticeboards.

• The membership numbers are coming on for 1000, mainly around UK but a handful abroad.
• In addition to mutual support, BedPosts has been successful in using its purchasing power to negotiate the supply of products and services for its members at discount prices.
• BedPosts has relaunched its website with more than 2000 pages and a new focus. The focus is on presenting members' accommodation to the general public to secure more business for members during the troubled economic times ahead.

BedPosts is a mutual and democratic organisation characterised by frequent voting on its forum. At the conference, the Chairman will appraise members of the plans for BedPosts' future which take into account the votes and consultations.

BedPosts.org.uk, and its system of daily or weekly newsletters, is both a focal point of members' activities and a means of advertising their businesses to the travelling public. The website has been constructed by Internet Results Ltd which has a proven record in the field of search engine optimisation. Main Features:

• 2000+ town/village pages containing advertisements of members' accommodation
• Linking system from members' websites which will drive these pages to the top of search engine rankings
• System of automatically passing excess demand to one another
• Content of town pages managed by members
• Community software including forums, blogs, pages, chat, downloads, calendar and maps