We had the first Northern Planning summit at The Showroom in Sheffield last night. I got there first and sat down with a coffee to do a bit of work. Strange nervous feeling at this point, I sort of know these people, but I’ve never met them before.
James arrived next. We swapped notes on the places we work and the unconventional ways we got into planning. Then in walked the famous Rob Mortimer soaked by the rain.
Some people like going to the cinema for a first date, that way there are no awkward silences and you then have something to talk about after. It was a bit like that for us – thanks to shared experiences from blogging, the conversation was easy to start and it only really stopped when the bar staff wanted to go home.
Amongst other things, we covered the advantages of baldness for planners, the lunacy of Rob not having a planning job yet, the merits of being open in blogs v keeping things back, the value of doing what’s right now v planning models, the brilliance of 80’s music, the lack of good researchers up north and advantages of using pictures and analagy over words. Also, I think James recorded me likening good creative briefing to Ronnie Corbett telling a joke, and Rob’s views on the strange success of Magners. Rob also played the orginal version of that track on the Sony Bravia ad – magic. We had to move rooms when the live music came on (hope the performer wasn’t offended) and ended up talking over a candle lit table and enjoying personal waitress service (the girl has probably heard of Rob).
I thoroughly enjoyed their company. We’ll be doing it again soon. 
NORTHERN PLANNER 
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