This is our ' final prep weekend' for the Grimsby show. The admin and paperwork has been going on for weeks, adverts placed, tables ordered for delivery on Thursday, AA signs ordered, caterer contacted to make sure all is well, floor plans drawn up and much, much more. This weekend is the final preparation and our volunteers help to sort and pack the show kit, top up the treasure hunt prizes, split the wrist bands from sheets of 10 into bundles of 100, and generally get the show licked into physical shape. On Thursday we shop for the all important volunteer sandwiches for setting up day on Friday when there is no caterer on site, then on Friday, we are at the Auditorium setting out tables and chairs, preparing the reception desk and the treasure hunt prize table, arranging the talks room and generally preparing for exhibitors who may arrive from 2pm to set up for the next day.
This is always the exciting week, as months of work now comes together very quickly!
We love the Grimsby show - it is one of our longest running ones and the people are always so warm and welcoming. Grimsby, here we come!!!
Saturday, 14 July 2012
Friday, 13 July 2012
Apparently those of you who get the Blog by e-mail only got half of the last one - to read the whole thing go to: www.bsskmbs.blogspot.co.uk/
Monday, 9 July 2012
The Life and Times of BSSK - a behind the scenes peek!
No wonder time seems to fly for us! Today was the real start of the run up to our October Manchester show! In the last couple of weeks we have made the usual phone calls and sent the e-mails just checking on changes and updates exhibitors want for this show, but today was the site meeting at the Monastery, the real starting point.
On arrival I was delighted to see that the first question on my list was immediately answered, the car park work is finished and the diggers a thing of memory (or nightmare)! The car park is back to its full size, surfaced and ready to use. One huge sigh of relief!
We had a great meeting - a few new things were discussed and approved, including:
* a new room for one of the 'talk rooms',
* a change in the type of refreshments offered,
* a new means of speeding up pre-paid entries so those with advanced tickets are admitted much faster,
* a new home for the 'authors lounge' and much more.
Plans for the 2013 shows were also discussed in broad outline.
This is always a 'red-letter' day for us - Manchester is now firmly on the drawing board. Now follows some 78 hours work to put together the programme of talks and workshops and produce the show guide from this. The hope is to have it to the printer by Friday - well, that's the hope!
Why does it take so long? Well, besides picking the speakers and talks/workshops from those available, we have a huge juggling act to accomplish as follows - we need to:
* try and get those we think will be the most popular into the largest rooms,
* to make sure that talks on a similar subject do not run at the same time so the public can attend both iF that is an area of interest for them,
* to make sure that where an exhibitor couple both do a talk or workshop, these do not take place at the same time leaving their stand unattend,
* to make sure guest speakers are not scheduled earlier than they can arrive, or later than they need to leave,
* to make sure those that those that have asked for a partiulcar day or time are accommodated as much as possible
Other than that, it is a breeze!!!!
We then notify all the speakers of their day and time and make any amendments this produces. At this point we can then create the 32 page brochure, check, re-check and check it again. Taking a very deep breath and crossing our fingers, toes and everything else crossable, that there are no errors, off it goes to the printer. For the earlier show, this was a total of 72 hours.
Next on the agenda is producing the templates for all the tickets and setting in motion the ticket booking system so it is all ready to go when the brochures are distributed, which starts with the weekend of the Elsecar show.
In the meantime of course, we still have the Grimsby show, the new Stoke Mandeville show and the popular and busy Elsecar show to get together.
This week's challenge is to try and reduce the price of table and chair hire for Stoke Mandeville from the £2k quoted by our usual supplier, finalise the floor plan and get it to Grimsby, place the local advertising for Stoke Mandeville and Elsecar, the national ads already having been placed, buy the prize draw crystal for Elsecar, and do the prize draw cards for the printer for SM and Elsecar and a meeting at Lincoln about advertising boards!
Ummm, where is the 72 hours that the Manchester show guide needs I ask myself? I see quite a bit of midnight oil burning in my immediate future!
We also take countless phone calls and answer dozens of e-mails daily, so please do bear with us if it takes a day or two to get back to you on any point.
Never let it be said we don't enjoy a challenge! Chris says I thrive on it - I suppose I do - if I am honest, I know I do!
Hope to see you all at one of these forthcoming shows - makes it all worthwhile to know people are having a great day at one of these events!
On arrival I was delighted to see that the first question on my list was immediately answered, the car park work is finished and the diggers a thing of memory (or nightmare)! The car park is back to its full size, surfaced and ready to use. One huge sigh of relief!
