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Oh, and another thing.....
Thanks to everybody last night who kindly gave me their full attention during my speech at the Fight Night - it was much appreciated! It would be great if the same happened at the Channel Awards - you never know!
Oh What a (Fight) Night!
Wow, wow, wow!
That is all I can say about last night's Fight Night. It was a fantastic evening and judging from the way my head feels this morning - it is on a par with that Channel Awards next day feeling.
I have to admit I was a little worried about how the evening would pan out - but there was absolutely no need for me to have worried at all - the atmosphere in the room was electric and the fights were amazing to watch - it is clear that our 16 fighters had put their heart and soul into training for the event and I am now a boxing convert.
There were a few shiners doled out on the evening - but the fighters all wore them like a badge of pride and rightly so. They were all true warriors.
CRN is a very proud team indeed today. Keep your eye on the www.crnfightnight.com site - a video of the evening will be on there very soon to relive those bouts and catch what you missed.
Thanks again to Burf and his team at City Boxer for putting on such a superb event and for all their help and support - it is certainly going to be the talk of the channel for a while.
The evening itself finished about 1pm - but a band of hardened channel veterens and the CRN team headed on to the nearby Bedouin Bar to party until the early hours. Part of me is regretting that now - but only a small part!
Who needs more than four hours sleep anyway?
Thanks to everyone who came along last night and gave us their support - we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. See you there next year!
Fight Night is here!
Tonight our brave 16 boxers will be battling it out in the ring in the name of charity. I cannot believe the day is actually here at last.
We are hoping to raise a lot of money for charity tonight so are hoping people will dig deep. There are some great causes being represented.
I'm making a short speech this evening and it will be interesting to see if anyone in the audience actually listens to me, or as with the channel awards will they merrily keep on chatting away to themselves?
One thing for sure - the minute that speech is over - I'll be cracking open the wine and watching the boys in the ring. Best of luck to all of them!
The Apprentice - the home straight
For those of you who haven't seen The Apprentice yet - please DO NOT read any further!
Finally the right decision has been made - Michael has gone at last. Alan Sugar was really wavering at the end and I was convinced he had got away with it yet again - but luckily he saw sense at the last minute.
The Apprentice was particularly amusing to me last night because the task was renting out super sports cars to rich city types for either the hour or the day. Amusingly two of the cars in the original line up were featured at the Channel Awards back in November - the red Ferrari that Michael disastrously tried to sell, and the yellow one. (I can't remember the make now as I am not into cars).
However, very frustratingly I watched the follow on programme on BBC2 straight after the main programme and Michael actually came across much better than he did in the original series - he accepted that he was an idiot and laughed at himself quite a lot. I almost found myself warming to him. Almost that is.
My prediction for the next one to be fired: Lucinda or Helene - it depends which team wins the task. I think Alex is going to win now that Raef has gone.
Welcome back
Can anybody tell me why the weather is always so miserable on the second May bank holiday of the year? One minute I had a whole weekend stretching before me and the next it was over in a barrage of heavy rain and grey clouds.
I'm hoping that the weather picks up for later in the week - I'm not looking forward to donning a black dress and heels for our CRN Fight Night this week if it is pouring with rain. I might pack my flippers just in case.
Channel Expo 2008
Sadly my posts from Channel Expo in Birmingham seem to have all disappeared - I'm not sure where they went - but they are definitely gone. I'm so glad I spent the time writing them now!
I was happily blogging away yesterday at the end of the show, and the NEC cut the power. Brilliant - thanks guys.
Here is my summary of the event.
The venue itself looked fantastic and everybody did a great job ensuring the running of the show went smoothly and without a hitch. Sadly some thieving chancers made off with a couple of products from our New Product World and also a laptop from one of the exhibitors' stands - but that didn't dampen the spirit of the occasion at all.
I would like to thank all the high quality speakers who took part in our How to Sell Theatre debates - I really appreciate them all giving up their time for CRN, and for those of you that missed them, they will be appearing (in edited-down highlight format) on Channelweb very soon. Definitely worth watching.
Speaking honestly - the attendee figures were a little lower than I had hoped- particulaly because we had so many pre-registrations and such a positive build up to the event - but they were up on last year, which is fantastic. Also speaking to exhibitors at the event it appears the quality of attendees had certainly improved on last year and there were quite a few happy exhibitors that have already booked their stands for next year.
