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Permalink Reply by Vicky Karakosta on June 6, 2013 at 11:05

Vicky’s Naidex Diary

 

Monday

Monday morning the journey begun! 9:08 and the train started while we were trying to find ours seats. Everybody seemed quite excited for what was coming ahead of us. The journey was long but we were all chatting constantly and it seemed like the time passed quickly. We arrived at the hotel just after three and we rushed to the exhibition to prepare the stand. The halls were filled with people trying to fix their stands and put their products in order. After debating how we could make our stand look, and dealing with a small TV crisis, the stand looked really fancy! Everything was ready for the big day! Afterwards we went back to the hotel for some food and drinks. Everyone was really tired but happy that everything was in order so we went to ours rooms for some well deserved sleep.

 

Tuesday/ Wednesday/Thursday

Tuesday morning finally had arrived! We were all ready to go and do our best. After a nice breakfast we got the bus for Naidex. Although there was a feeling of anxiety I was sure that everything would go the way we had planned. The doors opened at 10am and shortly afterwards people started coming by the stand. I made my first sign-up to bespoken and I was feeling pretty confident! First day was tiring but very fulfilling. We managed to sign up approximately 90 people and meet with many of the companies that Margie and I had contacted. At 5pm the doors closed and the feelings were mixed! I felt tired but excited for what he had achieved that day.

The following two days passed by quite fast. Every morning Naidex team was doing their best to sign up as many people as possible while in the mean time some team members were always trying to go around and try to capture Naidex on video. Many of the people I spoke with found it fascinating what we are trying to do and how bespoken is trying to help disabled people to achieve independent living and exchange information. They thought it was an amazing idea and that they are the ones that live with a problem like that every day so it was great that they could find other people with the same issues and share ideas. Also, they really like our idea of going around Naidex and trying to bring back the show for all our members that could not join us in Birmingham. Some of the products were basic however there were many that I felt that people could really benefit from. The product that I thought was the best was the ownfone. It was a mini, low cost mobile phone that only makes phone calls. It could have from 4 to 12 names and the new model had pictures instead of names. It was about the size of a credit card and it was amazing especially for people with dementia or seniors that they cannot use the hi-tech mobile phones that there are on the market right now or they tend to forget numbers and names. After 3 days of hard work we managed to sign up around 250 people and make over 100 videos. Many of the exhibitors that we met with thought that this was a great opportunity for them and they were really excited to share their products with us and our members. Thursday afternoon Naidex closed. After packing all our things from the stand, we left for some well deserved drinks and food. Everyone was feeling tired but happy that we managed to promote bespoken and increase its awareness.

 

Friday

Friday arrived and the team headed back home. After switching trains at Birmingham New Station, we arrived in Edinburgh around 3 pm and everybody headed home to get some sleep and rest thinking how great everything went and that we did it!

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Permalink Reply by Margie Fletcher on June 6, 2013 at 12:04

A week of Naidex madness!

 

Day One:

Early start today (well for me anyways, as the others will now attest I’m not exactly a morning person!) with the train leaving at 9am, but we all made it on time. Making our way onto the train was interesting, what with two very large banners/stands, pamphlet holder + phamlets, 5 violently red hoodies, 2 ipads, and enough clothing for 5 people for a week in tow. However we finally managed to get the masses of luggage plus all the team loaded onto the train (no mean feat as we had to do it with a ninja like silence as we were booked into the quiet coach… oops!) and we were off to meet the Brummies! We girls struggled a wee bit on the way down due to the silence required in our coach (Kiwis, Greeks and Scots are not renowned for their shy and aloof nature after all) whereas Alex seemed to realise this might be his one chance to have some silence for the trip zoned out with his headphones and book and didn’t stir once, even when a small dog was nuzzling his hair.

