Sunday Sermon: Conventions and trade shows are they a good thing!

Well yesterday I attended the 40th annual Salute Convention at London's Excell center. Just to be clear, I'm not a fan of this new venue, it's a pain in the ass to get to and shows up just how stupid our countries fixation is with having everything held in London... I'm not wanting to focus on the negatives today, but I feel I must do so just a little bit. You see I like trade shows of all kinds, I always have. For a number of reasons I guess, but mainly because they give me a chance to sample lots of new and exciting things under one roof. Whether that be computer games, comics, or wargames as is the case with Salute. So I normally love these sorts of things. They give me a chance to meet new people and make new friends. But yesterday being tasked with the knowledge that I only had one day from 10:00 to 17:00 hours to do all this made me feel really, really rushed. I really don't want to have a dig at any of the guys from South London Warlords because yet again they've put on an enjoyable and well run show. But... it wasn't for me! I think in many respects I found the day slightly counter-productive, primarily because it was a day, a single, solitary day. So if these shows are done badly there is actually a danger that they can be harmful.
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