As the first crocuses emerge, blinking in the early morning sun, their hopeful little faces seem to be saying “It’s only February, mate – you’re not out of the woods yet. Literally, in your case”.
It’s an odd thing, but in the world of the DIT’s Experience Economy team, the first part of the year seems to be heavily museums-focused while the second half is dominated by the attractions industry. As Sven used to say, “first half good – second half equally good”.
Two shows are starting to loom, the Museums and Heritage Show in May, and the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) show. In May. Quite why they must be within a week of each other, I don’t know. At the Museums and Heritage Show, we are in the throes of planning our presence in what will be (or at least feel like) the ninety-third time we have attended. As usual, we will have a stand on which we will be brokering meetings between UK companies and the delegates we invite from targeted markets. This year, we are hoping for a good mix – though events in China might affect our ability to recruit effectively from the Far East. We also plan to have Emily Smith and Ann Curtis on the stand with us – Emily has been doing a deep dive into the European museum market whilst Ann has a really good knowledge of her native US museum scene. And so, we should have an array of expertise on hand. Plus, Rozmin and me.
A week or so later, we will have the American Alliance of Museums Expo in San Francisco. As has become traditional, DIT will be hosting a “Meet The Brits” B2B reception on the Sunday evening prior to the show’s Monday opening – please let me know if you’d like to attend. It looks as if the reception will be in the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill. Older readers might recall the US drama series “Hotel” from the 1980s, which was shot in and around the hotel. And this year, for the first time, Experience UK will have a stand on which to showcase UK products and services, and to promote the brand. This is an important step in building awareness of UK brilliance in the experience economy and I hope you will support Ian and the team in whatever way you can.
I haven’t been to San Francisco for a few years, but I have some good memories of the city. In my freelance journalism days, I had a couple of enjoyable assignments there. One involved getting to know Fritz Maytag. Fritz is the heir to the Maytag white goods empire – washing machines and dryers, both domestic and industrial. With a strong background in FMCG, Fritz did what anyone in his position would do. He opened a craft brewery. Bear in mind that this was in the mid-1980s, when beer in the US was completely dominated by monolithic producers of tasteless rubbish. There was a kind of craft beer guerrilla movement though – I remember seeing a billboard saying “Coors – brewed with Rocky Mountain Water” to which people had added “and nothing else”. And in SF, Maytag had come across something called Anchor Steam – a real beer made in an old-fashioned way developed in primitive conditions to slake the thirst of gold prospectors in 1849. The brewery was on its last legs, but Fritz invested heavily and began to create a market for craft ale in San Francisco. Today in the US, you can’t move for “Old Apache Red Pale Varmintstrangler” and the like – but lovers of beer should, when in the US, raise a glass to Fritz.
My other enduring memory was when I covered the Dallas Cowboys NFL team on a road trip to San Francisco. I was invited to a reception at the St Francis on the Saturday night before the game. The elevator (see how effortlessly he drifts into the local argot) door opened on the way up to the roof bar, and in came the three largest humans I’d ever seen. Harvey Martin, Randy White and Ed “Too Tall” Jones – three members of the Doomsday Defense. As we started to ascend, Ed Jones said “Aren’t you the English writer they had kicking field goals back at training camp?”. I was going to say “I’m Welsh, as a matter of fact, buddy” but what I actually squeaked was “Yes Mister Jones. I’m Richard “Too Short” Parry”. He laughed and said, “Call me Ed”. I glowed. I was still glowing when I ignored Ali McGraw who was leaving the party as I arrived.
