EUCO 2008 London

Hi All,

Well it only seemed like yesterday when I was with Lisa and the team in Bursa Turkey for the REM Meeting in January 2007 and now we have 14 Days 9 Hours to go till the start of EUCO 2008 LONDON.

I’m Martin Coates, EUCO Conference Crew Member and I will be based at The Globetrotter Inn and I have been a Rotaractor for nearly two years…I was there at the Council Meeting in 2006 when the Bid was suggested for EUCO 2008 LONDON and have seen EUCO 2008 LONDON go from strength to strength.

This is the biggest Rotaract Event I have been involved in and I cannot wait for the challenge of EUCO 2008 LONDON

My role will be helping out wherever I can during the week so please do come and say hello..However my main role will be Transport Manager making sure you all get to your hostels after the Gala Ball at The Novotel.

And why is my name Aston Martin Martin…all will be revealed at EUCO 2008 LONDON

See you all there.

Best Wishes

Martin.

I’m Jonathan… and my role on the EUCO 2008 crew is Internet Officer and Immigration Officer.

Here’s a bit more about what I’ve been working on:

Internet Officer - from the time we won the bid to host EUCO 2008, back in January 2007 - I have been working to bring the best Rotaract conference website ever delivered… it started off as brochureware but by the end of May 2007 we were ready to let you all to register and use the e-commerce tools on the site… online registration, online payment, online merchandise shop, online hotel and hostel booking and more recently some community/social networking features. We are very proud of our website - and we’ve had some great feedback on it. The website is completely open source and LAMP (linux, apache, mysql, php) and is hosted out in Midlands (near Nottingham). The website has handled the demand well - we’ve seen some big traffic peaks… like in May 2007 when we were selling a package online every 20 seconds to when you all open our e-newsletters and click through to read the latest news.

Immigration Officer - this is a bit easier than building and running the website… I have been helping delegates from outside the European Union to get a visa to enter the UK to participate in EUCO 2008. Our E-Ticket has been a big success in helping delegates get their visa, but some delegates have needed special, customised letters. We’ve also had some fun weeding out all the chancers and timewasters… the UK and London must be a pretty popular place… we’ve had people from third would countries lying, committing fraud and trying all sorts of tricks to get invitation letters from us… we saw them coming and two attempts have lead to police investigations!

It will be fantastic to put all the faces to all the usernames on the website! I’ve met a lot of you at previous EUCO’s, PreConventions, Interotas and other events - I’m looking forward to meeting the rest of you!

Hello everyone,

My name is Keith Pickles, EUCO conference crew member helping with Publicity and where ever I can. I will be the main crew member based at Holland House over the event and am looking forward to meeting everyone!

I have seen EUCO 2008 London go from an idea at the RGBI (Rotaract in Great Britain and Ireland) council meeting in August 2006 through to Bid and beyond. A what a journey it has been! The highlight for me (so far) was when we hit 40 countries for the 40th Anniversary of Rotaract!

I am responsible for the Theatreland tour and hope those of you going on it enjoy

I have been in Rotaract for over 3 years now and am in line to be the next RGBI Chairman, I look forward to the chnace to network with so many Rotaractors. I work for a UK based Building Society, the largest in the world and am keen to compare working practices with fellow financial institution workers

If you see me say hello and I hope you all enjoy your time in London, as Tigger the Tiger (from Winnie the Pooh) says, t.t.f.n. (ta ta for now) tanks, Keef