Van der Spek Meet Up - June 2016

Who remembers the first Van der Spek meet up in 2015?.... a few hands shoot up...

Who enjoyed attending the first Van der Spek meet up in 2015... not so many hands shoot up...

Who would like to hear about the next Van der Spek meet up in a few weeks time? ......

OK so enough of a build up. Yes we are having another Van der Spek meet up at the workshop in Puttershoek.

Firstly please read all of this post before checking your diary.

The number of places available are limited to just 8 people, unfortunately this is due to the size of the workshop. Hopefully there will be future meet ups, so if you miss out on this one there will be a chance again in future.

We will open the mailbox for you to apply for a place on the meet up on Saturday 20th February, this is so you have some time between reading this and Saturday 20th to check your diary, check the costs of travel and timings etc. There are full details about how to apply for a place at the end of this post.

So here is the outline of the visit and details of what we aim to offer on Friday 3 June - Saturday 4th June.

People travelling some distance (like Janet and I) will be in Rotterdam on Friday afternoon 3 June. I will be staying in the Thon Hotel in Rotterdam, last year this was called the Tulip Hotel, it was reasonably priced and conveniently located.  You will be responsible for paying for your room, we have found booking.com the easiest way to book rooms. Please don't book until you have a confirmed place on the meet up.

On the Friday evening for those people that arrived that day, we will meet up at the hotel and eat out in Rotterdam, possibly at Vapianos in Rotterdam. If that name sounds familiar, yes it is the same chain of restaurants as the ones we visit in London for the Philofaxy meet ups. The food is good and reasonably priced and you order using a simple smart card system and pay for just what you ordered.

On Saturday morning (4 June) following breakfast at the hotel we will travel together by public transport or car to Puttershoek aiming to get to the workshop by 10:30am.

During our visit there we hope to do the following:

• A factory ‘tour’/presentation of models, history of the company. 
• Stopping for lunch may be at about 12:30-13:00 for say 45 minutes allowing people plenty of time to ‘mingle’ and chat with the others.  
• There will be a display of items that are for sale on the day from your many items of stock
• A display of BagUsBags too
• Ring swapping demo by Steve! 
• Diary creation demo by Steve - Amendment and then mail merging the Steve Morton/Ray Blake diary inserts (if people want to discover this!)
• There will be a brain storming session looking at design ideas and any other feedback items on the Van der Spek website/customer service areas etc etc.
• Design your own organiser on the day, with the chance to see the leather that will be used etc. 
• Future organiser designs with thoughts and feedback from the group to Petra.  
• Question and Answer Session.
• If you are staying on in the hotel on the Saturday evening, we will once again go out as a group to eat, including the Van der Spek family.

Please note the above programme is provisional and is subject to changes over the next few weeks.

On the Sunday depending on our individual departure times there might be a possibility to look around the city before we travel home again.

To be clear, each attendee will be responsible for the cost of their travel to Rotterdam and hotel costs, evening meal (on Friday) etc. However a buffet lunch will be provided on the Saturday at the workshop.

To book a place at the meet up please email Steve: steve@philofaxy.com after 9am (Paris time) on Saturday 20th February. With the subject of your email 'Van der Spek'

Steve will confirm you have a place within an hour of sending your email. The confirmation will contain further details about timings etc. Once all places are allocated a reserve list will also be created in case there are any people that have to pull out of the meet up after being allocated a place.

If you have any questions about the meet up please contact Steve at the above email address and he will respond as quickly as possible.

To see what the meet up was like last year take a look at the post I did afterwards.

We look forward to hearing from you.