Anyway after five and a half hours, several vehicle changes, and 15min to dump our bags we arrived at the front doors of the NEC… well the front doors of our hall… there are 20 halls in total! It was my first time at the complex and coming from a small town in New Zealand I can say with some certainty we were definitely ‘not in Kansas anymore’. I can’t stress how massive this place is! We walked in and there were people crawling like ants all over the place. Exhibitors setting up stands, engineers and tradesmen putting up large scale installation displays, people whizzing about on mobility scooters or in power chairs with another trail of them following along behind like shopping trolleys, cleaners, carpet layer, officials, you name it they were there. We dodged the throngs of people to find our ‘small but perfectly formed’ stand at C112 and got cracking with the setting up. We had a few minor issues with the setting up, but nothing Alex, a hammer, and an old wooden pallet couldn’t fix (seriously, don’t ask!) and then we were done… and shattered! So off back to headquarters we went for a beer and a team briefing, then off to bed for a well-earned sleep and to prepare for the opening the next day.

 

Day Two:

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggghhhhhhhhhh! Mornings! Up at 7am and a bit tired but nothing a giant cup of coffee couldn’t fix! Quick team meeting over breakie and we were off! Now if we thought setting up was hectic, day one redefined my idea of hectic!! With doors open at 10am there was a lot to prep on the stand and get ready for before we got going but a constant stream of caffeine and all hands on deck made it happen! At 10am the exhibition was opened by Ade Adepitan and Laura and Alex went and covered it (they also got some fantastic shots of the two of them in their hoodies with him – check it out!) while Vicky, Colin, and I manned the bespoken stand. Talk about crazy busy! We had a constant stream of people interested in chatting, including several of our fellow exhibitors! Eventually Alex and I made it out with the ipad to get started on our product filming. Highlights of filming on day one definitely had to be chatting to Alex from Bakare Beds and the boys from Stairaid! Nice people and really fantastic products! Check out the videos on bespoken now. They definitely made this nervous kiwi feel a little bit more relaxed in front of the camera.

It’s so crazy but at these events you really don’t know where the time goes! One minute you arrive, the next minute you’re sitting for a 15min lunch (yep, that’s all we had time for, we were that popular!) and then next thing there is a loud speaker telling you it’s time close for the day! We managed to get quite a few videos, photos, and interviews and lots of amazing new members! Yay! But seriously so tired! You don’t realise until you stop just how much you’ve done that day. So after a quick debrief over dinner, we all crawled (almost literally) to bed.

 

Day Three:

Getting used to that 7am wake up call… especially the decent cup of coffee afterwards! And so day two of Naidex begins! By now we’d worked our way around the show and were getting recognized by our snazzy red attire! Vicky and I took to the stands with our trusty video camera (aka Colin’s ipad!) and managed to get some pretty cool vids of me doing some pretty embarrassing things! What you can’t see in the videos is the small crowd that usually gathers to watch me get hoisted in an out of a car (courtesy of Autochair, thanks guys!) or get lifted up and down the stairs by Stannah lifts… but being a guinea pig has its perks because some of them were pretty fun, and those guys also had some pretty good promotional cupcakes… yum! But my highlight of the day was meeting the girls from the blue badge company. They make funky covers to hold your blue badges in and they come in a range of styles and colours! It was actually really god to see that there were a lot of companies out there that we not just focusing on function but aesthetics. As someone who is able bodied I’m not going to understand all the products out there or which is better than the other, but as a girl I can understand the importance of having things that look pretty, funky, classy, or something that will match with the rest of my stuff! There were a lot of companies out there that are focusing on not having things look too naff or like they could belong to your Gran.  Another company that are really making leaps and bounds in the this department are HEWI, a German bathroom manufacturer they have a great range of youthful, classic bathroom fittings, chairs, and grab rails that definitely do not have that nursing home look about them. We got a great interview with Stephen about the HEWI range as well for you all to see. The others were busy too with Alex and Laura getting an awesome interview with the wheelchair rugby boys, and signing up heaps of new bespoken members, all in all a fantastic day! 

