And then there were none

As the conference cyclone blew itself out at around 4pm on Friday afternoon and the team breathed a sigh or two of relief, it was difficult to react to the debris and detirus that was strewn about us, the splintered trees of our conference sessions testament to the swathe of discussion that had battered the delegates across 18 sessions for the best part of 48 hours. However, the emergency services have now left, the site has been declared safe and the reflection can begin.

It was a slightly surreal experience being interviewed by Classic FM's Bob Jones literally just minutes after the final session had ended and Simon Woods had declared the conference closed. And indeed it took much of the weekend and a rather enforced day off yesterday to get any perspective on the fact that it had all finished. It really is a massive undertaking that ABO puts itself through each year on what is little more than a skeleton staff. And I say that with a huge amount of respect and gratitude to a team that was in all matters professionally perfect. Everyone pulled and pushed and guided the ship of the conference on its way. Special mention should be made to the staff from WNO who joined us and who were fabulous in every way, so thank you to Becky, Ruth, Siobhan, Caroline, Hannah and Joss and especially Sara. Huge thanks girls - you were all total stars.

So, here we are back in Soho clearing the decks, writing reports, designing surveys, paying the odd bill and recovering. Handovers have begun as we prepare to say goodbye to Hester after her six months of internship. She will be missed and did a great job at conference. A very capable and inventive member of staff and she could not come more highly recommended!

So, with March comes some breathing space with pretty much most of the team off on holiday for a bit. So as we pack our suntan lotion and sunglasses we will leave you to the fabulous memories of Cardiff 2009. But fear not, for in just one months time Mark and Keith are jumping on a plane and flying to Glasgow to kick off planning for next year.

Its been a blast.

K