On 8th June 2008, a nice sunny day, more than 85 people attended our London Open Day at Bethnal Green, despite tube maintenance work which closed the local underground station. The event was organised by BSA trustee Tanveer Rameez Ali. Here are some comments from participants:

Marilyn

BSA Open Days are not known as quiet affairs. Participants taking the chance to chat with others who stammer and speech therapists.

I would like to thank Tanveer and the other organisers for putting together such an informative and interesting programme. The day was crammed with presentations and workshops, and I would have liked to attend all the events on the timetable - it wasn't easy having to make a choice

I was very interested in Mike Jones' presentation on using NLP as a tool to focus on how we communicate, and harnessing the elements that produce fluency. By contrast I was very moved by Mark Arram's In-Rhythm workshop. I felt he conveyed a sense of his own journey and an openness in his approach to counselling work, enabling the person who stammers to actively take part in creating the process that works for them

What I enjoyed most of all was the buzzy atmosphere and a general sense of excitement amongst the participants who obviously enjoyed the chance to socialise during the breaks. This was my first experience of a BSA Open Day and I very much appreciated the warm welcome and the chance to spend time with fellow stammerers.

Angela Munday

As a parent of two under 5s, one of whom has had some stammering speech in the past, the other now saying his first words, I was particularly attracted to the workshops on children's speech therapy. The first was led by Jane Fry from the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children. Mary Kingston presented the other on the Lidcombe programme for pre-school children, which offers more direct therapy.

Both workshops were interesting and very informative. The speakers instilled confidence that there are genuine options available for children and their families to enable them to successfully tackle stammering together. I was impressed with the obvious commitment and professionalism of the speakers and their colleagues, and came away with a feeling of real hope for future generations of dysfluent children

A chance to learn and contribute to discussions, to face fears (for me, the open mike session), to meet old and new friends alike and enjoy a tasty lunch all made for a very enjoyable, worthwhile day.

Andrew Janes

Sustainability is often talked about in relation to the effect of human activity on the environment and my own profession, archives and records management, is tackling the need to preserve electronic records long-term. So, to me, it seemed timely that many of the sessions at the London Open Day mentioned sustainability in relation to therapy and self-help for people who stammer. The City Lit session discussed cycles of change and why newly-gained fluency does not always last, while the presentation from the McGuire Programme emphasised how long-term maintenance was built into their method. Other sessions mentioned the need for early intervention to help children who stammer grow up to be fluent adults. In general, I was impressed with how well the day was organised and the quality and variety of the workshops and presentations.

Hiten Vyas

The Open Day was part of BSA's 30th Anniversary celebrations. It was reassuring to meet so many people - including speech therapists and people who stammer - knowing that there is a large community out there and that I'm not alone. Everybody was very welcoming. The event was a great opportunity to chat with people who stammer and therapists, and share life experiences. Happy Birthday BSA!
(Hiten has a blog at www.stutteringhub.com)

From the Autumn 2008 edition of Speaking Out, page 4.

See also: Organising an Open Day, by Tanveer.