Whirlwinds...

So... have had a rather manic time over the past couple of weeks. It's known as GITEX. I prefer to call it gi-tox as it basically entails a diet of coffee, cigarettes & stale finger sandwiches/soggy spring rolls tiefed from various exhibition stands, and free booze in the evenings as people 'network' in smoky holes situated as close as possible to the World Trade Centre to avoid the taxi queues.

Highlights-

• Being pitched to by a junior PR person ,whilst standing next to a journalist wearing a t-shirt branded with his publication's name. Said PR person then not only identified the agency he works for (run by Mr. NL) but also invited me to come and sit with his client to hear the 'lovely stories' that said client had to tell. Was tempted to go over, shake client's hand, and proceed to pitch our agency.
• In a similar vein... highlight two was sitting in a press conference we'd been told about half an hour before, being held on my client's stand, organized by a rival agency. The marketing manager of the invading company was so annoyed by her agency's inefficiency that she spent the whole press conf whispering to me about our agency, and requesting a proposal.
• Getting chocolates from a journo after having a rant about their publication's policy (I'm sure that's not how PR is supposed to work...)
• Discovering 'gitex crack' .... an amazing mousse from Scholl that crackles on the soles of your feet (a bit like those sweets we got as kids) - simultanously deodorising, cooling, and removing pain... magical! To be produced surruptiously from handbag to worthy receipients, prompting a hobbling scurry to nearest loo, and subsequent moans of bliss from said loo. Hilarious.
• Getting offered my old job back whilst being smug in the knowledge I have a shiny new one to go to which will never cause me to visit gi-tox again... bliss...

and the lowlights...

• my feeeeet - oh my feet... Two of my clients were approximately 1.5km apart, with a million stands and 20,000 time wasters staring at the promo-girls milling around in between. On average, I visited each of their stands about four times per day, sometimes more, never less. That's a lot of kilometers in high heels.
• Press conferences .... they suck, especially at trade shows where all anyone wants is the info and hasn't got time to ego-stroke
• Egos.
• Carrying my laptop and about 120 copies of any one press release - in english and arabic - around at any one time... my shoulders dropped by about 5 degrees each side.

Hence the blogging silence for a few weeks... literally didn't have a weekend last weekend, and after it was over I slept for thursday, then tootled off to Umm al Qwain with Hels & K to a random spa in the middle of nowhere - got totally lost on the way there. Was amazingly random, and exactly what i needed, have spent 48hrs getting flushed out, pummelled, hammamed, wrapped in clay and drinking shots of algae and grass... and now feel much better.

Bring on my last week in le job, a week off, and pastures new.... whoo hoo!!

made me smile... read the sign, look at the food they provide....



















max at GITEX... perFORming a Plaaaay (dontcha know)




















and the show itself... taken on the last day at about 7pm, so not nearly at its busiest...