THIS IS THE NINEDOTS GATHERING.
Event Guide
Well, we’ve waited long enough!
We are super excited to welcome you to the NineDots Gathering 2023 and wanted to give you all the info you need for the event.
For us, this has always been our passion project. We know there has been an explosive increase in multi-speaker events over the last few years but we believe the NineDots Gathering is something different and unique and we’re so thankful you’re a part of this – the eighth NineDots Gathering!
We founded NineDots in November 2014 and we could never imagined being here, ready to host for the eighth time at a new venue and city! We are so proud of NineDots and of everyone in the community helping make it the strongest and most supportive wedding photography community in the world!
Everything you need to know about the event is below, but let us know if you’ve got any questions or need anything from us.
THE GATHERING VENUE
THE GATHERING VENUE
Northern Monk
Marshalls Mill, The Old Flax Store, Marshall St, Leeds LS11 9YJ
Everything will be held at this venue, apart from the After Party.
Northern Monk Refectory LDS is located in The Old Flax Store, our Grade II listed mill in Holbeck, Leeds – the spiritual heart of the industrial revolution. The Refectory is the original home of Northern Monk, located directly above our first brewing site. Visitors can drink beer brewed on the floor below where they’re sat from our 20 taps of fresh Northern Monk beer.
SPONSOR SET UP Information
You are allowed to set up from Monday 13th November – from 2.30pm onwards, this is when we will have access to the venue. We will set you up upstairs where the talks will be held. There will be power sockets available. You will either get a small table or a beer barrel to set up on, whatever you prefer.
You can set up on the day of the event also – we have access from 8.30am but please note that talks start from 9.30am at which point we’d like you to respect the speakers on stage have no talking or noise whatsoever. We would prefer it if you did set up on the Monday as it would be much easier, but understand if you can’t also.
Please send us any discount codes you maybe offering at the Gathering so we can promote them to our attendees during and after the event. Also if you are able to offer any prizes or giveaways please let us know – we love to give away spot prizes during the event so let us know if you want to offer anything, maybe for the speed quiz winners / print comp winners and general giveaways over the course of the two days.
You can download our logo pack below: NineDots Logo Pack Download
NineDOTS GATHERING
THE SCHEDULE
REGISTRATION DRINKS – 6.30PM at Northern Monk
We will be holding a registration drinks event on Monday night for all our attendees to get their wristbands for entry to the event and as a chance for people to meet up for a casual drink and say hello etc. If you’re in Leeds we’d love to see you there too but it’s totally up to you!
DAY ONE: TUE 14th NOV
DOORS OPEN 9.00AM
09:00 Tea / Coffee / Pastries
09:30 Welcome to Day 1: Take your seats
09:45 Jason Vinson
10:45 Break
11:30 Nadine Van Biljon
12:00 Ronan Palliser
12:30 AfterShoot
13:00 Lunch
14:30 Fabio Mirulla
15:30 Break
15:45 Jason Vinson / LaPlante Mini-master Class
16:15 Jason Vinson / LaPlante Mini-master Class
NB: The attendees will be split into two groups for the above two masterclasses and go straight from one to the other. This means you will have to do the same presentation two times back to back.
16:45 Break
17:15 Ange Ward Brown
18:15 End of Day 1 – everyone downstairs
19:00 Everyone upstairs for The Ultimate Pizza Party & Speed Quiz – Food / Speed Quiz / Karaoke
23:00 – Finish
DAY TWO: WED 15 NOV
DOORS OPEN 8:45AM
08:45 Tea / Coffee / Pastries
09:15 Welcome to Day 2: Take your seats
09:30 Siva Haran
10:00 Soozana Pvan
10:30 Break
11:00 York Place / Helen Williams – Mini-master Class
11.30 Helen Williams / York Place – Mini-master Class
NB: The attendees will be split into two groups for the above two masterclasses and go straight from one to the other. This means you will have to do the same presentation two times back to back.
12:15 Lunch
14:00 Lina Orsino-Allen
14:30 Marta May
15:00 Break
15:30 Jesse & Moira LaPlante
16:30 NineDots GoodBye
17:00 End Of Day Two
21:00 After Party
02.00: It’s all over for another year!
TIMINGS – IMPORTANT
MAINSTAGE: 55 mins / 25-30mins // MINI MASTER-CLASS: 25-30 mins
There will be two different lengths of presentations. The longer presentations are a maximum of 55 minutes and the shorter ones 25-30 minutes. You should hopefully know which one you are doing as it will have been agreed with you in advance – and should be clear on the schedule below Your main stage presentation must fit in your time slot and we have to be strict with this due to the timing restraints of the venue we use.
