Share Inspiration: Young Britons Conference 2013

On the weekend I attended the Young Britons Foundation conference, or otherwise known as YBF. Now I wasn't sure what to expect, it was recommended to me by a friend and after seeing the list of confirmed speakers:

Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Local Government
Douglas Carswell MP, Clacton
Conor Burns MP, Bournemouth West
Chloe Smith MP, Norwich North
Steve Baker MP, Wycombe
Robert Halfon MP, Harlow
Chris Kelly MP, Dudley South

James Cleverly AM, London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority
Iain Dale, Publisher & Radio Presenter
John Deed, Jesse Helms Center
Mallory Factor, Author & Philanthropist
Steve Bannon, Breitbart.com
Matthew Sinclair, TaxPayers’ Alliance
Madsen Pirie, Adam Smith Institute
Alan Mendoza, Henry Jackson Society
Jonathan Isaby, TaxPayers’ Alliance
Ruth Porter, Institute of Economic Affairs
Dylan Sharpe, Business for Britain
Ryan Bourne, Centre for Policy Studies
Harry Cole, Guido Fawkes
Charlotte Vere, Businesswoman & Campaigner
Christian May, Institute of Directors
Raheem Kassam, Student Rights
Emma Carr, Big Brother Watch
Ben Harris-Quinney, The Bow Group
Rory Broomfield, The Freedom Association
Andrew Macleod, former Operations Chief at the UN Emergency Coordination Centre
Peter Botting, Political Consultant
David Canzini, Former CCHQ Head of Campaigns
Greg Smith, Political Consultant
Paul Osborn, Conservative Way Forward

I thought .... why not!

Driving up to Churchill College, Cambridge I was pretty keen to start networking and picking up tips on how to communicate our message to the electorate - since that is the goal at the end of the day. Day one started with being told

"If you are able to go to war then you can affect policy. We are the party of 'yes we can'

which automatically gave me (and I'm sure others) some confidence.

Also being asked 'what will you be doing on the biggest day in 2014, 2015 and of course 2017 (local election, general election and scottish referendum)?' got us all thinking on how we will turn from being a spectator to a revolutionary.

The best part of day two for me was a talk on Development Aid v Development Investment where we heard of examples where the private sector help get the world out of poverty faster (and on a more long term basis) than the public sector.

"53% of funding comes from private sector, 30% from private remittances and 17% from foreign aid and philanthropies

When providing aid, it must be deliverable, sustainable and profitable for it to be a long term solution.

Then the last day, day three. The highlight of this day was seeing how no point is 'unarguable.' Its all about presence before how one structures the argument. It is always better to pre-empt your opponents points and address them.

Throughout the three days, we received lots of advice on handling the media, using the media to our advantage and effective campaigning. Another good talk was on fundraising, particularly as many people don't have a lot of experience in this - I definitely learnt a lot from this talk!

On the first evening, there way a quiz! Now, I'm not very good with quizzes but #TeamYorkshire worked together and came tied first with another team.......time to take it seriously. After winning on a tie breaker question, the 6 of us are heading down to Parliament soon to have a meal with Steve Baker MP on the Terrace.