The first Security TWENTY event of 2022 was the occasion for a bumper crowd yesterday at the Hilton Metropole on the NEC campus.
Organiser of ST and MD of Professional Security magazine Roy Cooper said afterwards: “It has been brilliant. It’s nice to see everybody back; and everybody says it has been great.” He added that the Wednesday night dinner – a more informal affair than in past years, with burger and Thai street food for exhibitors and their and other guests – raised some £4500 for a charity, Footprints CEC (Conductive Education Centre), as nominated by Rob Evans, sales director of ST sponsor CSL.
Roy Cooper gave a particular thank-you to Mark Hurst, of the installation company Evolution for a top-up donation. Roy thanked the sponsors – who are also Hikvision, Ifsec, BT, and NetVu. Much of the charity cash came from a raffle on the night, for eight prizes donated by well-wishers.
As ever, visitors came to ST for the exhibitors and to network; and stayed for the morning tea and coffee, and the hot buffet lunch. Once again ST was host to a Public CCTV Managers Association (PCMA) meeting, welcoming its chair Tony Gleason from Bournemouth (BCP) Council; and other local government managers, who likewise came some distance, from councils large and small.
Next door to the exhibition floor was a conference room, where the speakers were: Richard Jenkins, chief of the National Security Inspectorate (NSI) who took the audience through standards and other developments in the sector, in the physical and cyber worlds; IFSEC International sales director Adam Richmond, on the London Excel show which is due to run Tuesday to Thursday, May 17 to 19, for the first time since 2019; former Met Police man Mick Neville now of Super Recognisers International, who set out the science and practice of the super recognisers’ skills, and how they might be of security use, especially if and when a Protect Duty comes into force; and ASIS UK membership director Tim Molden; plus manufacturer updates from Stratus Technologies and Hikvision.
More from the conference in the April print edition of Professional Security magazine.
The next ST event is on Tuesday, April 26, at the Hilton in downtown Glasgow. For the full seven events of 2022 – including a new venue, Mercure Hotel, Cardiff, on Wednesday, June 8 where the exhibition space is sold out already – visit the ST part of the website.
See also the online gallery: https://professionalsecurity.co.uk/gallery/security-twenty-22-birmingham/.
About ST
Each event opens around 8.30am and has on offer bacon butties for the early arrivals, besides tea and coffee. ST is free to visit, whatever your interest in the private security industry, whether as a manager, installer, consultant or specifier, or you are just someone who wants to see what’s what. And you can stay as long or as short as you like. We only ask that you register beforehand, either by emailing Liz Lloyd – [email protected] – or through the website. It helps us to gauge the numbers beforehand so we can tell the venue caterers accordingly.
Picture by Mark Rowe; the seated end of the ST22 Birmingham show floor, lunchtime.
