What a year so far for the SWPP & BPPA…

In a word ‘hectic’. It’s always easy to say this or that was the best ever but so far this year the statement can just about be said about any event or seminar that we have run. The year ‘kicked off’ with what can only be described as the biggest event of its type ever held in the UK; the Convention, as many of you will know, attracted an amazing 2086 attendees. Over the weekend we ran more than 40 lectures and had 100+ exhibitors. Needless to say, next year’s event, which starts on 13th January, will be even bigger and better still.

Following the Convention and on the run-up to Focus we managed a trip down to Plymouth, lecturing with Vernon Miles, visited both Northern and the Republic of Ireland with Tom Lee, plus Gravesend and Exeter with Terry and Sue Hansen.

Focus on Imaging, with our modem designer stand, also captured the attention of many and thus raising the profile of the SWPP & BPPA beyond our wildest expectations. Immediately after Focus Juliet and I were out on the road again with charismatic Australian speaker, Malcolm Mathieson, visiting Bristol, Guildford and Kent. Always a great draw, Malcolm wowed the crowds with his straight talking, sound business advice.

It was then off to WPPI in Las Vegas, accompanied by Andrea Barrett, winner of the 2003 Photographer of the Year award, her partner Dick, Judy Naylor, Terry and Sue Hansen, Tom, Karen, and Graham Lee and Vernon Miles. While there we met up with many other UK SWPP & BPPA members, all of whom had made the journey to join in with the fun in Las Vegas and enrich their careers with sound education from WPPI’s excellent lectures.

Thanks to the generosity of WPPI, we were invited to exhibit on their booth and had the opportunity to meet many of the world’s most renowned photographers. A number of them have been booked to lecture in the UK over the next 18 months. Many others have reserved dates and agreed, in principle, to lecture in the UK and Ireland for the SWPP & BPPA in 2007.

After our return to the UK, on Good Friday, it was back on the road the following Sunday, up to Scotland to meet up with Australia’s dynamic speaker, Martin Schembri. Nine venues were covered with Martin, which took us from Stirling in the north to Bristol in the southwest and Coventry in the Midlands, finishing up in Belfast, via Dublin.

We then remained in Belfast to attend a Trade Show organised by leading album manufacturer GF Smith.

We returned back to the UK mainland on the Thursday with hardly time to draw breath before we met up with the brilliant American lecturer, Bambi Cantrell and her entourage of models to run four residential courses, two in North Wales, one in Scotland and one in Northern Ireland.

Now we are out on the road again with the ever-popular Dave Newman and await the arrival of Monte Zucker, Norman Phillips and Jerry Ghionis.

Why do we do it I hear you ask? Good question. Well all in all it is determination to provide our members with the best education that we possibly can. Experience has shown me that by attending seminars, and courses your business can be transformed into a highly profitable venture and you can become personally enriched with the power to create images that your clients will want time and time again.

So do try to keep up with us and attend as many of the events as you can. Look forward to seeing you around.