LAC - Disorganised Mess. Yuck!

[penny-slot-machines]

We could use the vaults actually good point - There is also several rooms above the mezzanine which can be used for conference rooms - We used to have erveything sperate but found much of the conference was being under attended as people would just hang in the expo all day.....

Sounds promising

I think one thing people would move themselves down to the Vaults for is a free lunch and if that means the seminars can be moved to one of the other rooms upstairs (where the speakers can be heard better) that would be fantastic, imo. Would mean you could free up all that space on the balcony for seating where people can meet and chat over a drink

After that, the only remaining big problem would be to persuade UK "bouncers" to act like professional security guys. That's a bit more tricky...

[alexpratt]

Sounds promising

I think one thing people would move themselves down to the Vaults for is a free lunch and if that means the seminars can be moved to one of the other rooms upstairs (where the speakers can be heard better) that would be fantastic, imo. Would mean you could free up all that space on the balcony for seating where people can meet and chat over a drink

After that, the only remaining big problem would be to persuade UK "bouncers" to act like professional security guys. That's a bit more tricky...

Even worse we got the bill from the security company today - For the whole event £4.8k!!!! plus some overtime oh and don't forget vat - GEEZ - Problem is they have a deal with the venue and you can't use anyone else

Anyways - I like your ideas

[Shaun O'neill]

Alex

I have lost count of how many of your shows i have now attended but all i can say is that London was by far the best, i loved the venue really in the heart of london.

As for the event a huge amount of affiliates a great buzz and some very nice Czech beer.

After reading some of the post i am a bit lost the venue had 2 areas for seating upstairs which is way more than normal i thought was fine as when i walked into that those areas a few spaces always seemed free.

Parties where okay nothing t write hope about, but i did really enjoy the pub meet up won the saturday thank you BINGO whoever....

All in all a great event and you and you team as ever did an amazing job.

Thanks

Shaun

[Renee]

I only have the last conference in Barcelona to compare to but I think the conference part of London beat Barcelona by far.. Many more people, and yeah it was packed on the first day, but to be honest we had people coming to see us on the second day saying they didn't even realise there was an "upstairs"..
I was so busy I was rarely at the booth too, which sucked.. i think next time ill fly in a few days earlier to meet with people so I can be at the booth most of the time.. Sorry to those guys who came by constantly to see me while I was MIA.

A couple of points:

The music/dancing did screw up 2 of my meetings. It was pretty annoying... especially since the speaker was right next to our booth. A warning about that would probably have been good and maybe a good idea for next time so we can oragnise around it. If you're like me and had meetings booked every half hour all day, 10 minutes of music is not great for business..

The parties were not that great. I preferred the parties in Barcelona.. I'm not sure why.. I just wasn' feeling the atmosphere in London for those. Could have been the weather.

We spent most of the time in the evenings at the 24/7 bar in the hotel which was great. The hotel was really nice and so convenient. I was able to just run up to the room once I got back from the parties and chuck on a pair of jeans and thongs and come right back down. Thank god for that or else I wouldn't have been able to walk most of the time from the heels. I did find the staff at the hotel to be slightly retarded though.. I was trying to sleep at one point on the 27th and someone just came straight into my room without knocking or anything, asked me something which I couldn't comprehend because I was in such a deep sleep, then left.. After that I ended up keeping the do not disturb on my room the whole time and was then being harassed because they didn't clean my room. Considering I was barely in the room and am not a dirty person, it wasn't really necessary to clean it.

One gripe I have about the hotel is that they have just charged my credit card for something that I didn't use in the mini bar even after it was sorted when I checked out.. Ill be sorting that this week but makes it a real pain in the ass.. I don't even drink the alcohol they claim i took..

Security - on the first day they pissed me off, no question about that. There was a huge queue to get into the expo and as exhibitors you would think we could get in there before everyone else, because what's an expo without exhibitors?
We tried to get into the side door where we loaded the booth etc but were told that we had to stand in line like everyone else.. So in true Ozzie style I just pushed straight to the front of the line and ignored the security who told me I couldn't, but I think thats something that could be improved for next time... Maybe the exhibitors can be let in like half hour before everyone else or have a side door to go into or something.

