Executive & council meeting update

Facebook Frame example - available now

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So we had a very useful executive and council meeting today at University College Birmingham. Thanks to everyone that came along and braved the snow. We hope you all arrived home safely! We discussed a great number of things relating to conference, which we felt would be good to update you on. 

Competitions Update
​As promised the date for the competitions schedule has now been confirmed as Friday 23rd March 2018. This will be available to download on our website. This means that you and your tutors will be able to download the schedule, and see the competitions that are available to enter, as well as the prizes.

Student Conference bookings
The booking forms for students will be sent out to your lecturers within the next week. If you haven't already confirmed with your lecturer whether you are planning on attending conference, then you will have to let them know as soon as possible, as we are limited to 300 guests this year, which will be on a first come first served basis. There are only 12 weeks left until conference, so make sure that you ensure you lecturer knows you want to go, so they can add you to the college / university group booking. Remember, you need to be a member to attend conference, so if you haven't already, ensure that you pay for membership and also register online to receive your login and password. 

Industry Conference bookings
​Industry members have to book on line. You can now book your room and tickets for conference directly on our website, in our "Conference 2018" section. As we have already said, tickets are limited to 300 this year, which is both students and industry members, so ensure you book early to avoid disappointment.

Introducing the "Conference T-Shirt"

We have also been discussing some new ideas for conference. These include activities that you do during the weekend. It was agreed that all delegates that attend conference will receive an "ABST T-shirt" which will be given to you when you arrive, so that you can where it during the weekend. We will be posting some designs for you all to vote on soon, which will be on Facebook and Twitter. The above are just some ideas to start with, but if you have any suggestion, then let us know and we will look into them. The design that receives the most votes will be printed, and you will then be given your very own ABST T-Shirt to keep as a memento of the weekend.

Facebook Frames - they're back!
Last year, we developed some Facebook frames which were available for you to use for conference. We have to admit that not many of you used the frames we created, however they have been really popular in industry with lots of bakers on facebook using them for their profile pictures. This year, we have been developing some new frames, which you can use both before, during and after conference. Some of them are available now. Many of them will be themed for this years "Zombie Apocalypse". We are therefore asking you guys to create your own frames, which we will then make into digital versions and can be used during conference and so on. To get involved and start designing your frame, simply draw it on a piece of paper and take a picture. Send it to us via Facebook or twitter and we will the look at creating the top three voted for by you. We will keep you updated on the closing date for this via our facebook page. An example of one frame that we have already made and is available right now for you to download and is at the top of this blog. 

Membership - Important information
We have received feedback from members that they are confused by the membership process for the ABST. We hope to clear this up. Once you have paid for your membership, you will receive an email from PayPal as a receipt. As soon as the Payment has gone through on PayPal, you are then transferred to a new page where you need to enter your information to register for a password. This is very important that you do this. If however, you have not completed this form, all is not lost. 

If you missed out on completing the form after paying, to ensure that you receive all information regarding the ABST, you need to register online. When you go to our website, click on the "log in / register button". You can then register your name, email and create a password. Once approved, you will then be able to access the members only sections of our website.

We also confirmed today, that membership badges will be sent to college lecturers to be given to members that have paid membership. These are currently being ordered, so we would expect lecturers to receive them over the next few weeks. You need to show your lecturer your receipt or proof of membership in order to receive your badge. For those of you that have become members since March, you can also show your certificate of membership to lecturers which you could download after payment.

​Don't forget, we always look forward to hearing about what you have been up to, including any fundraising events or visits into industry. Maybe someone from industry has been visiting you college or university? Let us know, and we will ensure all members know about all the great work you have been up to!
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