The Life and Times of an Event Promoter - On Finding a Venue

Morning :)

Today we have the first of a series called The Life and Times of an Event Promoter.  A fantastic inside look into the world that Angie inhabits!

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People often ask me just what it is a promoter does.  I think they see me twiddling my thumbs in a show and think it is a push over of a job.  By the time I get to the middle of a show, my work is more or less done, apart from trouble shooting during the weekend and the pack down at the end. The hard work goes in before we ever get to the weekend of the show. 

Over the years, people have often said I should do articles about what goes into a show, so I have decided to do a series for our blog of ‘The Life & Times of an Event Promoter – a Promoter’s Musings’, giving some insight into how those wonderful stands miraculously appear in a hall and visitors miraculously walk through the doors :)

The best place to start is always at the very beginning, and the first task before any show can begin is to find a place to hold it, so here is my first article in the ‘Event Promoter’s Musings’, on finding a venue!

I always say that one of the hardest parts of my job is finding an actual venue that works for a show.  People often say to me, ‘why don’t you do a show in X or Y?’ The simple answer is, I can’t find anywhere suitable and affordable to hold one!

When we go on a venue hunt, I go armed with a list of twenty-two requirements.  Some of them are essential, others are preferred, but can sometimes be worked around. They include things you might not even consider on first thought.

First and foremost of course is space.  In the good old days before the recession hit, we always needed a minimum of 750 square metres, otherwise we would be turning away too many of our ‘regulars’!  Now however, anything over 600 square meters is worth a look, as we are considering slightly smaller shows due to falling exhibitor numbers.  Just as High Street shops have closed, so exhibitors have gone out of business too.

Next, having found the room, we need to look at practicalities such as:

• Is it lockable, alarmed, is there a security guard? 
• Does it have enough electrical outlets to supply every stand? 
• Is there somewhere to site the entry desk that controls the flow of visitors and can we easily restrict it to one entrance only?
• Is there a separate room in which to hold the talks that seats around 70 plus people?  If not, can a marquee be used effectively for this purpose? 
• Do we have exclusive use of the rooms during show?  I have memories of a University where although the management said we did, the students who used the atrium as access to other parts of the University, saw no reason why they couldn’t walk straight through the show!  Quite a difficult weekend ensued and of course, we did not return!
• Timings are important – council and university buildings cannot always accommodate our access timetable.  We need access from 10am to 7pm on the Friday preceding a show, from 7am to 6pm on the Saturday and from 8am to 8pm on the Sunday to allow for breakdown of the show.  So many times, we get this far and the excess hours on Friday and Sunday nights, or the early start on Saturday cannot be accommodated.
• Parking and food come next.  Is there onsite parking?  If not, is there good on-road and car park facilities nearby?  Can exhibitors park near enough for unloading and is the unloading point suitable for trollies? We prefer one large room on the ground floor of a building, but if it is split level, then is there a good, modern lift – is there a service lift or secondary means of access if the lift should break down? 
• Does the venue have facilities to run a café?  Do they have in-house catering which we are obliged to use or can we get our own?  These days, there are hardly any venues that allow us to bring in our own catering, as they want to make the extra revenue from this too.  Getting them to cater for a larger than usual number of vegetarians, special diets and stock copious amounts of bottled water can be a challenge in itself!
• After all of that, we get down to the bits and pieces, such as can we put up a large banner outside and for how long?  Some venues won’t allow it, some restrict the length of time it can be there and others charge for it!  At Chester for example, it has cost over £800 to have a banner up for one week! 

• Will they allow posters and flyers in their reception and a pull up banner?  You would be amazed at the amount who won’t. 
• Do they supply first aid provision or do we need St Johns? 
• Do they have trestle tables and chairs or do we need to hire them?  Both of these add to the quoted cost of course.
• Do they hold the necessary Markets Licence and entertainments licences?

Having managed to tick all these boxes, the crunch comes – can they do the dates we want and how much will it cost?    You would think this would be the first question, but most venues won’t quote or look at dates until they have gone through all your requirements.

Dates are a problem with hotels, as most don’t want to book shows in the summer because of weddings.  Some won’t take three-day bookings at any time of the year, preferring to get a wedding, party or formal dinner on the Friday and Saturday nights.  We need three days of course – one to set up the show and two for the show itself.