Apart from all that (which is actually nothing really) I think the conference was awesome and for me personally was a huge success. I'm really looking forward to the next one. I think Alex and the girls did an amazing job and it was really nice to see some new and old faces...

On a side note, I'm especially disappointed with Australian quarantine as they confiscated the salami Sipka brought from Hungary for me. Apparently you cant bring meat back into the country

Ill just have to come to Budapest to try it next time

As an up-note, when I got back to the office on Thursday I had a Ferenc Puskas jersey waiting for me from hungary thanks to one of my affs who lives there.. Awesome gift!

Sipka - please send me an email so I have your email address.. Would be nice to have a quick chat

Cheers guys

[casinobonusguy]

Sipka /Gabi gave us some nice goodies but we went to our room and ate it fast like woverines lol .She also gave us a bottle of stuff with 45% alcohol ,since it was not english i just assume drink it down , it has some different after taste but I love Gabi so i drank it anyway hahaha.Same thing happened to us with the maid coming in , she was coming to turn down our bed at 6pm , Hubby and I were in it though lol.

[Renee]

Sipka /Gabi gave us some nice goodies but we went to our room and ate it fast like woverines lol .She also gave us a bottle of stuff with 45% alcohol ,since it was not english i just assume drink it down , it has some different after taste but I love Gabi so i drank it anyway hahaha.Same thing happened to us with the maid coming in , she was coming to turn down our bed at 6pm , Hubby and I were in it though lol.

I think I got that alcohol too... My dad told me when he lived back in Hungary they used to keep it under their pillow and take a swig every morning when they woke up...

I should have eaten the salami before I got in

[Caruso]

Excel is somewhat further out - Jubilee line to Canning Town then two stops on the Docklands to Custom House.

Upside: it's an properly airy venue, concourse with eateries, the works. Old Billingsgate is (no offence) a toilet.

Excel is also on the Thames, so anyone's yearning for water will be satisfied.

[HenrikGr]

A lot of viewpoints on the event.

From our point of view it was a great show, but we also had a stand where we could sit. Thinking back on it, there was not that many other seating areas, and it must have been frustrating if just want to sit down and relax with a bottle of water/beer.

The food situation, it was empty when we tried to, so we had to run of to get a quick McD meal, but that was ok. Since it was a steady flow of visitors to our stand all the time, so we didn't think that much about the food, and the beer and wine we served helped as well

I think the lack of seating actually made the event better for us operators since affiliates kept coming by.

Getting in to the place was a bit of a nightmare to begin with, but with preregistrations we got in quite quickly, only problem we had was that one had not registered, but was told his pass was at our stand, but he could not get in to the stand to pick it up.

Even with the small glitches I was happy about the event, it was a real good meeting ground for us.

Looking forward for the Prague event down the road and warmer weather

[Gamblogger]

Bottom line for me is that this was the best conference ever as far as doing business. Several people commented to me that it really felt like people were serious about getting down to business and having some tangible results to show for it.

Although I'm working the door at lots of them, the big parties aren't always my favourite events. This year more than ever there seemed to be a lot of affiliate program dinners and smaller networking-over-beers-at-the-local events. The Meister Meet was, as always, a fun night. Michl Posch hosted a couple of nice events for Intertops and Slotastic peeps which I really enjoyed as well.

Our own party, Fire & Ice, also had way more people show up, and equally beligerent door/security staff to contend with. My personal apologies to anyone that had a long wait at the door or didn't get in at all. What venue do we use next year -- the O2 Center?!?!?

I'm looking forward to Prague!

[alexpratt]

Here is a video of the controversial dancers....enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGxVU_d1zNM

[satya]

Here is a video of the controversial dancers....enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGxVU_d1zNM

LOL, was annoying after the first time, but was positive noise for the sponsors.

As always, the event was good Alex. Good job - Alex, Shona, Marit, Kiera and team. You guys have been victims of your success in a few ways and things could have been better. But we always learn from experience and hopefully you get Olympia or Earls court next time. And most imp, the attendees remember to register in advance so you get an idea of how many people would attend the show.

[satya]

I guess the event was not as bad to deserve this title/ heading. Maybe the moderators can consider amending the title.