The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is the membership organisation for Scotland's charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. Charity registered in Scotland SC003558. Registered office Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh EH3 6BB.
New for 2023! The Gathering Extra
The Gathering Extra is coming to a screen near you on November 29th 2023
Organised by SCVO, the Gathering is the largest free voluntary sector event in the UK. It's a place for all the amazing people working in the sector to network, showcase what they do and learn from each other and this year, we've changed it up a little bit...
We've introduced the Gathering Extra as an online opportunity to catch up on the bits you missed from the in-person Gathering from the comfort of your own home or office.
View programme & bookWho's the Gathering Extra for?
In 2022, although people enjoyed the chance to get together in-person at the Gathering, it didn’t suit everyone.
Since Covid, and for lots of different reasons, more people want to engage with events online as well as in person and we want to help them do that.
The Gathering Extra is for everyone working in or with the Scottish voluntary sector.
You might decide to join because the in-person event doesn’t work for you, or you might be with us on the 7th/8th November in-person, then catch up online with an event that you missed.
What's on the programme?
We're preparing the Gathering Extra programme at the moment and will share it later in September. We've selected topics that tend to draw a big crowd and have relevance across the sector.
We’ve also looked for sessions that are being delivered primarily as an input from a stage - the more interactive round-table sessions can’t be recorded as easily.
How will the Gathering Extra work?
Working out how to make the Gathering work for an online audience has been something we've thought long and hard about.
We want to make the Gathering accessible for as many people as possible.
Here are the details
- We’ve consulted with organisations across the sector that have approached hybrid and online events in different ways. We have consistently heard that making a hybrid event work well requires smaller audience sizes and a simpler programme.
- We have worked with online event experts Everywhere+ to think through the options, and decided to offer an in-person experience, and a separate online experience- the Gathering Extra. The plan is to record a range of sessions from across the two days and edit them so they work well for an online audience, whose needs are different to people who attend in person.
- Rather than just adding the sessions to SCVO’s Youtube channel, they’ll be hosted on the Everywhere+ platform and you’ll be able to join us on 29th November for a full day, real-time online event.
- We will have real-time event hosts and special guests to bring the recorded content to life. It will feel like the Gathering, with branding and energy, but you won’t be expected to have awkward Zoom breakout room conversations.
- Throughout the event, you’ll be able to share your thoughts and comments in real-time through a chatbar, which will be monitored by our SCVO hosts.
- If you can’t make the online event on November 29th, it will be available for a further 30 days on Everywhere+, and because it’s the Gathering it is 100% free for all delegates.
We'd love to hear from you
This will be our first year running the Gathering Extra and it's a test year for us.
If you've got thoughts about what we've got planned, we'd love to hear them!