If we do get over all of this, it is then ‘cross-fingers’ time, as we wait for the quote.  Quotations of up to £12,000 per day are not usual with city centre venues that tick most of the boxes, and quotes of around £3,000 a day are common with the larger types of facilities.  Some can be negotiated to a reasonable figure, others will not budge and so fall at the final hurdle.  These days I try and push for a ‘ball park’ figure before going through everything, but venues are very reluctant to commit themselves until they have all your requirements.

When we really want to do a show in a particular area and cannot find something ideal, we do look at a compromise, as happened with our recent Nottingham show.  Most of the city centre venues were in the £7,000 to £12,000 a day bracket, hotels were not interested and so we found ourselves at Nottingham Forest FC.  It was an upstairs room, not our favourite, had two lifts one of which broke down and was a very difficult shape to work with, complete with fixed seating along one side and a ‘balcony’ type area which was overlooked by many visitors. Signage was restricted by the football club and catering was not what we usually look for, all of this came at a price of over £3,500 for the weekend but it did enable us to try out Nottingham.  As it turned out, with the show falling far short of expectations despite heavy investment in advertising, I was pleased I had not paid more!

So here we have it – the life and times of an event promoter, or at least, a very small part of it.  You can perhaps see why, when after all of this, exhibitors walk in and say ‘this is hard to find’, I don’t like the atmosphere, the lighting, the parking, the unloading, the position I am in or any one of a hundred other things, we sometimes sigh deeply to ourselves before summoning up the cheery smile and trying our best to make them feel comfortable and happy.

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Next instalment – Things That Have Gone Wrong – a trip down the memory lane of my biggest nightmares and some of the things that have provided the steepest and sharpest learning curves!  Fortunately my sense of humour and sense of the ridiculous usually enables me to look back at them with a grin, even though at the time I was probably on a search for the nearest rafter to hang myself from! :)

Wood Green and Interview Updates

What an amazing weekend!  New shows can often take a while to get established however footfall through Wood Green this weekend was higher than last year, by 35%.

In this economy, that's nothing short of a miracle.  It's been lovely to see everyone and make new friends - many of whom are keen to see the Wood Green show continue and grow.  Which is great news as our hire fees go to support the animals. Making it even more worthwhile.

The blog has been silent for the last few days, we've given the interviews a little bit of a break but are returning again tomorrow.  They've proven to be very popular and are hopefully providing an interesting peek into the lives of our exhibitors and speakers.

On a personal note, a friend of ours is swimming the length of Coniston Lake to raise money for the charity MIND.  A cause close to us here at BSSK.   Here's the link http://www.justgiving.com/Rob-Sandilands  even if it's only a pound, every little donation counts! This is an amazing challenge, the lake is cold, rough and really hard going!  Good luck Rob!

Interview with Gaile Walker

Gaile Walker will be giving a talk at Godmanchester this weekend and has been kind enough to answer some questions for us in the run up to the show.  Gaile will also be giving a talk at Newark on the 15th September.  Another wonderful interview, giving us a great insight into her work.

Gaile offers healing sessions in Cambridge. She also runs courses in The First Degree and The Second Degree of The Radiance Technique®, Authentic Reiki®. For more information see: www.radiance4realreiki.co.uk / Twitter: Gaile Walker @GaileWalker
Facebook: Gaile Walker - Author/Teacher of Meditation and Healing

1 - Could you tell us a little bit about yourself.

Well, I live and work in the delightful city of Cambridge, have done for a number of years.  I'm a practitioner and teacher of the most beautiful healing and meditation called The Radiance Technique® (I'm using the word healing here to signify becoming inwardly fulfilled, to feel whole rather than fragmented as we often can do).  On  25th January 2013 my first book 'Beyond Angels' was published by O-Books.   

All this is the culmination of a life devoted to spiritual research. As a child I always thought there was something more to life, something missing.  I believed when young that life could be perfect and at the age of 14 began my spiritual search.  I realise now it was a search for a good technique, one which would help me achieve the inner contentment that, even at that early age, I consciously  craved.

2 - Can you tell us a bit more about your book?

I would love to talk about Beyond Angels because most of what I know from my 40 years of daily meditation - and which is of spiritual value - is in this book.

The need to write Beyond Angels grew from the time I spent working with spiritual and reiki healers. I am able to see vibrations, the finer levels of energies that constitute personalities, and I often see the energies they generate.  As I observed their ways of working I understood the nature of the vibrations that they were using for healing and meditating. I watched the energies which healers removed from their clients and what happened to them. It was the difference that I perceived, between the pure transcendental light vibration of The Radiance Technique® and the physical energies of other methods, which prompted the writing of the  book. I felt the need to encourage healers (and meditators) to connect to a pure source for healing: Transcendence.  To use current language to help them 'take their healing to a new level'.

