get/together

Thanks for another brilliant year, everyone. While there were a few small hitches, technical and otherwise, I'm pretty pleased with how things turned out. I had a great time catching up with everyone, and meeting new friends. Thanks also for being so great at cleaning up and packing out -- women get stuff done!

Obviously we had a couple of major changes this year, and while they were forced upon us this time, I think it's a good opportunity to look at new ideas and ways of doing things.

From my perspective, I really enjoyed the longer run time on Saturday. It made my day feel less pressured, and I felt positive about being able to have more breaks between scheduled items instead of rushing. I also thought the "pizza party" went very smoothly, and I want to take this opportunity to give a big thumbs up to everyone's ordering and cashing up skills. Sunday was less good for me; we were up against the clock, and we made the best of it, but it felt like a little bit of an anti climax. I would return to a full day here for preference. So my initial thought, then, is that I'd like to keep the long Saturday and return to normal Sunday, with a ~6pm finish and a closing dinner in the old style.

It was a bit of a marathon for me coming up with a way for us to spend Sunday afternoon together; I was very conscious that transport is an issue, as well as finding a venue that can handle a large boisterous group, and there really aren't a lot of combined restaurant/bars that are happy for people to sit around all afternoon. I actually thought the Cutting did the job well, given our limitations, and I quite enjoyed being able to have a couple of drinks before dinner. I know it's not the most salubrious of venues, however, and I'm open to all suggestions re preferences for Sunday dinner next year. Happy to crowdsource this sucker!

Any other genius ideas you might have, feel free to toss those in here too. Onwards and upwards!