 

Day Four:

Team member down! Unfortunately today was the day that the lovely Laura had to leave us to head back to Edinburgh due to work commitments and we knew we were going to miss her! Day 3 of the exhibition was buuuuuuuuuuussssssssssssssssssssy! It passed by in a blur! But stand out points for me were meeting the team from own phone, a fantastic phone that can be programmed to dial eight specific people with one touch. They come in a range of styles and colours, and you can use people’s names, or pictures, or braille on the phone.  As we were getting pretty recognizable at this stage we had people coming to grab us for their interviews as we walked by (yep felt a wee bit like a movie star!) including the award winning team from Tomcat who showed us their trikes and twisters.

Day three was also when I found my favourite Naidex product! This was thanks to Carepair and Russell. Russell invented Carepair, which for the lack of a better explanation pairs carers to people who need a carers like you would on a dating site, LOL! Its genius! As Russell pointed out people are sometimes able to travel alone but will require care at the other end, carepair can then be used to help you find a carer in the area and save you the cost of two tickets. It matches people based on personality so you get along and that way the shifts just fly by as people have a lot in common. It was definitely one of the most mentioned products at the event and I had to check them out. Once I finally got to chat to Russell (not an easy man to talk to due to the popularity of his product) he gave us a really great informative interview as well some great banter while Alex had to run and swap video devices when the ipad ran out of memory (my fault for talking too much methinks!). The rest of the day was spent trying to get as much of the exhibition covered as possible so we had heaps more great new content for you guys to check out on bespoken, and before we knew it, it was 4pm already! Time flies! So we packed up (a bit lighter now after giving out 500 promo packs!) and headed for a well earned pint. Phew! Finally we could put our feet up! Although talk soon turned to chatting about the various things we’d seen or heard and the people we’d meet over the last few days, all in all a great experience!

Day Five:

Up, breakfast, train, home, sleeeeeeeeeeeep! Very tired but well worth it!

 

Love from

Margie xx

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Permalink Reply by Alex Hills on June 7, 2013 at 7:16

The train journey down to Birmingham from Edinburgh felt surprisingly short - in no time we had dropped off our bags and  were heading to the NEC to set up our stall. My first impression was awe at the size of the place and the effort that the exhibitors had gone to with their stalls. There were a lot of people rushing around drilling and putting things together amidst a sea of debris and tools (which had miraculously disappeared by the next morning).

 

Our stall was smaller than we’d hoped and didn’t have the advantage of being positioned on a corner, but we made the most of it by strategically placing the banners and the leaflet stand. The TV and furniture had arrived so we had to decide where to put them. The cupboard needed to be raised slightly so I went off in search of some wood, eventually spotting a palette being carried off by the cleaners. When I asked them if I could have it they stared at me and replied “how much?” with a look of deadpan seriousness. Eventually the penny dropped that it was a joke and they let me have the pallete - no money was exchanged that day!

 

With everything set for Tuesday we headed back to the hotel for dinner and our beauty sleep. The next morning it was action stations. Laura and I began by covering the opening ceremony in the conference area where Ade Adepitan was the key speaker, while Margie, Vicky and Colin looked after the stand. We got to chat with Ade about bespoken and take a group photo, which was pretty cool. After that we interviewed a couple of exhibitors to discuss their products and then it was back to the stand for a stint signing up passers-by. That set the pattern for the remaining two days: a mixture of video interviewing the exhibitors and signing people up at the stand, running in shifts with the other volunteers. I let Vickie, Margie and Laura do the actual interviews and stuck to the "behind the camera" stuff, as they are much more photogenic than me! Despite copious consumption of coffee, I kept camera wobble to a minimum (...ok I'll admit youtube auto-stabilizes shaky videos)

 

There were some amazing products on display and some of them were particularly memorable for me. For example, the Observer 4x4 wheelchair, which was being promoted by Access4Wheelchairs, is a rugged, off-road vehicle with a remarkable feature: it can climb stairs. It also levels out the seat when you’re on a slope. I was impressed too with Russell Smith’s CarePair app, which allows you to browse local carers and match up with them according to shared interests. There were many more great products too numerous to list here, but we’ll be gradually uploading all the videos and photos so you can check them out yourself.