But, in Beyond Angels I am not writing specifically about The Radiance Technique® (the transcendental method I teach). It's about my own personal view of the value of Transcendent or transcendental healing in general. There are many themes running through the book and I want to assist therapists, healers and meditators to add this deep, Transcendent vibration to their therapies and healings. Alongside my own personal spiritual experiences and descriptions of more expanded and enlightened states of awareness there are a number of teachings in the book:

• In my view there are endless methods of healing and meditation and they do not deserve the group name of  'healing and meditation'.  I believe that some of  these are helpful for the expansion of spiritual awareness and others are not.  Lots of methods I've observed would be better understood as aids for psychic development (spiritual and psychic being very different animals).  So it won't come as any surprise when I say that Beyond Angels speaks about the limitations of many current practices.

• It's a book which looks at suffering, how we hold onto it and the quickest way of liberating ourselves from it.  Of the Grace that is available to us when we access Transcendence, either from the Divine personality or Transcendent teachings.

• It makes the case for effort and determination for spiritual gain, and how life can be improved from that.  The quality of  life is based on the degree of spiritual awareness - nothing less.

Although I initially wrote Beyond Angels for reiki and spiritual healers, its appeal should be broader than to attract only these two groups.  I'm already finding that it's also of interest to those without this particular focus. It's definitely a book for anyone who wants to learn an effective meditation or healing for spiritual purpose: the true spiritual seeker.

3 - I read you support two orphanages abroad,  how is that going and how can people donate?

We're a small city-based group of dedicated meditators who use The Radiance Technique®  and we call ourselves ‘Cambridge Radiance For Children’. Since 2007 we have regularly raised money for charitable projects, previously donating to Kampong Cham Orphanage and School in Cambodia.  But at the present time we are supporting one charity only - the African project ‘Mahali pa Watoto’ (Swahili for a place for the children).  This is not an orphanage but a pre-school for 70 deprived children living in the slum area on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, and we support it via ‘The Seed Sowing Network’.  The group is dedicated to helping these children, typically aged 4 to 7, who without the project are  destined for a life on the streets. Children attending the school are also given food.

To date  (August 2013) we've given £1,100 to Mahali pa Watoto (this is as well as the previous donations to Cambodia).  It's important for me to say that the reason for creating the group was to encourage people to meditate together; for the enhanced, deeper experience and to expand our awareness of Transcendent Consciousness.  Also, to direct pure transcendental light to these children.  The money we send them serves just one of 3 purposes.

If anyone would like to donate, please send your donation directly to The Seed Sowing Network’ - www.seedsowing.co.uk

Of course, should Beyond Angels become more widely known and a greater number of people learn to meditate using The Radiance Technique®, the new students would be very welcome to join the group. We very much hope that the number of meditators - and our donations - will expand.  

4 - Which writer/thinker has influenced you the most.

I've dipped in and out of many spiritual writing but two writers: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Dr Barbara Ray Ph.D. (who is the only expert on The Radiance Technique® and the holder of all the intact keys of this system) have helped me the most.  They have given me the means to achieve states of liberation.  But more than their writing it's their teaching techniques which have influenced me, in fact I did not read Maharishi's main text until after writing Beyond Angels despite it sitting on my bookshelf for 35 years. Beyond Angels is written from my experiences and subsequent understanding gained from profound meditation.   Reading books only points the way and this is where many New-Age / MBS practices flounder. Without a good technique it's so very difficult to achieve the states of awareness I describe.   

5 -What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given.

The kindest of friends once told me that I should give thanks for what I can see.

The behaviour of someone was changing towards me because of my burgeoning spiritual vision, they were close to me and I was feeling deeply hurt.  My friend's advice was priceless: clarity is a blessing.

6 -Would you name  some “Desert Island” books or films (ones) you would like if you were stranded on a desert island - for young ones who don’t know about Desert Island discs!)

As a child I loved reading and that enjoyment of books has remained with me but if you're talking about spiritual books  I would take the Bible, St Thomas's Gospel and other equivalent texts, purely because I've never read them.

One spiritual book I would like to read again springs to mind instantly: 'Autobiography of a Yogi' by Paramahansa Yogananda.  I loved this book when I was young and it's a really enjoyable read.

There are many other types of literature I've enjoyed and would re-read, written by authors such as Henry James, Isabelle Allende and Grahame Green, to name just three of them.

