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Like revenge - as the saying goes - the ILMC for me is a dish best eaten cold... At the time it's almost impossible to assess as, one by one, the various meticulously-planned schedule items fly past in a blur, while your mind is permanently fixed on a point around one hour ahead. It's only when the runaway train finally hits the buffers some time in the early hours of Monday morning that you can finally stop and think, 'OK - how did that one go?' By any standards, The ILMC: Part 19 has to be up there with the best editions we've done. People will look at the record  attendance of some 880 invited guests and wrongly judge that as a measure of the event's success - forgetting that the capacity is one set by us each year and that every meeting so far has been sold out. But it can't be denied that this is a reasonable indicator of the ILMC's current profile and popularity. The first things I look at are those elements that were under our control - the events, the settings, all the necessary and unnecessary paraphernalia - and I have to say that all of those went about as well as we could have ever hoped. We have a fantastic team now, and they all did a sensational job. Absolutely not under our control, however, was the outcome of the conference sessions themselves - the real red meat of the weekend - and first indications are that 'Part 19' proved to be one of the most productive and informative meetings so far. The meetings were well-attended, beautifully presented and loaded more than ever with relevant facts and figures for people to take home and chew over - and for that we owe a big debt of thanks to all those who stepped forward to take on the responsibility of session chairmen.What always sticks in my mind, though, are the bits that make me smile - and this year was packed with those. Trying to deliver an opening address with a mouth stuffed with cotton wool while unseen hit men (it's a long story...) were causing various stage props to explode and fly past my head, the look of stunned disbelief on Barry Dickin's face when we sprang the "This is your Life" on him, the decidedly dodgy unofficial addition to the Poker Tourney, Carl filling our 'government minister' with lead in order to present The Arthurs, Claudio belting out 'Nessum Dorma' wrapped in a tablecloth at the Italian dinner, twenty people on stage at the Delegates Jam bellowing "Hey Jude" at an audience consisting of the three people who couldn't fit on there... Those who've been to the ILMC will know exactly what I'm talking about; those who haven't will still be waiting for the punch-line... Either way, this is the kind of stuff that makes me start looking forward to the next one as soon as each conference is over. Roll on March 2008 and our big 20th anniversary. Now that’s going to be something worth celebrating..! Martin Hopewell ILMC (PS: If we could do it all over again, there are few things I would change – except maybe for this – which might have been a far more appropriate registration form to send out... Click here to view) |