3 Community Event Organisers Working Towards Social Good
When we consider the benefits a conference coming to town could hold for us, we always think about it in terms of numbers:
The number of dollars, or euro, or pounds that will flood into the economy, the number attendees that will leave our area who will share their positive experiences, and the increased numbers of people contributing to local businesses.
This week, instead, I wanted to consider events and conferences in a different light, but still a beneficial one. Aside from the money and prestige that comes with big-ticket events, there are others that are pouring other positive influences into the areas they set up in.
Today, we’ll be looking at event organisers working towards social good, and the impact that work has and will have on communities:
Mental Health First Aider
28% of people say they know physical first aid, but fare fewer have even heard of the concept of mental health first aid.
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England say their purpose is to “normalise society’s attitudes and behaviours around mental health, by developing the skills we need to look after our own and others’ well-being.” As such, they developed a mental first aid programme which has since been popularised and taught to various administrators at other organisations.
Kat Hounsell is one such administrator. She works at Everyday People, a “UK-wide community of company culture, employee engagement and learning professionals”, who are facilitating an event this winter which will provide training in this type of first aid in a safe setting for those who want to help.
For additional info on the effects of the MHFA certification, there are case studies live on this YouTube channel, and course evaluations available on various international MHFA websites.
Date: November 19th – 23rd, 2018
Tickets: You can register interest, here.
Location: Brighton, UK
Accessibility Club Conference
The Accessibility Club Conference is a webworker conference all about web accessibility and assistive technology.
This side-event of beyond tellerrand goes one step further by integrating steps that also benefit the community within their ticket set up. The conference itself is not-for-profit, and a regular ticket costs €80, but for an additional minimum of €120 to a maximum of whatever you would like to donate, a scholarship/diversity ticket which will be given to someone from an under-represented group within the tech community.
The conference is run by Stefan Judis and Joschi Kuphal, a “front-end nerd” living in Berlin, and a web architect living in Nuremberg respectively.
Date: November 5th, 2018.
Tickets: Available now
Location: Berlin, Germany
GoodTechConf
Another non-profit event, GoodTechConf, will also be taking place in Brighton in the last of our series of event organisers moving towards social good.
While “good tech” might seem a little vague on the surface, GoodTechConf has a specific aim for each year they’re in operation. In 2018, they’ll be supporting causes contributing to reducing food and packaging waste, and homelessness.
The event itself will include a day of tech talks from project teams using their skills for social good, and the chance to take part in workshops and hackathons for the benefit of worthy causes.
Date: November 19th – 20th, 2018
Tickets for the conference and workshop are available here for £120.
Location: Brighton, UK
For some additional, upcoming events to consider, you see some previous posts that we’ve published like this here, here, and here on additional themes.