UKC

Posting from the USA so excuse me if this is in the wrong forum.

Let's just say we wanted to bring a pretty important (read: hilarious storytelling by a REAL master, historically significant Yosemite Valley tales, never before seen images, etc.) lecture to the UK. What would be the top three or four cities to hold it in? I'm thinking Cambridge, LLanberis and Edinburgh would be three and perhaps Nottingham? Yea, I know London but I'm thinking venue costs, etc. in the city would be crazy. Besides, aren't all the Londoners bankers not climbers?

Do you think each of your top locations would draw 250 - 350 climbers and interested folk?

I look forward to your opinions. Direct questions can come to me at simon(at)vershke(dot)com

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

You've posted this right at the start of the Easter holidays here, so you may not get a great response.

However, if you're restricting yourself to three or four places, I'd definitely drop Cambridge and probably drop Llanberis (and maybe even Edinburgh). Sheffield and Manchester should be at the top of the list. For a Scottish venue, Glasgow is bigger than Edinburgh, although Edinburgh does have a decent track record with the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival.

You probably should try to get to London. All the bankers are now unemployed, so they've got plenty of time on their hands.

In reply to tony:
Cool! This is the type of solid info we need to do our planning. Can't wait to hear other's opinions.

In reply to I Hate Plastic:
I'd have said Sheffield, Manchester, Bristol and Glasgow! Why not expand a bit? You could easily sell out in a fair few other cities?

In reply to I Hate Plastic:


You could try speaking to Heason Events, they organise a lot of these sort of things, although, on the other hand they may see you as competiton

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

We have no problem with expanding this show. Just trying to get a feel for best locations at this point. I know there are plenty of climbers in the UK (Hell, I am Brit!) but we need to maximize exposure while not traveling to sites where attendance would be minimal (i.e. not enuh butts in seats to pay for the show.)

I continue to welcome ALL input on the matter. Once we have a top ten list of must-go-to cities I can then map it out and start working on logistics.

By the way, while I know some climbing lectures are free, what is a common ticket charge in the UK for a solid, entertaining climbing show? 10 quid?

In reply to I Hate Plastic: I would say sheffield, manchester, bristol are a good idea, I think the last lecture I went to was about £8 then sharma was £12

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

Hey Tyler, Thanks for the heads-up on Heason Events. They seem to be a bit top-shelf with Bonington, Scott and Venables. (Our team is closer to Moffatt... one of their old friends, actually.)

I have organized plenty of these in the States so shouldn't be a problem to pull it off. But it's good to know who I might piss off along the way!

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

It would be great to hear JB! Has he climbed in the UK?

Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Edinburgh or Glasgow, London, Bristol and Liverpool in about that order.

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

Duncan... Did I tip my hat? And here I thought I was being all obscure and veiled!

Good list of cities. I am starting to see some consistency.

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

"Do you think each of your top locations would draw 250 - 350 climbers and interested folk?"

I think Sharma got around 200 in Glasgow at £10-£12 each. I can't think of any other climber who'd better those sort of numbers... perhaps George Mallory in an open casket.

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

200... that is good to know. We seem to be doing better with our US plans but who knows what that means.

So do you all agree... 200 is a good pull?

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

Even though Sharma hasn't got much of a show I'd doubt JB would do as well on numbers, half the Sharma audience where women wanting to see thoughs eyes for real. I doubt they'd turn out for a crusty old trad dude. I would...

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

Think you'd do better in Glasgow than Edinburgh.

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

Thanks for the Glasgow mention. That DOES seem to be the overall opinion. I never would have guessed it.

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

A lot of these things suffer through lack of prior publicity. Perhaps posting a few youtube clips from his American shows and linking them from this site might help to build a ready audience. Perhaps some a timely interviews/articles on this site and in the UK climbing press might also generate some extra interest.

In reply to JLS:

Err, quite. It's been a long week and I'm tired, so I'm still trying to figure out who JB is! Maybe if I could figure that out, I'd know if I'd pay a wedge for seeing him/her and how likely they'd be to fill out a venue.

Huber went down very well last year in Glasgow, but I don't think he got 200 skulls. Probably less than 100 I'd guess.

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

I think 200 would be a VERY good turnout, most people will pay a tenner for a good speaker and don't forget that the cost of the venue can make a significant difference to profit. Make sure it is easily accessable and has real ale!

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

JL is John Long and the other participant is Dean Fidelman. They are otherwise known as Largo and Bullwinkle. The new coffee table book we are touring with is "The Stonemasters". If you were in the Valley in the 1970s or have ever climbed there since you should be familiar with the names: Bridwell, Kauk, Yabo, Bachar, Largo, Bard, Werner, etc. Hearing the tales from the mouth of Largo is like Shakespeare reading his own sonnets. Uh Oh! Blasphemy!

Of course we will do plenty of pre-show media to get the natives restless. If we do come, these are shows that will go down in history as being raucous, funny, hysterical and just plain informative.

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

Oooh, I'd definitely go and see them! Lynne Hill's autobiography primed me suitably.

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

I organised a show in Inverness for Andy Kirkpatrick who is very well known, very funny and he only asked for expenses! I only just broke even and all excess was paid to mountain rescue.

You are going to have to promote your speakers very well and timing of events will be critical.

In reply to Fraser:


Presumably John Bachar - soloist extraordinaire and no mean boulderer. A legend.

Mick

In reply to Mick Ward:

Ok, be it JB or JL, I'd probably pay to hear either of them lecture and do a slideshow.

But back to the OP's qu. about venues, maybe Stirling would have a wider catchment than Glasgow or Edinburgh. Glasgow would be way more convenient for me, but you might get more attendees from the east if it was held at Stirling Uni or somewhere like that.

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

Hey everyone, thanks for the input. Early planning stages on a EU/UK tour at this point but all the feedback is appreciated. Seems like we have the following as hot spots in the UK:

LONDON
GLASGOW
MANCHESTER
BRISTOL
SHEFFIELD

followed by...
Leeds and Liverpool.

I am surprised Cambridge didn't come in on the list. Whatever happened to the Night Climbers of Cambridge? (smile...)

What about Cardiff? Anything in Wales?

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

I am sure this is dead obvious to you but just in case you hadn't considered fixing the list in any kind of order if we took your current list in chronological and geographical order you created an un-necessary zig zag around limey there.

In reply to I Hate Plastic:

Ha-HA! But I thought the country was beautiful and one should experience all of it... as many times as possible.

No worries, the list was just a list of cities. Hopefully my nascent planning abilities will allow me to minimize the amount of backtracking,