Interview: Alix Davies from Chalice College

Today we have an interview with Alix Davies of Chalice College. Chalice College is a recognised Penny Price satellite school and will be exhibiting next at Elsecar 24th and 25th August.

We've loved reading this interview and want to thank Alix for taking the time to answer our questions.

Now, for some reason one section of this interview has decided to stand out - I've tried to un-highlight it but it seems to have a mind of it's own.  Maybe we need to pay special attention to that bit!

To start with could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

 I qualified as a teacher in 1971 and worked many years for Rotherham Borough Council in several local schools, I have also taught piano and adult literacy as well as teaching therapies.

As a little girl I loved plants, scents, discovered crystals, yoga and various other fascinating subjects and this interest has continued all my life. I have always had an interest in Complementary Therapies, particularly Aromatherapy and have qualifications in many areas including Clinical Aromatherapy, Infant Massage, Lymphatic Drainage Massage, Daoyin Tao, Indian Head Massage, Reiki, Crystal Therapy, Beauty therapy, Hot stone massage and others

I still work as a practising therapist so have an understanding of the every-day needs of a successful practitioner. My teaching is based on practical skills as well as theoretical knowledge.

When was Chalice College established and how did it originate?

 Loving teaching and having a passion for holistic therapies it was logical to combine them, so Chalice College developed. I love sharing the knowledge and skills I have and encourage my students to do the same; many bring here their expertise in a wide variety of areas and we share what we know so that we have more skills and information to draw from when treating people.

Working as a therapist I had tried oils from several sources and found that Penny’s worked best for me, so when I was organising my school I wanted the best for my students. I had done several courses at the Penny Price Academy so Penny knew me and when I approached her to discuss this she suggested that I might like to become a satellite school… I gave her my C V and so Chalice College was born in 2009.

You don't do distance learning, do you have plans for that or do you prefer to be "hands on"?

We have always had aspects of learning that can be done at home, for example part of the IFPA upgrade includes a tailor-made course to cover any aspects needed so students can then join the later modules without having to cover everything again (saving money too).

The Penny Price Academy has put in place some distance learning courses; please ask me for further information. Obviously there are courses that have practical elements such as massage where it is necessary to be present to ensure the techniques are correct.

My own view is that people learn in different ways so some methods suit better than others and it is a personal choice. If someone is confident in learning situations and happy to extrapolate their own information, plan their own study times and is self- motivated distance learning is good for them. It can be fitted into times to suit them and their other commitments. However as with any solitary learning, distance learning has drawbacks – the lack of discussion and exchange of views and information from colleagues being one, another being the opportunity to ask a question at the time it is at the forefront of your mind. I am always here to ask, but waiting for an email reply when you want to know there and then can be frustrating, also sometimes those questions then just do not get asked.

In class we get to know each other, it is friendly and informal; students are encouraged to ask those questions: information can be explained in a variety of ways and we can go over a point again if needed, also as a teacher with many years’ experience I have tips and techniques I can offer my students to make the learning easier.

Which writer/thinker has influenced you the most?

 I thought a long time about this –being not so young I have had a lot of influences in my life:  but came to the conclusion that the person with most influence was my mum. I know it sounds obvious but I didn’t realise it until much later in my life: previously I would have said this person influenced that aspect of my thinking – another that and so on. With a greater overview I realise I was lucky because mum was very open- minded and encouraged me to read whatever I wanted to and encouraged discussion. I remember she would let me have her library tickets (no internet then and children were not allowed to get books from the adult section and anyway the children’s section only allowed three books – not nearly enough), also she took me everywhere she could so I was able to see and experience whatever was possible. All this meant that I came across a lot of information and viewpoints, learned to be open to thoughts and ideas and to evaluate them and so my own philosophies have developed gradually. It is an on-going process.





What's the best piece of advice you've been given?

Again the best advice came from Mum; it was what her father said to her:

“Lass, what you know would fill a book – what you don’t know fills a library”

Never close your mind and think you know it all – always listen to other people and respect their views, you might think you are right but you can never be sure.

Would you name six "desert island" films or books?

Only six books / films. This was difficult – I am a bookaholic!! No six books would be enough, however thinking it through much of the enjoyment of a book is in sharing it with others, so the ones I have chosen are ones I have particularly enjoyed sharing with people who mean a lot to me and re-reading those books brings back that happiness. I have ‘cheated’ a bit; instead of films I have plays

1. The Wind in the Willows

Mum read this to me when I was very young (along with many others). I liked this because I liked the character of Ratty, he was so generous and went out of his way to give pleasure to others and always considered their feeling, putting their well-being ahead of his own. I experienced so many feelings in this book – awe on finding Otters lost son and meeting Pan; fear in the Wild Wood; the feelings and emotions that were brought by the different seasons, and not least the humour surrounding Toads adventures and character.