We had a great meeting - a few new things were discussed and approved, including:
* a new room for one of the 'talk rooms',
* a change in the type of refreshments offered,
* a new means of speeding up pre-paid entries so those with advanced tickets are admitted much faster,
* a new home for the 'authors lounge' and much more.
Plans for the 2013 shows were also discussed in broad outline.
This is always a 'red-letter' day for us - Manchester is now firmly on the drawing board. Now follows some 78 hours work to put together the programme of talks and workshops and produce the show guide from this. The hope is to have it to the printer by Friday - well, that's the hope!
Why does it take so long? Well, besides picking the speakers and talks/workshops from those available, we have a huge juggling act to accomplish as follows - we need to:
* try and get those we think will be the most popular into the largest rooms,
* to make sure that talks on a similar subject do not run at the same time so the public can attend both iF that is an area of interest for them,
* to make sure that where an exhibitor couple both do a talk or workshop, these do not take place at the same time leaving their stand unattend,
* to make sure guest speakers are not scheduled earlier than they can arrive, or later than they need to leave,
* to make sure those that those that have asked for a partiulcar day or time are accommodated as much as possible
Other than that, it is a breeze!!!!
We then notify all the speakers of their day and time and make any amendments this produces. At this point we can then create the 32 page brochure, check, re-check and check it again. Taking a very deep breath and crossing our fingers, toes and everything else crossable, that there are no errors, off it goes to the printer. For the earlier show, this was a total of 72 hours.
Next on the agenda is producing the templates for all the tickets and setting in motion the ticket booking system so it is all ready to go when the brochures are distributed, which starts with the weekend of the Elsecar show.
In the meantime of course, we still have the Grimsby show, the new Stoke Mandeville show and the popular and busy Elsecar show to get together.
This week's challenge is to try and reduce the price of table and chair hire for Stoke Mandeville from the £2k quoted by our usual supplier, finalise the floor plan and get it to Grimsby, place the local advertising for Stoke Mandeville and Elsecar, the national ads already having been placed, buy the prize draw crystal for Elsecar, and do the prize draw cards for the printer for SM and Elsecar and a meeting at Lincoln about advertising boards!
Ummm, where is the 72 hours that the Manchester show guide needs I ask myself? I see quite a bit of midnight oil burning in my immediate future!
We also take countless phone calls and answer dozens of e-mails daily, so please do bear with us if it takes a day or two to get back to you on any point.
Never let it be said we don't enjoy a challenge! Chris says I thrive on it - I suppose I do - if I am honest, I know I do!
Hope to see you all at one of these forthcoming shows - makes it all worthwhile to know people are having a great day at one of these events!
Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Monday, 25 June 2012
30th June & 1st July, 2012
Wood Green Animal Shelter, Godmanchester, Cambs, PE29 2NH
Open 10.00am to 5.00pm each day
Adults (over 15) : £4.75
Concessions : £3.75
2-Day Pass : £7.75
2-Day Concessions : £5.75
Under 15s : FREE
Concessions : £3.75
2-Day Pass : £7.75
2-Day Concessions : £5.75
Under 15s : FREE
FREE parking
Another new show for BSSK!
We always start early in a year viewing venues for areas we hope to visit the following year. This led us to Wood Green Animal Sanctuary in Godmanchester, between Huntingdon and Cambridge, with a view to running a show there as part of our 2013 schedule. The place was ideal and ticked all the boxes on our ‘requirements list’, and the cherry on the top was the fact that all the hire fees go not to some faceless corporate entity, but to support the running of the animal shelter. Well, that was it! Angie and Chris of BSSK and all the volunteer helpers are great animal lovers, but Chris particularly so. His passion after BSSK shows of course, is helping suffering and abused animals. No great surprise then, when he announced he didn’t want to wait till 2013, couldn’t a show be fitted into 2012? After one false start with a date, here we have the new WOOD GREEN SHOW, on 30th June and 1st July 2012!
The venue is set in 52 acres of beautiful countryside and is the Charity headquarters, It is one of the largest rehoming centres in Europe and rehomes dogs, cats, field animals and small animals. It offers us a large show auditorium, adjoining space for talks and workshops, ample parking and good refreshment facilities. It is well known to the public, already hosting, antique fairs, wedding fairs, craft shows, toy & train fairs and of course, umpteen cat and dog shows! They have never had Mind, Body and Spirit or anything remotely like it, so this will be a first for the venue too. On site there is a cafe, pet and gift store and animals to visit in pets corner and the kennels and cattery, so this is a family day out too.
The venue is easy to find, being only 5 minutes to junction 24 on the A14 from the A1 southbound. Brown tourist signs point the way, and of course, we will have our authorised AA signage to help too.
Come and join us at this new show for a great day out.
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