A bubble, a revolution, and killer venns – Day 1 of #IoFFC Fundraising Convention 2019

You'd have thought I'd worked it out by now. How could somewhere so familiar still confuse me so much? Why do I keep choosing consecutive sessions six floors apart? Who was Frobisher anyway? Still, it was great to be back at The Barbican Centre for day 1 of the Institute of Fundraising's Fundraising Convention. I resolved this year to "get out of my bubble" and largely see speakers I'd not seen recently, if at all. Here's my report of how I managed. After Nicolas Hamilton's inspirational plenary session, I headed to see Jo Barnett of Virgin Money Giving, Lucy Squance of Alzheimer's Research UK, Kat Cox of Alzheimer's Society, and Nina Ziaullah (genuinely of both charities) talking about their very impressive fundraising and awareness-raising Dementia Revolution partnership as the official charity of the London Marathon. "Let me introduce you to the dementia revolution.""We knew we'd be stronger together."First up for me at #IoFFC is Jo Barnett of @VMGiving with @lucysquance @NinaZiaullah & Kat Cox, on the partnership between @alzheimerssoc & @ARUKnews as @LondonMarathon 2019 official charity. pic.twitter.com/DPx1lKH2YG— Richard Sved (@richardsved) July 1, 2019 With great honesty, they took us through from initial pitch presentation, to learning as they went along, and past the triumphant day itself - I'd not seen the partner charity featured so prominently in the coverage and along the route before. A key learning for me was their reflection that they h