Conference

Today was our second annual conference. Last year, one hundred and twenty places were booked, and we had around ninety people show up, which is pretty much the expected ratio.

This year, we moved to a larger venue, The Lowry Hotel in Salford, and offered one hundred and fifty places, which were booked up almost immediately. We reckoned we'd get around a hundred and twenty delegates on the day, and set out the tables accordingly.

In the end, we had one hundred and thirty-three! We just about managed to seat them all :-)

I'd like to say that I enjoyed it, and I guess I did really, but there's a constant low level worry that something will go wrong.

Nothing much did: we ran out of tote bags, and I had to go to the office - thankfully very nearby - for a USB cable a few minutes before it was needed.

Perhaps the biggest (potential) disaster came when the Minx stood up to make her closing remarks, only to find the company we use to run the event hadn't been given the correct presentation. Looking up to the screen, she was confronted with last year's slides.

She didn't miss a beat. I doubt anyone else noticed the split second recalibration, before she spoke fluently about our plans for the next year, which were really well received.

I joined her and some of the delegates for post-conference drinks, but took my leave when the talk of shots started. The Minx was game, though, and stayed out until the last of the party animals staggered back to their hotels.

My photo today was taken from the conference room. It reminded me of the climactic scene from Ben Stiller's remake of 'The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty', which I would heartily recommend to you.