If you saw a few drunken tweets and pictures on Thursday evening/Friday morning, then they were most likely from the PIGS event held in Manchester. This is my review of the event.

Well organised

I was kindly invited to a press event an hour before PIGS actually kicked off. The event was for the launch of a new Italian product from a company called AGB. They are planning to launch a new product/idea to the UK market called Imago. I’ll save the explanation of that for the next post on DGB.

Balls2 Marketing, the guys and girls behind PIGS, had done a sterling job in making sure the press event and the PIGS event afterwards ran smoothly. The venue was a nice place to be in, and made for a good room to network in.

The bar was indeed free, for all of about an hour! Because the event was well attended, the funds put up by the bar sponsors quickly ran dry. I think the only gripe I might have had was while some people were ordering one or two drinks, some were ordering much larger rounds and full bottles. Still, a big thumbs up to all those who put some cash towards that bar!

A room full of mostly nice people

I have to say, the atmosphere was good in there. I had been apprehensive about going. In fact this was the fourth time I had been invited, and there are so many times you can say no to anything. In the earlier days of DGB, I think I would have been given a harder time, but I can say that almost everyone in the room were very pleasant and easy to get on with.

Apart from one rather irritating guy who repeatedly asked me for ID, repeatedly asked me how old I was and was being generally inappropriate when he found out I was from Bradford. Still, that’s not the fault of the organisers, so can’t blame them, and I didn’t let idiot wind me up and spoil what was a good night.

I also got to meet a few more people who I had only ever spoken to online. Peter Gray from Premier Conservatory Supplies was one particular guy, who was an absolute gem. He said some very nice things about this site and the National Fenestration Awards which was very kind of him, and he bought me a drink too. A sound as a pound, genuinely nice guy who is always up for a good time. I imagine his offices are a good place to work!

Steven Frith from Graffika Media was another face I was able to put to a name. A very knowledgeable man and again a genuine, down to earth sort of guy. We spent ages putting the world and industry to rights! He also had some kind words for the NFAs and DGB, so thanks for that Steven!

In fact I was pleasantly surprised about all the kind words for DGB and the NFAs. Surprised mainly because in the early days I didn’t shy away from writing about most of the people and companies in that room. But there was plenty of praise which sort of caught me off-guard, really because I don’t always get to hear what people really think of what I do. So I probably was a bit awkward in taking the compliments. But to all those who did say nice things, they were really appreciated!

Worth going

Was it worth me going? Yes. Going to something like this gave me the chance to bend the ears of certain people who I would like to work with on my various projects. It of course allowed me to catch up with others who I already knew, like Joe from Solidor, Colin from VEKA, Jody from Emplas and of course meet some new faces too. Hopefully the evening will prove fruitful.

Would I go again? I probably don’t have a choice now! The next one is in London in July I think. Could make for a decent excuse to take Soph down for a long weekend in the capital.

Thanks again to Sarah and Andy for the invite, and well done on a well organised, relaxed event.