3 roadshows and a BBQ

It has been a flurry of events recently. It seems not a day has gone by without at least one of the team out a one event or another. We are rock hard at CJ.

First there was the night of two events, July 29th. We had Emmanuel and Ross at the A4U Roadshow in Bristol to represent CJ. Meanwhile, in another part of the UK, heroic CJer Matt Von Holtz stepped in at the last minute to DJ at the Network BBQ in London.  Bleary eyes the next morning told of a good night and the 10 valiant CJ drinkers were rewarded with bacon sandwiches.

In more detail here now is Jason Baker, who will speak of last week’s Manchester and Edinburgh A4U roadshows. In the very unlikely event that you haven’t actually met Jason here is a photo of him looking like he is the most earnest man alive:

Thank you Hannah.

To start with I would like to personally thank the guys from Existem and the A4U for organising the Bristol, Manchester and Edinburgh events. I thank them despite the fact that they were seemingly trying to kill me by arranging two nights in a row.

Tom, Cristina, Daniel and I got to Manchester at about 2pm in time for a few meetings with some agency folk. We headed to the Living Room and were pretty much the first people there (keen). We were shortly joined by Mark, Swifty and Chris from Existem and Jason from Easy Content Units. It took about 30 seconds to be reminded that it was Swifty’s birthday as of midnight that night – we hope you had a good one!

It was great to meet so many familiar faces and by 9pm the evening was well underway. We were asked to bring back many photos  as we were event sponsors and so we did, the fact that the photo shown below is the clearest shot we managed to take of the night is by the by. They say a picture speaks a thousand words!

Tom and Cristina started the next day by delivering coffee and muffins to MVI and R.O.EYE. Daniel returned to London and then we had a few hours to collect our thoughts in Manchester. Or so we thought. Or so I thought. Our train was apparently booked at 12.15 as opposed to 2.15. Ooopps. Easy mistake to make

So when we arrived late to Edinburgh things were already in full swing. We walked into lots of friendly faces and had a good laugh and a natter. A special thanks to Martin from Skyscanner for the late night tour of Edinburgh, the chicken and chips and for showing us the best places to hang out.

CJ with Martin from Skyscanner and Emma and Julia from Equator

All in all it was a great couple of days. It is always worthwhile to get out and meet people and so we are really pleased that the A4U organised these events. All of us returned to the office with big grins on our faces and many business cards in our pockets. Thanks again A4U!

Right, back to me now. There were, of course, many of us left in the office who couldn’t go to the events. Instead of crying into our milk we decided to cry into our beer and quite a few of us headed to the most similar thing we could find to an affiliate get to gether – the Real Ale Show at Earls Court. The six CJ girls who attended literally doubled the amount of women at the show which is rather unsurprising given that it is essentially a massive shed with stalls of warm, flat beer. Highlights for me were:

• Beer gut watching
• Finding the boys looking rather serious and concentrated as they took a walk around the Real Ale museum
• Brezo tottering around in the highest heels I have ever seen
• Eating our ‘dinner’ (pasty) with plastic forks standing up by the bins

Truly an event made by men for men. Sex and the City it was not.

Anyway – cheers to you all from CJ. We will see you soon, no doubt. The next event is the Existem BBQ in Plymouth.

Cheers!