Are you thinking about moving into consultancy or looking for some hints, tricks and traps ? Come and listen to the experiences of 4 individuals who have done so - and managed to survive.

The group consists of:

Steve Clarke, one time Director of Information at the Oxford Radcliffe Infirmary, and an independent consultant from 1995

Roger Elvin, Head or Director of IT at Ratners, the Civil Aviation Authority, and the British Standards Institute, twice a consultant with Logica, a senior lecturer at Cranfield, and now an independent consultant

Mike Haynes, an independent consultant since 1989

John Poulter, a consultant with Logica and Sema, and an independent consultant since 1995.

who will be mainly talking about consultancy, not contracting. In fact, one of the things they will be aiming to bring out is the difference between consultancy and contracting.

The venue for this meeting, by courtesy of our Secretary, Bob Bethell and his employers, is Insys (ex Hunting Engineering, for those of you who are as old, or even older than me). Insys are located on the Bedford Road out of Ampthill.

There are directions, with map, to INSYS on the Insys web site by following the 'About INSYS Ltd' and 'Where are we?' links.

Attendees should please let Bob know their names (and car reg. if possible) at his work e-mail address (bob.bethell@insys-ltd.co.uk) or telephone (01525 843520) by 5pm on Monday 19th April then he can get the list to security, so they will be let in. The room is in the Company training centre and there are plenty of car parking spaces outside the building. With a little luck, he might even find the BCS direction signs and see about putting them up.

We look forward to seeing many of you at this first meeting for some time. Remember, a good attendance helps us to support future events, and I shall particularly expect to see those of you who have commented on the lack of activity recently.