 | | London Show 2009
Bryan Hogan
In a few weeks time, the RISC OS user group of London (ROUGOL) will be staging a new computer show. Grandly titled, "The RISC OS London Show", I thought that readers would like to know the backstory to this new venture. So, how did the London show come about ?
To answer my own question, I need to go back ten years. ROUGOL had just been formed and, full of enthusiasm, we provided helpers for a show in Epsom. ROUGOL have been assisting with shows ever since, but only in the background.
When the Surrey and Sussex Acorn user group (SASAUG) decided that they would not be running the Guildford South East show this year, Dave Lane and the other regular Guildford show helpers came to ROUGOL to see if we wanted to take it on. At ROUGOL, we all felt that the most populous area of the country had to have a show, and so we agreed to do it !
As the show was to have new organisers and location, we decided it needed a new name to distinguish it from previous events. Thus was "The RISC OS London Show" born.
After discussions with the Midlands user group (MUG) at Wakefield we agreed to try to bring the show date forward so that there would be more of a gap between our London show and the Midlands one. The original plan was for a date in September, but after canvassing the main RISC OS companies this turned out to not be possible, and so the first weekend in October became out target.
Unfortunately this date immediately eliminated a couple of our possible venues, so there was a few days of panic about where to hold the show. Then we found the St Giles Hotel in Feltham. This met our main criteria of having good public transport and road links, a separate room for the theatre presentations, internet availability, and (of course) size and price.
Since then it has been a case of signing up exhibitors, sorting out the stand layout, and designing logos and adverts. There have been some Blue Peter moments moving tiny cardboard cut out tables and chairs around a paper plan of the venue; low tech but fun !
Come and support our endeavour. I'm looking forward to seeing you when the doors open at 11am on October 3rd.
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