1st August 2004 Conference
Comments
To give you an idea of what you missed these are the comments received from audience participants:
Excellent. Nice to hear Ann Andrews for the first time. ~ A.H.
Best - A few understandings were confirmed.
Worst - Too hot. ~ S.E.
All excellent. ~ A.C.
Nice venue. Friendly atmosphere. Good speakers.
Worst - no onsite parking. ~ S.D. Midlands
Good host, speakers very good.
Worst - no parking facilities available. ~ W.R. Midlands
Totally absorbing - brilliantly communicated - I could have listened for another few hours! Do let us have more.
Such a tragedy there were so few people to receive these messages. ~ M.S. Oxford
I found the two ladies Ann and Mary fascinating and mind blowing, but Neil was infuriating as he mixed personal assertions and beliefs with factual information. ~ J.B.
Mary Rodwell was brilliant as was everything else. ~ V.C. Wycombe, Bucks
Brilliant. At last some real substance - so comforting to find I'm not alone and not bonkers. Much enjoyed all the speakers. Looking forward to having more of these conferences.
~ V.R. Oxford
All first class. Brilliant. Content excellent. so much information. ~ L.F. Reading
Absolutely fantastic. I have thoroughly enjoyed the day and the speakers have been first class.
Definitely the best one I have ever been to.
Thanks very much. ~ L.E.
All great talks. ~ P.F.
Excellent talks to hear. ~ A.C. Oxford
Good to have 90minutes plus for speakers - no rush. Good quality talks, relaxed atmosphere. Good book stands. Good value.
Thank you - excellent day! ~ D.M.
Very well organised. Appreciated the impeccable time-keeping. Ann and Mary absolutely fantastic and professional.
I found Neil much too long, repetitive, and very negative, and I'm not one who doesn't believe there are conspiracies around. Nevertheless thank you very much for a really great conference. ~ M.N.
Fabulous day - thanks!
Mary Rodwell - great - thanks for the introduction.
Please limit the speakers to one hour at a time - if 2.5 hours, do it in 2 halves, one a.m, one p.m.
All in all a great day out ! ~ T.F.
All the speakers were very good. We had a great day.
Well done Ellis. ~ D & E G. Cornwall
What a day!
Very interesting and thought provoking. Many thanks. ~ R.T. Midlands
All Good.
Excellent combination of speakers.
(Design or accident Ellis?) ~ T.C. Yorkshire
Design ~ Ellis
Excellent. ~ J.T. Yorkshire
Very Good. More ofthe same, especially personal encounters, stories, experiences etc ~ P.B. London
Fantastic lectures. so much to absorb - would be great on video recording. ~ M.V.
Looks to have been very well received by the few present. How do we build on it? How much appeal has the subject matter? Organiser badly let down by 'no shows' - obviously needs advanced payments. ~ Geoff Ambler CIUFOR
Comment from Ellis on the above audience feedback:
It was a brilliant day, as you can see from the feedback above.
All of the speakers had travelled a very long way to speak, and many of the audience did likewise. Such a pity that most of the organisations who claim to be researchers couldn't do the same. Still I've now got a better idea of what a dire situation Britain is in now regarding open minds, co-operation and motivation. For me the organisations that did respond to the invitation, and even better turned up, do give us hope for the future.
There were a couple of things that I will change for the next one. Mary Rodwell's presentation was split into two one-hour sessions, which worked very well. In my opinion 1 hour is never enough for a top class speaker to share their information. Neil Hague's 2 hour + presentation was absolutely brilliant and many people said so to me afterwards. Unfortunately in the end he had to leave out tons of material, including a great deal of very positive empowering information due to schedules. This did leave an 'unfair' impression of what Neil is saying. Neil shakes comfort zones, which I think is a vital requirement of change. As one of the 'new wave' of speakers Neil Hague, without any doubt, will be very highly sought after as an international speaker. (He was 'bagged' by one or two conference organisers immediately after the talk.) We were very fortunate to have him and I will not hesitate to invite him back for another talk.
Mary Rodwell went down a storm. Her presentation is slick, professional and crammed full of so much vital information that it is unmissable for anyone who really wants to know what's going on in the enigmatic worlds of experiencers.
Anyone seeing Mary today would not realise what a long and painstaking path she has travelled to reach her current level of expertise. I've witnessed Mary's blossoming first hand from the initial wide-eyed staring and stumbling of the novice through the gradual and sometimes sudden 'I'm enjoying this' realisation to the polished and rivetting speaker she is now. This in itself is a wonderful example to those who are about to sail their ships into the public speaking arena. You get better and better. She is and has been a very special friend and confidante but I can truthfully say that she is without a doubt a shining star. She cares, really cares about others. She puts everything she has into helping on a personal level, one-to-one, speaking at conferences, writing and through her unremitting determination to wake up the media, the entrenched slouches and others who inhabit Camp Dogma.
Ann Andrews as always was a beacon of integrity and warmth. You would have to have the intuition of a housebrick not to realise that everything Ann says is true. Ann treated the audience to a sensitive, compelling precis of her family's very many experiences, which are still ongoing. Ann, as always, was great.
Also all of the websites and outlets who supported the talk with promotion either by banners or posters. Especially to Brian James of SPI and APRA, who unfortunately could not attend himself due to illness. And those who provided a stand. Please visit their sites and outlets listed on this page.
Thank you to Michael Soper for his short talk on Oxford area anomalies, to Bill Foley for all of his help during the day and to Fran C and Geoff Ambler for their very valuable and much appreciated assistance.
Big thanks to Olivia, Ash and Mac for the delights of their kitchen and chef-ery. Great stuff guys. Kept us all going a treat.
And last but not least to every one of the in-tune motivated people with enquiring minds who grasped this opportunity. Thank you.
In all there were 49 attendees; which for a first conference was acceptable, but like some of my teachers always used to say 'could do better'.
For anyone hoping to catch up with Mary during her visit I'm sorry to say that she has had to return to Australia for personal reasons.
Ellis
P.S. God-willing and a fair wind there will be a report on the talk, and what the speakers had to say in the near future.
Ann Andrews, Mary Rodwell & Neil Hague at the end of a magical day. Notice that we had company - two orbs at the back of the stage between Mary & Neil. In the original there are at least another three behind Neil. Another photograph shows another orb approaching the stage beneath the table (left of picture).
~ Photograph courtesy of Geoff Ambler of Contact International UFO Research.
Letter from Ann Andrews
Hi Ellis,
Just thought I would drop you a quick e-mail to say how much I enjoyed the Oxford Conference.
Having read some of the comments from the audience on your Oxford Talks website, I would just like to add that this was a great day for me too.
Although I was a speaker myself, I must add that I never get tired of hearing what Mary has to say on this subject. She's always able to make me think and then I'm convinced that yes, I am doing the right thing in speaking out about this subject. She's excellent - as always.
It was the first time that I have heard what Neil has to say but I must admit that I wanted to hear more. He was fresh, invigorating and another one of those people who won't allow you to sit in your little cocoon any longer believing that all is right with the world. He came up with a lot of mind blowing stuff; things that I had no idea about previously. Meeting Neil after the talks just confirmed what a warm, caring person he is. I would have no hesitation in going along to other venues in the future if Neil is speaking. Enlightened man.
Keep up the good work, Looking forward to the next Signs of the Times talk.
Lots of love,
Ann.
THE NEXT CONFERENCE
It has been decided that the next conference will be all ticket. Priority will go to those who prepaid for this first one and then those who paid on the day and left their contact details.
If you could not make this conference but would like to attend the next one please
