And Continues....

Thursday Continued....

Nice to have Emma here, as it gave me the chance to attend a bit of a ‘do’ held by fellow exhibitor (and longstanding Junkk.com diRE:ctory partner) ecover.

Met a lot of nice folk, and am hopeful of developing some good synergies. Reminded Lucy Siegle of the Observer that we existed, and bumped into Janey Lee Grace again. Ever-charming, she told us she’d mentioned us on Radio 2 yesterday… and we were not around to hear it!

One thing it did remind me of again… somewhat ruefully… is that our lovely rural location puts us very far from the heart of the vital networking one must do for business and PR. All the guys I met knew each other and a company rep was able to prompt a journo on a weekly basis of their news, keeping them top of mind. I probably got more done in those few hours than all the money and time we have blown in the last few months pounding out emails and sending out DM pieces. A glass of juice, a canapé and a ‘what to you do’ face to face works wonders.

Friday

Well, you can tell I’m not Irish, as I know St. Patrick’s day is around here somewhere, but I’m just a Guinness shy of knowing exactly when. The reason I know is I was reading about the celebrations, and it got me to thinking about how the e-consequences of anything fun can suddenly loom large. I was watching the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, which had a mighty firework display, and fell down on the ‘ok, why not?’ side, despite the extra airborne gunk. However, I think I must be turning into the Grinch (or at least a selective hypocrite) because I must confess that I find the practice of dyeing water (entire rivers in Chicago and our London fountains by all accounts) green to be a real waste. Not just in the making, but especially in the subsequent clearing up.

Though shaping up to be busy, I doubt today will throw up much ‘blogworthy’, so I’ll ponder instead a few things from my trawl of my two freebies: Metro & The Daily Mail. Passing quickly over the obligatory Prince Charles mixed messages “Climate Change is more serious than terrorism (well, Duh. It’s hard to terrorise a dead planet)’ vs. £3000 per month to fly a hairdresser around to keep the missus’ barnet bulletproof.

Keeping the vague link of things in the media being more based on celebrity these days than actual news value, I was reading an interesting interview with Steve Martin (ok, so he is a celebrity, but also a relative). This is a massive talent and star with a lot worth listening to, and he referred to another massive talent and sta also worth listening to: Kevin Kline. Intelligent celebrities. Sadly, he did refer to the fcat that another co-star, and massive talent (who does not have much worth listening to outside her records), Beyonce, was the only one the press really wanted to feature. So it’s a small consolation that we’re not the only ones with problems cutting through with a message. Still frustrating though. With luck PJ will soon be hitting Heat magazine.

Good news! It seems that my idea for a week long ‘collection’ from all the booths of their bottle caps has found merit and will be instituted. A round-robin is being issued by the organisers tonight.

Glad they were up for it.

Even though the show seems to be getting busier each day, I took an hour away from the gallery (more accurate a description than ‘stand’) to see Penney Poyzer’s masterclass demo. Very interesting, and even a few tips I (can’t speak for Emma, who always tells me ‘we’ve contacted them but no reply’ when I bounce back with another new product or service we can upload) for the site. It was also a relief to see her looking a lot better than last week, when she was taken poorly and rushed off.

Saturday

A nice surprise to arrive and find Clare of Moondaizy (www.moondaizy.co.uk) waiting at the stand. She’d come in to help on the stand, which will mean a nice break for me to have a scope around the show. Especially with the arrival of my co-presenters in the form of the family. <>

Clare was more than up to the task, and I did manage a few ‘breaks’, out and about. Popped down the PR dept. to find they’d forgotten about my PR idea, so we drafted it up on the spot. With luck, it may actually happen! I have found that words and deeds in the world of media (from PR to journalism) can often stray apart in practice.

Sunday

A glorious day, at least outside. In the show you may as well be in a submarine. But I did get a nasty surprise. Having bought a few more ‘knick-knacks’, not just at show prices but at extra special exhibitor prices, I opened my Sunday paper to find a mail order brochure with three items I’d bought a few pounds less! I must confess to feeling slightly cheated. I can only imagine how someone feels who has paid £15 for the privilege of paying more than if they’d stayed in bed and used the internet to do their shopping.