Expo 2008 was the first year CRN had really played a major role in the event - so it has been a learning curve for all of us and we have taken away a lot of valuable lessons that will enable us to build on Channel Expo 2009 to make it even bigger and better than ever.
Good events take time to build and grow in reputation and I personally am fully confident that Expo, with the weight of CRN and its loyal readers behind it, will continue to grow year on year until it is the only event that the channel needs to attend.
I would genuinely welcome feedback from everyone on this subject - what would make you come to Expo next year? What did you think of the event this year? What were the highlights for you? Please email me your comments - they will all be read and noted.
All that remains to say is thanks to everyone, exhibitors, visitors and the Expo event team for all their hard work and support and here's to Expo 2009.
The icing on the cake
When a PR person rings up and asks if we received the cake in the post - we know we are usually talking about a tiny little cube of cake that is usually all hard and inedible.
So imagine my surprise today when a ginormous monster of a cake arrived in the post - enough to feed the entire office. This was to celebrate the 21st birthday of AV distributor Steljes - it has certainly cheered up a few people around this office!
Happy 21st Birthday Steljes! Thanks for the cake!
Virtual Flight anyone?
I've just read a press release about a bunch of 'slebrities' that have taken part in the first virtual flight in the UK.
This is aimed at encouraging people to jump on the green bandwagon and lobby Parliament to press for a climate change law. People are being encourage to 'purchase' air tickets for the virtual flights which turn into support for the climate change law.
The concept itself, run by Friends of the Earth, is a great concept in itself, and saving the environment is something we should all be concerned about.
But picking musicians such as Razorlight's frontman Johnny Borrell and KT Tunstell, who have flown between the UK and US quite a few times I imagine in a bid to break the market, is a little ironic. And it gets my goat.
I don't know about you, but I'm sick of these 'slebrities' preaching to ordinary people about issues such as climate change/global warming and world poverty.
They should stick to what they are good at and maybe not turn up to the opening of every envelope.
Country life
The CRN editorial team is a little sore today after a brilliant day's shooting yesterday. Yes, you read it right - shooting.
Not live critters before the outcry starts, but pigeons of the clay variety.
Courtesy of distributor C-MILabs at the tucked away Whithorn Estate in Brook, Surrey. A great use of vendor mdf I would say. Speaking to some of the resellers at the event they seemed to enjoy it and they were a surprising number of hardened shooters in there. And I thought golf was the sport of the channel!
It was a superb day and I never realised shooting could be so much fun - although the pain in the shoulder and jaw the next day is quite significant.
I found out yesterday that along with ten-pin bowling, shooting shotguns is not exactly my forte - I managed a pathetic 17 clays out of 80 - but the fact that I even hit one was a miracle.
To top it off we were entertained by Jimmy Greaves in the afternoon - a surprising hit and a very funny guy. I could get used to the country life - tweed is not such a bad material.
I'll sign off in true Greavsie style today - may you all live long enough to see the end of the DFS sale.
Apprentice part 3
I cannot believe he has done it again. Michael has survived another round in the boardroom. I won't say who did go, but needless to say it really should have been him. I know the Apprentice was filmed some time ago - but I'm hoping he is fired next week and I would love to know if anyone has been foolish enough to give the guy a job since filming ended. If he wins this competition I will eat my hat. If I had one.
Calling all readers........er, hello?
It has been a couple of weeks since our new look web site was launched. I have had a couple of really encouraging comments - but that is about it. If anyone does read this blog - please let me know what you think of the new channelweb. Email me at sara.yirrell@incisivemedia.com.
Work from home
Tomorrow is National skive....oops, I mean work from home day.
So obviously companies up and down the UK will be saying to their staff today: "don't bother coming into the office tomorrow - work from home instead". It doesn't matter that they haven't got a phone or a computer linked into the office system - daytime TV does wonders for morale.
Also what about people that work in the retail business? It is not like they can serve customers from the comfort of their living room is it? Or security guards? Or firefighters/police officers? What about doctors/nurses? Train/bus drivers? A little unfair on all the people who literally do have to travel into work to complete their daily job.
I am all for flexible working - but looking outside the rose-tinted environment that these people who come up with National [insert text] Day live in - there are people that genuinely cannot do their work from home.
