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It’s YOUR conference – help us by volunteering!

The conference is the largest LabourStart has ever held, and our small team of volunteers in Berlin needs your help.  We’ve set up some online surveys and if you can help with any of this, please volunteer.  Remember — the success of this conference depends on you.

  • Help us at the registration desk?  You’ll be signing up participants, handling out conference materials, etc. We’re running the desk in English, German, French, and Russian. You can sign up here: http://doodle.com/diuc8z5kbfk79tug
  • Staff the information desk?  This desk will be working once registration is closed and you’ll be there to help people who arrive late to register, and answer any questions that might come up. We will provide you with all information available about the building, the conference and the city, as well as with phone numbers of people who can help with unexpected issues. You can sign up here: http://doodle.com/q9bxsekuuryt6viv
  • Hand out the interpretation equipment? We’ll have simultaneous translation at the plenary room. Here we need help with handing out and collecting back the headphones/receivers. People doing this obviously will have the chance to participate in these sessions in the plenary room. The main work will be in the breaks when people enter or leave the room. You can sign up here: http://doodle.com/7s2xfmwb2y8d3mcm
  • Write session reports?  We would like to have a short report of each plenary session and workshop for conference documentation.  If signing up for several reports, please make sure they are not in the same time slot!  You can sign up here:http://doodle.com/em95fwxbu2x8uhhv
  • Do you have any experience with live video streaming of events?  If so (keeping in mind that we have a very limited budget) please email gisela@labourstart.org.  We’d love to be able to broadcast the conference live, but we’re not sure exactly how we’ll do this and are looking for help and advice.

German programme added

We’ve now uploaded the programme also in German (see here).

At the same time we’ve removed the track and workshop description pages – please refer for these now to the pdf document for download.

New to LabourStart? Let us introduce ourselves …

lsscreenshot

One of the very first things on the agenda of this year’s Global Solidarity Conference is a pre-conference session called “What is LabourStart?”  This proved to be a remarkably popular event at some previous conferences, so we’re holding it again — on Friday, 23 May at 18:00 at Ver.di.  Speakers will include Eric Lee and Derek Blackadder, and it’s your chance to find out more about LabourStart — and how you can be involved.  We hope to see many of you there!

In Berlin today? (Thursday, 8 May)

Come to the meeting at 8 PM of conference organizers and volunteers – here are the details:

Vorbereitungstreffen am 8.Mai, 20:00 in der ver.di Bundesverwaltung, Paula-Thiede-Ufer 10, Raum 3.B.27 Walter Benjamin

Two great walking tours – choose one

On Friday afternoon, before the opening event, participants have a unique chance to find out about Berlin’s Labour/Left history. There will be two guided tours in English led by expert comrades. 

There are two great walking tours planned — but we need to know which one you’d prefer to join.  Click here to learn more about both and to choose which one you’ll join:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZW7C9XW

Finally: Programme uploaded

You won”t believe it, but we’ve finally uploaded a preliminary version of our programme as a pdf! At least in English, German will follow as soon as possible.

You can find it on the programme page, in the download area, or just here:

programme_download_enProgramme_complete_en_vers140509 (updated again May 9)

This is still subject to change and will be updated regularly, so please make sure to come back and download the latest version before you leave!

Please let us know any amendments, corrections etc. here.

LabourStart in the streets of Berlin on MayDay

LabourStart_MayDay2014_Berlin

GLU students and LS activists marched together

On May 1, thousands of trade unions took to the streets of Berlin – among them the organising committee of the LabourStart conference together with students of the Global Labour University. Jointly we spread the word about global union solidarity and the upcoming conference to Berlin union activists – including distributing our beautiful new conference flyer and poster and the likewise beautiful general LabourStart information flyer!

LabourStartStand_small

Childcare

We have started to organise childcare for kids accompanying their parents to the conference!

We have found Lina, a great person to spend time with your kids, with lots of experience and speaking English, Spanish, and German. Kids’ programme will depend on their age, the weather, and what they are up to!

If you want to bring your kid along, please contact Gisela.

Bring your posters and banners

We’ll create the space – you should bring the decoration! Please bring your best union posters, and possibly a banner, so we can decorate the meeting hall, and you can exchange posters with other conference participants! You might also want to bring some of your union shirts etc.  to give to your new acquaintances…