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Showcasing Scotland's vibrant voluntary sector

Supporting Scotland's vibrant voluntary sector

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.

Showcasing Scotland's vibrant voluntary sector

Policies, procedures and terms & conditions

How to book and things to check before booking

Before booking, please make sure that you choose the right event host package or exhibition space for you.

For example, double check if you've chosen a members' rate or not.

Not sure if you're a member? Check our members' directory. You might actually save money on your Gathering booking by being a member so that's worth considering. Check out our membership page for more details.

Exhibition bookings

If you're booking an exhibition space have you considered if you'll need electricity? For example for a laptop, tablet or screen? If you plan to use anything electrical at your exhibition space, you'll need to add an electrical package at the time of booking. It's not possible to add on the day of the event (the venue needs to plan all that out in advance) and we don't want you (or your visitors) to be disappointed.

When booking an exhibition space, please make sure that you have enough people available to staff your stand for the duration of both in-person days at the Gathering (4th and 5th February 2025). We want to make sure that all visitors to the exhibition have the best experience possible and that they have the opportunity to talk to you when they visit your stand.

Event host applications

If you're hoping to be a Gathering event host in 2025, please keep both the 4th and 5th February free in your diary until we confirm the programme.

We ask you to be flexible to help us offer the best experience to our delegates. We'll plan the full Gathering programme to avoid clashes in event themes, to provide a varied and interesting programme and to support delegates to attend as many different events as possible to make the most out of their Gathering experience.

Booking confirmations

Once we've processed your booking, we'll send you a confirmation email, along with further details. 

It's important to know that your booking is not confirmed until you receive a confirmation email from us. Please get in touch with thegathering@scvo.scot if you do not receive an email from us within seven days of making a booking. Remember to check your junk mail before getting in touch, just in case an email has landed in there by mistake.

An example email subject is: Gathering 2025 - confirmation of event host form submission.

Most emails about the Gathering will come from an official SCVO email address, for example thegathering@scvo.scot or events@scvo.scot or membership@scvo.scot. You may receive emails about the Gathering from 'Form Assembly', for example report@formassembly.com, these are also official emails.

If there's anything you're not sure about, get in touch.

How to pay  

When you apply to host an event or book an exhibition space, we ask you to submit your invoice payment contact details.  

We'll send you an invoice within two weeks of confirming your booking. Invoice payment terms are 30 days and must be paid in advance of the event.

Cancellation   

If you need to cancel your booking, please get in touch with us as soon as possible.

If you cancel your event host booking or exhibition booking 8 weeks or less before the Gathering, you won't be entitled to a refund. If you cancel by 26th November 2024, you'll receive a 50% refund of the original booking cost.
If you do need to cancel, of course we're happy to talk to you about it in whichever suits you best (phone, Teams or Zoom call) but we'll need you to send us confirmation that you want to cancel by email to thegathering@scvo.scot.       

Location

We'll confirm the location of your event space at the EICC in the week commencing 14th October 2024.

Please complete your exhibitor profile so that we can confirm your event location.

Exhibition set-up

You will be able to set up your exhibition space on Monday 3rd February. We'll send you more details about the set-up when we send you your exhibition manual in the autumn.    

Exhibition dismantle   

Please do not dismantle your exhibition space until the doors close to the public at 3pm on 5th February. Dismantling your exhibition space before then can cause a health and safety issue and is also disruptive to Gathering delegates and other exhibitors around you.

You can incur charges from the EICC for dismantling early so please take this into consideration when you're planning how to staff your exhibition stand.  

Equity, diversity and inclusion  

SCVO interprets equality of opportunity, diversity and inclusion in the widest sense. We are committed to eradicating all forms of unfair discrimination and prejudice. We recognise the need to address unfair discrimination and prejudice by fulfilling our legal responsibilities and through our good practices and how we behave.

SCVO is committed to becoming an anti-racist organisation. We acknowledge that we are on a journey to strengthen our stance on the unacceptability of racism, both internally and within the wider voluntary sector, and we endeavour to combat racial inequality whenever we see it.

We have zero tolerance of all forms of discrimination, harassment and bullying. All exhibitors, event hosts, speakers, visitors and guests participating in the Gathering are responsible for behaving in a way that will not be offensive to others, and to treat each other with courtesy and respect.

Any opinions expressed by the exhibitors, event hosts, speakers, visitors and guests for the duration of the Gathering are their own and not necessarily those of SCVO.  

To comply with SCVO’s equalities policy, we aim to make our events accessible to everyone (our equalities policy is available if you'd like to see it).

To help us make sure that we treat participants fairly and to help us achieve our aim of meeting people's needs, please let us know at the time of booking of any specific needs you have or let us know if there is anything we can do to make the Gathering more accessible for you.   

Additional support  

Some people need additional communication support to participate fully in events. SCVO considers requests for reasonable adjustments for communication support on a case by case basis. If anyone requires additional support to attend your event, please contact us to talk about it.   

All our venues are accessible and are fitted with induction loops, lifts and accessible toilets. 

Travel and accommodation  

We suggest that you do not make travel arrangements or book accommodation before we confirm your booking.

Any travel or accommodation costs that you incur are entirely your responsibility.  

Data protection  

When you make a booking with SCVO, we store the information that you've provided to allow us to manage your booking. Read SCVO’s training and events privacy notice for all the details.

Copyright  

By accepting our policies, procedures and terms & conditions you acknowledge that all event content and materials are owned by SCVO, the exhibitor, event host, speaker, visitor and guests participating at the Gathering and you will not obtain any rights whatsoever to such content or materials.    

In addition, the above participating at the Gathering agree not to reproduce, sell, hire or copy content or materials and will not use such materials except for the purpose of post event reference.   