Fam Trip Guidelines

You can download the Fam Trip Guidelines here.

The concept

Familiarisation trips offer agents participating in StudyWorld London the opportunity to participate in organised fact-finding educational trips to improve their product knowledge by touring regionally linked institutions.

The trips will take place immediately after StudyWorld London 2010, departing from the venue (Hilton London Metropole) on Wednesday 8 September from 17:30 onwards. Trips tend to be 3-5 days in length and group sizes vary from 6-20 agents. A successful trip should take in around 5-10 institutions from 1 or 2 regions in close proximity to one another.

The criteria

To host an 'official' StudyWorld Fam trip the following criteria must be met:

All participating institutions must be a recognised member of one of the associations/accrediting bodies invited to attend StudyWorld London.
For UK based trips one of the following must be met: 50% of the participating hosts are English UK members or 50% of the participating hosts are attending StudyWorld London 2010.
For overseas trips the following must be met: 50% of the participating hosts are attending StudyWorld London 2010.

Costs/Fees

When budgeting, you should consider the following costs:

Agents are charged a fee of GBP 170 (inclusive of VAT) – GBP 152.50 (ex VAT) to participate on one of the official StudyWorld Fam trips. 50% of this fee will be retained by English UK Enterprises to cover administration costs and 50% (GBP 85 per agent) will be forwarded to the Fam trip coordinator after StudyWorld and on receipt of an invoice for the total amount payable (e.g. the hosts of a trip with 12 agents taking place should invoice English UK Enterprises Ltd a total of GBP 1,020 including VAT.)

To assist with costs you may wish to apply for sponsorship from your local tourist authority.

When considering organising a trip:

Contact and discuss the mutual benefits of running a trip with other educators in your region.
Discuss and agree on a budget for the trip keeping in mind that you will need to provide agents with the following:
Transport from the Hilton London Metropole to the Fam trip destination and return transport back to London (or appropriate airport)
Accommodation for the duration of the trip (please note agents will expect to have their own room with en-suite facilities)
Suitable transport to and from their accommodation to the participating hosts throughout the duration of the trip
Meals throughout the duration of the trip
An interesting itinerary of activities and visits that is well balanced and includes visits to the participating hosts, visits to attractions in the region and a good level of hospitality.
Although not essential at first, it helps to discuss and agree who will be responsible for each aspect of the items in the planned itinerary.

Trip itinerary

Devise an interesting and varied programme keeping in mind that some of the agents may be coming to the end of a long and tiring business trip abroad. The trip should not be an endurance test for agents and it is much better to give the agent a ‘feel’ for each institution rather than a tour of each and every classroom.
Each participating host should devise a means of individual welcome and should liaise with other participating hosts to avoid duplication and maximise variety. Contact the StudyWorld team for an example of a previous trip itinerary.
One person from the group of hosts must be responsible for the coordination of the total itinerary to avoid any oversights or omissions in the timings. Please do not delegate responsibility to an outside body such as a tourist office or tourist board without informing the StudyWorld team.
Participating hosts should prepare a welcome information pack to send to agents as soon as they have been offered a place on the trip.
Your full itinerary (not just the description of the trip) should be sent to the StudyWorld team by the end of July.

Registering your trip

Once you have decided to run a trip, complete the Fam Trip Registration Form and elect one person to be the sole contact with the StudyWorld team at English UK and act as the trip coordinator.
The trip coordinator will be responsible for forwarding the details of the agents interested in participating in your trip to all participating hosts for decision (see agent booking procedure), and will also be responsible for confirming the hosts decision to the StudyWorld team.

Please ensure you return your completed Fam Trip Registration Form by Friday 26 February 2010.

Agents

The trips are only open to agents participating in StudyWorld London 2010.
Agents are advised that only one representative per agency can attend the same trip. There are occasional exceptions such as agents requiring translators. Should this or a similar situation arise the StudyWorld team will negotiate options with the trip coordinator and agent.

Agent booking procedure

English UK will promote the trips on the StudyWorld London website, in StudyWorld London publications, and in targeted mail/email shots sent to invited agents.
On receipt of booking for StudyWorld, agents are sent a Fam Trip Application Form and should they wish to apply to participate in a Fam trip they must complete the form specifying a first and second choice of trip and return it to the StudyWorld team at English UK.
The StudyWorld team will then collate the applications received and inform the trip coordinators by email as and when applications arrive from agents who have specified their trip as a first choice option. If an agent is not accepted for their first choice the StudyWorld team will inform the trip coordinator of those agents that have specified their trip as their second choice option.
Acting on behalf of the group the coordinator can accept and reject agents. The coordinator should not make decisions without consulting all participating hosts.
The trip coordinator should confirm their decisions to the StudyWorld team, who will then contact the agent with confirmation of the decision. In the case of an agent being offered a place, it is advised that the coordinator then sends the agent a personalised ‘welcome’ message. Once an agent has been offered a place on a trip a 100% cancellation fee applies, except in exceptional circumstances.
The StudyWorld team will be responsible for invoicing the agent.

Meeting with participating agents at StudyWorld

Coordinators are advised to make arrangements to meet with all agents participating in their trip during StudyWorld London. If the trip coordinator is not participating, an alternative contact person who will be at the event should be designated, and this must be communicated to the StudyWorld team. The aim of this meeting is to distribute an up-to-date trip itinerary and familiarise yourself with the agents taking part as well as to confirm departure time and point (this helps with departure when over a hundred agents are gathered in the hotel foyer and you're not sure who is on your trip!).

Fam trip Feedback

It would be appreciated if the trip coordinator could:

Provide feedback from the hosts and participating agents after the trip
Provide photographs of your trip to help with the promotion of future Fam trips

For further information, please contact the StudyWorld team.