The GSE UK Region Conference is an annual event which takes place in November for two days, generally in the Midlands. This annual event is organised by the GSE Conference Committee which is comprised of volunteers.
There are several keynote and plenary sessions and a large number of subject streams, each of which covers a specific area of interest. The majority of the streams are aligned to one of the regular working groups and the agenda for the stream is coordinated by the committee of that working group. In addition, there are several non-working group aligned streams and workshops organised by the central conference committee which also coordinates the overall conference agenda.
Where possible ideas and suggestions from participants attending the previous conference are used to form the agenda for the following year’s event. Topics may also be received from the various GSE Working Groups or may be based on announcements from IBM and other vendors.
The conference provides over 100 hours of technical training from IBM, other vendors and most importantly from GSE members themselves. Plenty of time is set aside to allow for networking with speakers, vendors and delegates during breaks and the evening reception and dinner.
Each year there is a large conference exhibition with stands from many companies who build and sell solutions relevant to the membership. The income from this exhibition and associated sponsorship enables GSE to offer five free places plus one trainee place per member company. It also allows GSE to charge very reasonable rates to other delegates attending the conference.
GSE works with educational establishments to encourage students to attend, as everyone is acutely aware of the increasing skills shortage in the z/os industry. Students are offered free places, a number of which include free accommodation. The conference includes a whole stream dedicated to people new to the platform.
The 2014 national conference attracted 459 delegates. There were 17 streams and 2 workshop streams comprising 167 sessions of technical education.
Please note that ALL people attending the conference venue in any capacity need to register in order to have a badge.
Please register using the "Registration" menu link above.
The basic conference fees for 2015 remain at the 2014 rate as follows:-
Delegates from GSE member companies (see below) £100 per day
Delegates from other non-member companies £160 per day
There is a £20 discount to this rate for registrations made during the early bird period (up to and including October 5th) and there will be a £20 admin surcharge for late registrations made after the Friday before the conference (October 30th).
Each UK GSE member company is entitled to send up to 5 delegates and one bone-fide trainee FREE OF CHARGE provided they register during the early bird period. Additional delegates will be charged at the prevailing member rate.
Voucher codes are issued to each member company for this purpose.
After the end of the early bird period vouchers may still be used up to one week prior to the conference (Monday October 26th) however they will be charged at HALF the member rate, i.e. £50 per day.
The following table shows the fees per day for each category of delegate and date range
|
Delegates from ;- |
Prior to 06/10/15 |
From 06/10/15 to 26/10/15 |
From 27/10/15 to 30/10/15 |
After 30/10/15 |
|
UK GSE Members (up to 5 plus 1 trainee) or others with vouchers |
Free |
£50 |
£100 |
£120 |
|
UK GSE Members (additional) and non-UK GSE members |
£80 |
£100 |
£100 |
£120 |
|
Non Members |
£140 |
£160 |
£160 |
£180 |
