EUCO 2008 London

Greetings from the Globetrotter!

The EUCO 2008 crew moved onsite at 11am yesterday and have been busy preparing for your arrival into London. Yesterday we unpacked a van full of equipment and supplies, set up our Event Office in the Boardroom at the Globetrotter, and put together over 900 delegate pouches (these are the pouches you receive when you check in and contain your badge, the personalised information for your tour and sightseeing choices; your Oyster Card; drinks vouchers for Friday night and more…).

Today, the crew along with early arrival volunteers will be assembling the delegate “goody” bags. All the cool stuff you get on checking in. I’d tell you what’s inside… but it’s a secret!

After some pizza and a session in the -cheap- Globetrotter Bar (I recommend the Apple Sours and Lemonade!) we all settled down for the night in the Globetrotter’s comfortable beds.

The website is keeping nice and busy… unfortunately it’s now too late to request any changes to sightseeing, accommodation or anything else - this info has now already been submitted to our suppliers and badges and documentation has been printed and collated. It’s great to see that already 15 people have printed their E-Ticket today (and it’s only 07:30)! Remember - it really speeds things up and makes it easier for everyone if you arrive prepared- with your E-Ticket and PhotoID.

Just 2 days and 30 minutes until registration for Platinum, Silver and GoldPlus opens at the Globetrotter Inn opens… today most of the EUCO crew moves onsite to the Globetrotter Inn. We will be establishing the EUCO HQ office and preparing the registration packs today.

This means we’re now moving into onsite mode of operation and we:

• will not be able to accept any further changes (accommodation, sightseeing, packages) - as this information has now been submitted to our suppliers and our preparation of documents and badges is complete
• will not be responding as quickly as usual to enquiries on the website

Things for delegates to think about today:

• Print ETicket
• Packing for EUCO
• Read Useful Info on the EUCO website and this blog for useful tips to make the most of EUCO

…the hard way!

Avoid long queues - make sure you arrive at EUCO 2008 with your E-Ticket and PhotoID.

I’m busy packing today, and soon you will be to (if you’re not in London already!!).

It can sometimes be tricky to know what to pack for EUCO, especially if it’s your first time. To help you we’ve put together a list of things you need to pack.

You can find the list on the EUCO 2008 website:
http://www.euco2008.com/index.php?cat=content&page=cms&CatID=128

From some of the enquiries we’ve received in the last few days, I wanted to point out the following important stuff:

• Towels - if you’re staying at one of our hostels, bring a towel
• Gala Ball - this is a black tie event, read more about Black Tie (for men) on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_tie), the corresponding dress code for women is Evening Gown (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evening_gown) - or even possibly Cocktail Dress (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_dress)

Last but not least, you need to pack your EUCO 2008 E-Ticket (log in to your profile and print it off today) and Photo ID (like a passport, national ID card or photo drivers licence).

It’s been an interesting week so far, we’ve had a number of cancellations but the packages have been bought up as soon as they’re cancelled (especially the accommodation inclusive ones like Platinum and Gold). We managed to resell six or seven Platinum packages this week alone. Here’s what we currently have in stock (at 07:10 on 23 Apr):

• 7 x Gold Packages (these include accommodation for Fri & Sat night, breakfasts and dinners)
• 1 x Gala Ball ticket

Due to the high volume of resales we’ve reopened the main registration and payment processes on the website - this makes it easier for us as there’s less manual work in updating the details. No matter what happens, and for practical reasons, we will shut down registration and payments on Friday 25 April at 19:00 BST. So any cancellations, package or name changes or new registrations must be in by this time.

The EUCO Host Organising Committee (or “Crew” as our shirts say on the back) met for the final time, before EUCO starts, today in Maidenhead.

We worked through every aspect of EUCO 2008 and confirmed that all arrangements are running to plan. Much of the preparatory work is complete. We also ran through the plans for the arrival of the crew onsite at the EUCO 2008 HQ - the Globetrotter Inn. Our team will be in place at Globetrotter Inn from 11am on Monday 28th April to establish our office and store the equipment and supplies needed to operate EUCO. We will be preparing delegate check-in packs on Monday (enabling a swift and easy checkin for delegates that have their E-Ticket printed out) and Tuesday will see the production line to assemble the delegate “goody” bags. If you are arriving in London before 30th April - contact us to find out how you can join in and help with the delegate bags.

The meeting finished earlier than expected - as we moved through all the action point items and we are on, or ahead, of schedule in all areas.

The following are currently available as a result of delegates cancelling their packages:

Packages:

• 4 x Platinum Packages
• 3 x Gold Packages

Sightseeing:

• 11 x London is not enough.. tours
• 1 x Sports London tour
• 3 x London Eye Champagne Breakfast tickets

Contact Us via the EUCO 2008 website for instructions on how to register/pay.

Update: 20 Apr 2008, 18:23

Today has been a busy day on the website and for the EUCO team… now that registration has closed a lot of people have suddenly woken up and we’ve had a bunch of enquiries asking for information, special treatment and all sorts of requests. You only need to ask a question once on the website - all enquries go into a queue and all members of the team can see all of them and answer them as soon as is practical.

Remember - there’s lots of useful info on the EUCO 2008 website, especially in the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) pages and also here on our blog.

Thanks for visiting our blog - the best place to visit for updates on availability of packages which have been returned through cancellation.

We currently have the following available for sale:

• 1x  Platinum
• 1x Gold

Use the “Contact Us” form for more details on how to buy these packages.

The bus is leaving soon, so you better jump on!

Today is the day we’re turning off registration at 10pm BST (British Summer Time) - so if you need to register, register and pay as soon as you can.