Sunday night, 10:30pm GMT and here I am realising it's been a week since my last posting. Okay so it's just OVER a week .... you're so pedantic : ) And what a week!!
Monday afternoon saw me twiddling my thumbs whilst the local Staples took 2 attempts to print out a 2m high banner that my lovely LOVELY friends at 'Rocca!' created for me. The woman at Staples, give her her due, did make me a really nice cup of coffee but it took nearly 57 minutes to produce something that should have taken 24 and when you're in a rush to get somewhere to set up your Stand at an exhibition, time waits for no man .... or woman (this isn't a sexist blog you know).
By the way, seriously, check out http://www.roccacreative.co.uk/; Marc, the owner, is just so amazingly creative and his team are excellent VFM. (I tell you what he can't do with a bunch of Crayolas and some greaseproof paper ... stunning).
Got to the Armouries in Leeds later than expected to prep my Stand at the Yorkshire Mafia Conference and what did I find?
Firstly the Stand opposite mine was just A-W-E-S-O-M-E with it's high-cost visuals, plasma screens (yes that's TWO plasma screens), three times the floor space of mine and glossy furniture; it made mine look a little like an IKEA-rejects showroom with velcro-friendly wallpaper next to the Harvey Nichs' window. Hmm nothing litigious in that tongue-in-cheek statement regarding IKEA is there?
Secondly I felt some of my material was rubbish once it was in place (but not the banner from Clare at Rocca; that remained ace) so when I got home and my eldest daughter had cooked a lovely chicken curry for me, I might have just been a teensy bit rushed and stressed (soz 'Bigs') but gladly I spent hours replacing some of the material and yes I was now going to be proud because I believed it now looked like ...... a new posh IKEA showroom, even if it did still have velcro-friendly wallpaper.
Anyway that led to Tuesday, eventually. Dropped my car off for service and the lovely Tracey (or is it Tracy? You know I never can remember which spelling ... sorry 'T') asked one of the drivers to take me and my IKEA visual aides to the Armouries. Set up, waited nervously as a few early birds walked passed, looking at the Stand opposite in awe and ...... kept walking. Drat.
Luckily one of the team on the other Stand was soooooo lovely; she asked for some of my leaflets and by 11am there were 3 stands pointing people in my direction as well as JB and I (a friend who helped because he really likes the Involve ethos) talking to lots. All 342 leaflets went, there was a lot of support and good wishes although (so far) only two donations but for those I am thankful !!
Wednesday morning was the meeting with the 5 Yorkshire-based charities (must give a quick nudge to the National ones as, so far, only the lovely Sara Benson has really grabbed the challenge with enthusiasm) and lots of good stuff coming out. Got home that evening around 8pm and found an e-mail reply from the Yorkshire Evening Post; their article on my Trek was in the paper that night so I raced out and bought 4 copies. It was a blinder; 3/4 of a page, full colour and although it contained some inaccuracies, PR is PR !!
And so we are now at the weekend, having had a heck of a session at the gym with Paul (my PT) on Saturday morning, a lovely evening with Lucia in Manchester on Saturday and when I woke up this morning in my hotel in Manchester, a lazy breakfast and then a trip all the way across to Newcastle to see Jane, Kevin and their lovely daughter Tori. WHAT a cutie .... and no I don't just mean me : )
It's so nice to see such a loving couple so happy. Kinda makes the end of the weekend all warm and fluffy, don't you think? Err not that I'm getting all soft .... clearly .... I mean I'm a Yorkshire bloke heading to the Arctic with just a scarf and his string vest I'm so 'ard. Just so we're clear on any of that emotional nonsense : )
See you next week. LOTS to do this week; LOTS !!!
Monday afternoon saw me twiddling my thumbs whilst the local Staples took 2 attempts to print out a 2m high banner that my lovely LOVELY friends at 'Rocca!' created for me. The woman at Staples, give her her due, did make me a really nice cup of coffee but it took nearly 57 minutes to produce something that should have taken 24 and when you're in a rush to get somewhere to set up your Stand at an exhibition, time waits for no man .... or woman (this isn't a sexist blog you know).
By the way, seriously, check out http://www.roccacreative.co.uk/; Marc, the owner, is just so amazingly creative and his team are excellent VFM. (I tell you what he can't do with a bunch of Crayolas and some greaseproof paper ... stunning).
Got to the Armouries in Leeds later than expected to prep my Stand at the Yorkshire Mafia Conference and what did I find?
Firstly the Stand opposite mine was just A-W-E-S-O-M-E with it's high-cost visuals, plasma screens (yes that's TWO plasma screens), three times the floor space of mine and glossy furniture; it made mine look a little like an IKEA-rejects showroom with velcro-friendly wallpaper next to the Harvey Nichs' window. Hmm nothing litigious in that tongue-in-cheek statement regarding IKEA is there?
Secondly I felt some of my material was rubbish once it was in place (but not the banner from Clare at Rocca; that remained ace) so when I got home and my eldest daughter had cooked a lovely chicken curry for me, I might have just been a teensy bit rushed and stressed (soz 'Bigs') but gladly I spent hours replacing some of the material and yes I was now going to be proud because I believed it now looked like ...... a new posh IKEA showroom, even if it did still have velcro-friendly wallpaper.
Anyway that led to Tuesday, eventually. Dropped my car off for service and the lovely Tracey (or is it Tracy? You know I never can remember which spelling ... sorry 'T') asked one of the drivers to take me and my IKEA visual aides to the Armouries. Set up, waited nervously as a few early birds walked passed, looking at the Stand opposite in awe and ...... kept walking. Drat.
Luckily one of the team on the other Stand was soooooo lovely; she asked for some of my leaflets and by 11am there were 3 stands pointing people in my direction as well as JB and I (a friend who helped because he really likes the Involve ethos) talking to lots. All 342 leaflets went, there was a lot of support and good wishes although (so far) only two donations but for those I am thankful !!
Wednesday morning was the meeting with the 5 Yorkshire-based charities (must give a quick nudge to the National ones as, so far, only the lovely Sara Benson has really grabbed the challenge with enthusiasm) and lots of good stuff coming out. Got home that evening around 8pm and found an e-mail reply from the Yorkshire Evening Post; their article on my Trek was in the paper that night so I raced out and bought 4 copies. It was a blinder; 3/4 of a page, full colour and although it contained some inaccuracies, PR is PR !!
And so we are now at the weekend, having had a heck of a session at the gym with Paul (my PT) on Saturday morning, a lovely evening with Lucia in Manchester on Saturday and when I woke up this morning in my hotel in Manchester, a lazy breakfast and then a trip all the way across to Newcastle to see Jane, Kevin and their lovely daughter Tori. WHAT a cutie .... and no I don't just mean me : )
It's so nice to see such a loving couple so happy. Kinda makes the end of the weekend all warm and fluffy, don't you think? Err not that I'm getting all soft .... clearly .... I mean I'm a Yorkshire bloke heading to the Arctic with just a scarf and his string vest I'm so 'ard. Just so we're clear on any of that emotional nonsense : )
See you next week. LOTS to do this week; LOTS !!!
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