This INCLUDES Q+A time. It’s up to you whether you build a bit of Q+A time into the end of your talks but we can’t add this on at the end.
The Vibe
We always wanted the NineDots Gathering to have a boutique, intimate vibe and not feel too much like a conference. We kept the numbers low (100 total) for this reason and we’ve got a venue where everyone can stay together.
We would really love you to hang out with everyone during the breaks as this is where some of the best connections are made. We want people to feel like they learned loads and got super inspired but also had a brilliant time and made some awesome new friends.
FOOD + DRINK
LUNCH IS NOT INCLUDED IN YOUR TICKET PRICE // Free tea and coffee in the breaks
There will be pastries, tea and coffee on the Tuesday and Wednesday morning, plus tea, coffee, water available throughout the daytime during the breaks. Doors open at 8:30am each day which is 45 minutes before the presentations begin. A very light, continental style, breakfast (pastries and such) will be available – If you can’t survive a day without a full English fry up, then you will need arrange that yourself elsewhere before you arrive.
For Lunch we’ve brought in the wonderful folks at Twisted Kitchen – from downstairs they will be serving you street-style Caribbean food. It’s crazy tasty and great value – you can see the menu below!
If you are eating at the Kitchen please fill this form out – we do need this filled for every person attending: https://nine-dots.co/gathering/gathering-2023-food-choice/
If that doesn’t appeal to you, then you are more than welcome to bring your own food, or pick up a Pret or something similar in the morning, to eat in the venue. Alternatively, you can of course find somewhere to eat locally at lunch, however we don’t encourage that as so many friendships and new bonds are made during the breaks.
We’d recommend you order from the kitchen downstairs or bring your own so we can all hang together!
TUESDAY EVENING – THE ULTIMATE PIZZA PARTY – THE PIZZA’S ARE ON US!
After the talks end on day one (and before we start the storyteller and social) we have bought in the legends that are Duke’s Pizza – a food truck that will be making fresh pizzas for everyone for 2 hours, so plenty to fill you all up! The food will be served buffet style and there should be something to please most people’s tastes and allergies. With it being buffet style though, please don’t take more than your fair share in one go. You can always go back for more later and as this isn’t a wedding, the band will not eat all the food before you get chance to sit down!
TUESDAY: Ultimate Pizza Party & NineDots Speed Quiz Tournament followed by karaoke
Once day one closes, there will be Pizza’s for everyone to the start of the evening for 2hrs.
After some pizza and drinks you are all invited to the inaugural NineDots Gathering Speed Quiz! This is a modern, NineDots, take on your classic British pub quiz – it’s a team competition so grab some fast-fingered (and intelligent) friends and see if you can be the ones to lift the trophy!
Afterwards we’ve got the now traditional (and some would say, essential) NineDots Karaoke session… those who know, know! We will stay in the venue until midnight and you’ll be able to order food & drinks from the bar.
WEDNESDAY Legendary After Party
9pm-2am Wed 15 Nov – Cuckoo Leeds
37 Call Lane, Leeds, LS1 7BT
https://cuckooleeds.co.uk/
We’d love you to join us for our after-party!
The wrist bands issued at the registration will be required for entry, so please don’t lose it!
The Helper Team
Frances Foster, Phil Salisbury, Janina Brocklesby and Andy Li
As well as Rahul and Andy, these four wonderful people are here on hand to help attendees and speakers throughout the event! If you’ve any questions or issues all you can speak to them (as well as Andy and Rahul.) They’ll all be wearing different coloured NineDots t-shirts so you can find them easily in a crowd! Check out their NineDots profiles to see their lovely faces!
Sharing is Caring :: #weareninedots
Share the NineDots fun and FOMO on social media!
Over the course of the week we will be documenting and sharing all things NineDots gathering 2021 on our Instagram @ninedotsco.
Keep up to date and feel free to join and share yourselves using the event hashtag #weareninedots and our insta handle is @ninedotsco
The Serious Stuff
Your conduct and behaviour while with us
We take our responsibilities as conference organisers extremely seriously. We want everyone to have a fun, happy, welcoming, safe, enjoyable time while at the NineDots Gathering and by picking up your wristband and walking through our doors you accept all the terms of our harassment and bullying policy and commit to treat everyone with respect.
Click here to read the NineDots harassment and bullying policy.