The best part of the event was of course meeting people, from suppliers to occupational therapists to other charity workers, and most of all the people who actually use the products and services. Aside from chatting with the other exhibitor’s about their products, we talked to literally hundreds of people about bespoken and signed up a lot of new members too. The response was very positive and everyone seemed very keen on our mission as a knowledge-sharing social media website. All in all, Naidex was great experience for us volunteers and great for bespoken. The addition of so many new members has really helped grow the bespoken community. The event will also enabled us to further bridge the gap between users of products and manufacturers.

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Permalink Reply by 23l0aotshayaf on June 7, 2013 at 12:41

My Naidex experience

 

It was with intrigue and excitement that I boarded the 9.08 train from Edinburgh to Birmingham. Our destination: Naidex 2013. After a five hour journey we arrived at our hotel where we quickly dropped off our bags and then headed to the NEC. After spending twenty five minutes wandering around aimlessly and unintentionally walking the entirety of the NEC, Vicky and I finally found the hall where Naidex was being held. Cardboard boxes, plastic and tools littered the walkways as fellow exhibitors set up their stands. We found our stand and discovered there was a bit of a problem with the space we had and the size of the equipment we had to fill it, a bit of carpentry from Alex soon sorted the problem though and the stand was looking great. It was back to the hotel for dinner and an early night in preparation for the next three days!

 

Colin briefed us over breakfast on Tuesday as we loaded up on caffeine to prepare for what we knew was going to be a busy day. We arrived at the NEC at about 9.20 and quickly got the stand looking good. Soon enough it was 10 am and the doors were open. A tannoy announcement told us that Ade Adepitan was going to be officially opening the show at one of the theatres set up within the halls. It was on hearing this that Alex and I were handed the Ipad, microphone and camera and told to GO! Ade gave an inspiring and interesting talk that you can check out in the Naidex forum. Alex and I were then lucky enough to get to speak to Ade, we told him a bit about bespoken and he thought it was a great idea and said he would check it out. Hopefully he will become a member soon! It was then time to do a stint on the stand. Initially I was a bit nervous about approaching people and trying to get my words out but it soon became second nature and I ended up really enjoying telling people about bespoken. It was so encouraging to see how enthusiastic people were about the site and to hear how they thought it was a great idea.            

 

Later on Alex and I went out to speak to some of the other exhibitors and filmed some short videos about their products and services. One thing that really struck me was the variety of products available and some of the extraordinary ideas that people had come up with. Some were simple but very effective such as the DayClox whilst others were pieces of machinery that evidently have required great amounts of mechanical skill such as Observer 4x4 wheelchair. The day went by so fast and it was soon approaching 5pm. We quickly tidied the stand and heading to the bar for a seat and chilled beer whilst we discussed the day and the plans for Wednesday.

 

Wednesday and Thursday were a similar mixture of fun, stress, busyness, interest and discovery. The days followed a similar routine to Tuesday whereby we took stints on the stand and then swapped and went and did some videoing. As the announcement was made that Naidex 2013 was closed I felt a mixture of emotions. I would be lying if I didn’t say I was relieved-it had been a tiring three days- but I was also encouraged, inspired and in high spirits. For me there wasn’t just one highlight of Naidex, the whole thing was a fantastic experience.

 

To all the people I met, thank you for being so lovely, it was a pleasure to meet you. To all the exhibitors we videoed, thank you for letting us hear about your latest products and innovations and consequently let us share them with our bespoken members. I have been asked to pick my favourite product from Naidex, it wasn’t easy to pick one thing because there was so many fascinating things but I finally came to a decision. So my pick of Naidex 2013 is the magic carpet from sensory guru. The vividness of colours, variety of options available and the interaction involved for people of any age or ability is why this is my top pick. We were supposed to be at the stand for five minutes but ended up staying for twenty or more because we were so amazed by it. I could have stayed there all day! Naidex was my first experience of being an exhibitor and what an excellent first experience it was! 

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