2. The Water Babies

Another one read to me when little. I have re-read this many times and have had increasingly better understanding of it as I got older. As a little girl I couldn’t understand how Tom could cry because Mr. Grimes being hurt and punished – I thought he deserved it. This book was probably the earliest lesson in karma that I remember.

3. Tom Sawyer

It was so funny and the people so true to people everywhere. I love Mark Twain’s humour. I particularly liked Tom having to paint the fence and getting others to do it for him, it was so clever; also his comment that he was only called Thomas when he was in trouble – this came back to me when at times I gave my own children their full titles, and when they call me ‘mother’ instead of ‘mum’.

These three books particularly take me back to evenings cuddled up and sharing the emotions of all the adventures, to a time of being loved, secure and taken care of; love and happiness. I have read these to my children and grandchildren because these are things that should be shared.

4. The Crucible. I am really thinking about an RSC performance here that was ‘in the round’. We were in a large hall, the actors moved in and through the audience and in that way we became part of the action, particularly the courtroom scene, became equally responsible for the decisions made, and so it was particularly powerful. At the end the audience was too stunned to react and it took ages before we could move to give applause (which was overwhelming too). I had taken my elder daughter and was a wonderful experience to have shared. The book brings back the memory.

5. The Canterbury Tales

This again is a theatre performance, I had taken my younger daughter and we actually did laugh until it hurt. I have heard that term but this is the only time I experienced it – we held our sides because they ached.

Before the performance officially began, the late Brian Glover came out and walked round the audience in a chicken costume (The Nun’s Priest’s Tale). He was the Miller he told us and the powers that be wouldn’t allow him to tell his tale as it was too bawdy; he was drumming up support in the audience to get them to let him tell it, the audience joined in and of course we got all the tales including the rude ones. The humour was not just in the stories themselves but in the portrayal of the characters, the visual humour of the costumes and the altercations between the ‘stuffed shirt’ attitude of the ‘directors’ and the down to earth character that Brian Glover played so well.

I would choose this not only because it reminds me of a great evening sharing this with my daughter, but takes me back to doing ‘A’ level English Lit. We were only going to study the moral and uplifting ones but like in the play we all read the rude ones as well, which I am sure the teachers expected. A happy time I am glad to return to.

6. The White Goddess. I admire Robert Graves, his poetry, his prose, his plays. I have added this book because each time I read it, it gives me more to think about. It reminds me of Graves himself, his other works and what a brilliant mind he had. This book and others like it have helped to form my thinking taking me to where I am now and to the so very lovely people I meet in the course of this work. Like Ratty they are generous, unselfish put the welfare of others as a main concern; they are loving and lovely people.

Programme Update

For some weeks now I have been driving miles, much of it in this heat looking at venues to add to our programme.  We had a ‘consolidation’ year this year, we cut back to our core shows, many of which are 10 to 12 years old and still strong, plus the two wonderful Monastery shows and Wood Green Animal Shelter in Cambridgeshire.  We kept that one because a) I think it showed potential, particularly with the amount of e-mails and telephone calls post show last time and b) Chris is such a dog lover!

The idea was to use this year to plan and decide on the direction we wish to take BSSK next.  Planning done, I have just completed the programme on Friday.  Next year we have 16 shows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sudden rush of blood to the head????  Most definitely!  All very exciting stuff and I hope to have the exhibitor pack prepared and e-mailed out by Wednesday latest, which is the last day of July.

The programme includes the return of the Grimsby/Cleethorpes summer show – you would not believe how many visitors have e-mailed and phoned about it – it is clearly sorely missed this year – so back we go next year with a slightly smaller show (50 stands) in another new location for that area.

In these difficult times we have decided to add some more 50 – 60 stand size shows, rather than trying to make them all 80+ in size.  We think this is a sensible move when starting a new show and then letting it build – rather than aiming too high to start with.  Pity they can’t all be Monastery shows – it flew from day one, but as long as we can see potential in a new show, we will work with it to build it up.  These slightly smaller shows will have slightly reduced spaces for readers, crystals and jewellery  - the three categories that we are always inundated with enquiries for, so we do not wish our regular exhibitors to take offence if they are turned down for the odd one or two – we will try and distribute them fairly across the enquiries, but it is in all our interests not to have too much of any one type of stand.

Angie