Marx and Gandhi and numerous others made it, Sean nearly didn’t!

Firstly I would like to wish the lorry driver (and any others) who were injured during the accident on the M5 yesterday, secondly what can I say other than a huge thank you to Richard Hussey!

Richard hosted the seminar before lunch at the Exeter Business Network event at the Lord Haldon Country Hotel – a big thank you not only for a great (and that is what people have told me!) seminar but also for being the host of the event for a while! More details below..

Host of the event for a while you may ask – Megan and I were travelling down form our base in Herefordshire as we normally do – leaving at 6.30 in the morning giving us 3 hours to reach the venue.  No change or challenge there.  We, and I guess that this is another aspect of networking, we sent a text message from a members telling us that there had been a serious accident on the M5 – our route – and that it would be closed untill 11am – not ideal as the event in Exeter was starting with coffee and networking at 10am!

With the news from the travel reports and the tweets that we received we began to realise that getting to Exeter at all would be an achievement.  We were on the M5 after joining at Junction 18 – the traffic was being taken off at Junction 19 and being diverted.  I will just say that we did experience a bit of serendipity – as we left home we stopped to check that I had everything for the event (badges, delegate lists, dietary cards, table numbers, laptop, projector – as a 50 year old my memory is not as it was!!) this led to us following a convoy of 4 lorries doing 35mph – where is this going – if we had not stopped, had not followed the lorries then we would have been past Junction 19 and going nowhere!

Our diversion, and everyone else going south, took us to Portishead, then along the B3124, through Weston-in-Gordano and Walton-in-Gordano to Clevedon and joining the M5 at Junction 20.  A trip of 6.8 miles that took 2 hours.

The view from our diversion to the M5

I will share an insight with you – my biggest worry, call it a nightmare is getting an event set up, knowing that there will numerous keen, enthusiastic people ready to network and me, not getting there.  I was, in my head having a tumultuous time!

Would we get there for the seminar – not likely but we made plans….

A phone call to the Hotel who made sure everything was set up and another to Richard to explain our predicament and things were set up. I will add that our predicament was nothing compared to those involved in the accident and I trust that the lorry driver is making a recovery from his injuries.  A tweet from Richard
RichardHussey1Oct 02, 9:14am via Twitter for Android

@seanhumby all set up in garden room for the seminar. Relax!

really helped!  Next we texted all those attending the seminar to explain what was happening – even texting some who weren’t booked on!

Would we get there for the lunch – well we had been in the diversion since 7.20am – the journey time according to the SatNav was 1 hour and 12 minutes – the seminar and coffee was in good hands so we should be there in time to get set up for the lunch – pre-lunch drinks at 11.45am – or would we be there?  Should we notify all those coming to the lunch what was happening?  What contingency plan had I in place?  Should I have traveled down the night before and stayed in a hotel?  If I told people what was happening would they just not turn up? At this point I must say a big thank you to Megan – my wonderful daughter – who was contacting the people we needed to contact, getting text updates, sending texts and being super for bouncing idea’s around and for being a voice of reason!

We finally got to the M5 at 9.50am and knew (?) that we would get to the venue in time to set up!  We did and on our arrival the Hotel team had everything set up and ready and even a bacon butty and pot of tea ready!  We only had to get the badges ready, set up the pop ups, plug the projector in and we were good to go!  I may have looked flustered, hot and bothered, with my heart going at 50 to the dozen but we were there and you know what some of the members actually said that they would have just got on with it if we hadn’t made it!  Now there’s a thought!

Ready and set up! Part of the room at the Lord Haldon Country Hotel

Anyway back to the event….

Richard’s seminar started the event with a bang!

Click on image to see Richard’s slides

Followed by THE networking lunch – numerous conversations, connections and collaborations being made over a 2 course served lunch – guaranteed crumb free keyboard!

seanhumbyOct 02, 5:01pm via Twitter for BlackBerry@KirkhamBoard: Fab #BNSW Lunch today. Thanks @seanhumby – excellent table hosting @MangoPersonnel. Looking forward to the next one!

KirkhamBoardOct 02, 4:59pm via Twitter for iPhoneFab BNSW Lunch today. Thanks @seanhumby – excellent table hosting @MangoPersonnel. Looking forward to the next one!

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kirstenparrickOct 02, 3:48pm via Twitter for iPhone#BNSW rocked. Belly full and met some wonderful peeps. Thanks @seanhumby

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StraightMktngOct 02, 3:47pm via WebFabulous #BNSW lunch today with @seanhumby. Great to meet some new faces #networkingworks

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qChrisWoodOct 02, 3:31pm via HootSuiteGood #BNSW #Exeter networking lunch today seeing @seanhumby and co. Plus talk from @SimpkinsEdwards on auto pension enrollment

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RichardHussey1Oct 02, 9:14am via Twitter for Android@seanhumby all set up in garden room for the seminar. Relax!

nigelwnwOct 02, 9:00am via EchofonRT @RichardHussey1: Looking forward to#BNSW Exeter today with @seanhumby
> likewise, see you there

Ellen_CarrollOct 02, 8:32am via Twitter for iPhone@RichardHussey1 @seanhumby me too, see you there shortly

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RichardHussey1Oct 02, 7:46am via WebLooking forward to #BNSW Exeter today with @seanhumby

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SpaceExeterOct 02, 7:36am via Twitter for iPadSorry @seanhumby that Space are not at #BNSWtoday, look reward to seeing everyone next month… Crikey, then we will be into November!