However there is one set of people that I would willingly back spending their working day at home. Traffic wardens.
Zultys outcry continues
We are receiving plenty of responses to our article last week about Ian Milnes' return to the channel. It seems there are a lot of Zultys fans out there - not just in the UK but globally. We have had responses from the US and Australia as well. Zultys is definitely doing something right which must leave the management with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. It seems interesting times are ahead for Mr Milnes. Stay tuned to CRN for more updates.
Under the weather?
Apparently as soon as the weather turns into the sunny tropical climate we have become accustomed to recently - more people start to call in sick to the office as they bunk off to enjoy the sunshine.
It is amazing just how many summer 'bugs' are going round at this time of year, but guaranteed if it started pouring down, those same people would be back in the office in a jiffy.
It is very tempting to call in sick on such a lovely day like today - but it is unfair on your colleagues who in many cases have to work twice as hard to make up for your absence.
I hope all those people wagging off work today read this and feel guilty.
As if. Most are just off to get another cold beer from the fridge.
How journalism works
Another completely channel unrelated thought - but a recent article said that Footballing WAG Coleen McGloughlin has described herself as a journalist. Most people will know this hardened hack already - but just in case you don't know - she is the Liverpudlian shopaholic who is marrying potato-faced Wayne Rooney. Or has already married him. I don't really care.
Her claim to being a 'journalist' is a nauseating 'column' in Closer magazine about her latest shopping exploits and which shoes go with which outfit. I understand she is paid close to £100,000 for these weekly pearls of wisdom each year.
Please spare us from these non-entities of the culture of 'celebrity', who in the real world cannot string two words together in speech, let alone write them down to form a legible sentence.
A fighting chance
You have heard it here first. One of CRN's own journalists is stepping into the ring to take part in the channel's first ever white collar boxing event CRN Fight Night. Brave Nick Booth, who has worked on CRN for many years as a freelancer, is stepping in at the last minute to replace Greig Weir from Stonesoft who has dropped out due to illness. So if you are keen to witness a journalist getting a pasting from the channel there are still tables on sale for the event on 29 May in London. But beware. The Booth does not intend to take it lying down and will give as good as he gets.
Not a good experience
It appears that work experience could soon become a rare thing if government plans to add red tape to the equation come to fruition. According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) a government scheme called Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), which conducts checks through the Criminal Records Bureau at £64 a pop, could soon become a requirement for anyone tasked with supervising a work experience person.
This will understandably put thousands of smaller businesses off offering pupils a placement, the FSB claims. I don't know about small businesses, but it is hard enough for many larger organisations to find time to accommodate work experience people as it is, let alone with this type of check in place.
I personally secured my first job in journalism (Northampton Chronicle & Echo) off the back of work experience and I'm sure countless thousands of others have in many other industries as well. It will be a sad state of affairs if future generations are denied this opportunity becuase of red tape.
A fine time for ITV
Oh dear. Poor Ant n Dec have had to give their Comedy Award back. This is because ITV was desperate to have Robbie Williams at its Comedy Awards ceremony, but he would only present an award if his mates had won. This is despite the fact that Catherine Tate had actually won the award based on readers' votes. Is she bovvered though?
This is a fine example of somebody making an executive decision without actually thinking of the consequences.
I'm sure ITV is bovvered because it has had to pay whopping multi-million pound fines to charity and its viewers due to the scam around premium rate phone lines. ITV is the latest in a long line of broadcasters that have been slapped on the wrists for ripping viewers off with these phone lines.
The question is - who keeps voting for all this rubbish in the first place and paying the astronomical phone bills as a result? I do admit to voting on the first ever shows that introduced this type of viewer interaction a few years ago, but have soon become extremely bored with the whole reality TV concept. It makes me switch off straight away.
More people should do the same and we might actually start getting decent TV programmes back on air.
Flying (not so) high
I was invited on a reseller gliding day today. Much as I like spending time with our valued readers, no amount of persuasion would get me in a glider. I am absolutely petrified of flying, and the thought of being launched into the air in a giant paper plane thing and then being left to 'glide' back down to earth, fills me with fear. I'm desperately trying to think if I wrote any articles over the years about the vendor holding the event that might have caused offence - but I couldn't find any. I'm sure the day will go very well for those brave (or foolish) enough to get in one of those contraptions.
