The opening event of six in the Security TWENTY calendar of conference-exhibitions raised a bumper £5000 for a charity. That was Prost8, and its founder Paul Sayer is pictured left, with Roy Cooper, Managing Director of Professional Security Magazine, the owners and organisers of ST20.
The dinner on the Wednesday evening before the event proper yesterday, all at the Hilton Metropole at the NEC outside Birmingham, raised one of the largest sums ever at ST – £5000. That came as ever from diners who bought raffle tickets and donated to enter the ‘heads and tails’ game. Only this time it wasn’t a mere ‘heads or tails’ guess on the toss of a coin, or turn of a playing card, but diners actually had to know something – on this night, populations of capital cities – if they wanted to stay in the game and progress to the final few who were called up to the front by compere Roy Cooper. David Solomons was the winner.
The bumper total was partly thanks to three extra prizes, auctioned off by Roy. 6S Global were the sponsors of the drinks at the dinner, and IFSEC International provided each diner with a wristband that they could use at the bar afterwards to order drinks, until the bar tab ran out. IFSEC also got a round of applause for donating a bottle of ‘Ifsecco’ to each table.
The final figure raised was £4778, which Professional Security rounded up to £5000. Likewise a bumper attendance was enjoyed at the exhibition. Some 73 stands covered physical and electronic and networked security products, besides such industry bodies as the Security Industry Authority; the Association of Security Consultants; the British Security Industry Association (BSIA); and ASIS UK.
Visit the gallery section of this website for photos from the ST20 Birmingham dinner, exhibition and conference; and past ST events.
If you have not been to an ST event, visit https://professionalsecurity.co.uk/all-videos/ for a video flavour of ST20 Birmingham.
Next stop for the ST series is Glasgow, a return visit to the Hilton on William Street, on Wednesday, April 22. ST events are free to attend, whether you are a security manager, installer, consultant or specifier, or simply someone who wants to stay updated on the UK private security industry. Organisers do ask that you register to attend, to help gauge numbers for catering – namely the bacon butties for early arrivals (and yesterday at least one person did ask wistfully about them after they had all gone – you do have to be quite an early arrival before they are snaffled); mid-morning tea and biscuits, and a hot buffet lunch.
Due to concerns about the coronavirus, yesterday’s buffet lunch was served by Hilton staff to minimise the risk of contamination. A new feature of the exhibition show floor at the Metropole that went down well with visitors was the seating in the centre of the room, allowing visitors to eat and drink, chat, and network, or to keep up with mail, while still on the show floor and well placed for the morning nibbles and lunchtime cakes.
To register to attend ST, email organiser Liz Lloyd at [email protected] or visit https://professionalsecurity.co.uk/security-events-and-conferences/security-twenty-home/ and click on the event – also Manchester on July 14; Belfast on September 8 and Dublin on September 10; and as ever the year closes with ST Heathrow at the Park Inn, on November 5.