Now if it had been riding motorbikes round a track - I would have been up for that one - I have now managed to achieve 50mph on my own mean machine - only for a few seconds mind.
The Apprentice (again)
Two people were fired from the Apprentice tonight. Both of them deserved to go, but were not the right people in my opinion. The task was to collect 10 items from the markets of Morocco and pay the least amount of money for them. One of the desperados in the show - Michael I think his name is - was certainly the luckiest person there tonight. He really is a useless individual and blows the most hot air of the lot of them. I wouldn't even offer the guy work experience if I had to pick an apprentice.
Gutted
A colleague has just told me that I missed my ultimate hero today - Gene Hunt - aka Philip Glenister. Apparently he was signing copies of the newly released Ashes to Ashes DVD in HMV, Oxford St, just up the road from our office. Mind you, I probably would have made a fool of myself pushing to the front of the queue, so it is just as well. My dignity is still intact.
If your name's on the list.....
Whenever there is a rich list published there is bound to be one or two characters from the channel lurking about. Hertfordshire has just published its top 25 rich list compiled of names originally appearing in The Times Rich List. In at numbers 21 and 23 respectively, are two co-founders of IT services and infrastructure giant Computacenter. Sir Peter Ogden (number 21) is apparently worth £95m and Philip Hulme (number 23) is worth £90m. They are hot on the heels of The Beckhams, who come in at number 18 - a position earned by one kicking a bag of wind around a pitch and the other spouting a load of hot air everywhere she goes.
Bank Holiday Blues
Why is it that the bank holiday stretches so gloriously in front of you and then in a matter of minutes it is over? To add salt to the wound the weather watchers are now predicting a week of sunshine, which makes sitting in the office all the more difficult. Come the weekend - it is bound to rain again. However May is going to be a big month for CRN - it is the first full month of the new web site, we have Channel Expo happening on 21 and 22, and the following week it is Channel Fight Night. So the next bank holiday will be here in no time.
Not avail-AOL-able
I have the misfortune to use AOL as my home ISP.
There is nothing wrong with the internet provision at all, no complaints there - but what I do object to is missing out on the offer of a free laptop - especially when I don't actually have a laptop at home.
Apparently, AOL was offering new customers a free laptop with their internet provision, but because I moved house and was railroaded into a different contract - I haven't actually signed anything - I don't qualify. Or so I was told by their wonderful customer service person today. There is not a thing they can do about it. How convenient. Even more conveniently, when I made the mistake of contacting AOL from my new address - the person I spoke to actually failed to mention the laptop offer. How forgetful of them.
It makes me wonder just how many other hapless (or should that be hopeless) customers have been swindled out of a free laptop and are still none the wiser. It might be time to check that contract. It is definitely time for me to find another ISP.
21st Century travel
I have to share my travel hell this morning.
It took me five and a half hours to make a straightforward journey from my home town of Market Harborough to London today because some thieving oik had stolen a length of copper cable from a signal box along the railway line, thus causing the entire network to grind to a halt.
Thousands of commuters were left stranded at various stations and forced to journey back to their original starting point.
I find it hard to comprehend the mindlessness of this one person - but moreover - what on earth will they do with a few feet of copper cable?
Obviously I can think of one suggestion and I am more than willing to help them execute that.
A new entry for the Oxford English Dictionary?
I've just heard a great new word. In the crazy world of the channel we often hear words at keynotes and presentations that leave us wondering what on earth they mean. However this latest gem is to 'de-acquire'. This is the new corporate speak for selling a company. Makes perfect sense I suppose in a strange sort of way. If you have any other new words, please let me know.
The future is bright?
I have to share an experience I had recently with my mobile phone service provider - named after a particular colour - think Dale Winton.
My SIM card for some reason gave up the ghost - taking every single number of every single person I know with it. But when I phoned 'customer services' I was told there was nothing they could do and I should go to one of their retail outlets and pay for the numbers to be retrieved somehow. That is on top of the hassle of not being able to use my phone and having to register the new SIM and send back the old one.
When asked why the SIM had given up the ghost all of a sudden I was then told it was because I didn't look after my phone properly and probably pressed too many buttons at once, which caused it to lock.
So, next time you use your phone, don't press the buttons at once like a maniac, you are only supposed to use one at a time.
I knew I had been going wrong somewhere.
