2012-10-19

IPEXPO 2012 FireBrick

Who let the dogs out?
This year we did IPEXPO at Earls Court 2. We were there as FireBrick to promote the current product range (FB2500, FB2700 and FB6000).

(yes, "Earls Court 2" which is by "Earl's Court" tube station, arrrg!)

It was busy! Well done to everyone that helped from A&A and Watchfront, on the stand and in the months leading up to this. We have not done a show before like this, but we think we got it right.

I did not get a chance to look around myself much, but from what I did see there was quite an interesting mix. Some stands were just a TV with slide show, and some merchandise (pens, juggling balls) and a couple of people. Some stands had their kit on the stand, and some (like ours) were actually demonstrating the equipment working. Other exhibitors said we were a busy stand!

Taking the orc was a real winner - we'll definitely do that again - nobody had anything like that. There were some bees, some things that looked like M&Ms, some dogs, a fairy, some butlers, some doctors, all sorts, but no other orcs. Thrall really got people on to the stand and we printed pictures on the spot. We used a cable rather than wifi, which was probably the best choice given the vast number of APs in use (even though they were meant to be banned). Printing from the camera does take around a minute, on a high quality canon photo printer, but that gave us a chance to explain what FireBricks are. Even other exhibitors (see above) had pictures taken. We uploaded the images directly from the camera as it printed and stuck a URL on the back so people could get it on their phones and facebook it.

We gave out FireBrick pint glasses, and they went down very well indeed. We gave out thousands of FireBrick chocolates, and lots of leaflets. I personally think the pint glasses were the best swag at the show, but I am biased.

Thanks to everyone that came along - several readers of my blog, as well as many A&A, WF, and FireBrick customers, but also thanks to all those that did not know us before. It was encouraging that there is so much interest in what we do.

I suspect we'll be back next year.

Mikey, Alex, Kev, Adrian(me), Thrall(orc)

6 comments:

  1. At least you didn't turn up to Late Court 2 :)

    The orc certainly would stand out - glad to see people doing innovative things at shows like this - it makes a difference. Wish I made it there for a pint glass!

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    Replies
    1. Hmmm, typos... We do have some pint glasses left in the office if you want one :-)

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  2. Firebrick pint glasses!

    Any left? My company is getting a bonded service off you soon, including a Firebrick...

    A few of them (filled with some Ale) would really help the go live go smooth... ;)

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  3. RevK, it was interesting to hear first hand about the development process and story behind firebrick, I think you could've done a segment about IPv6 deployment using them.

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  4. Great stand - and great to meet you guys in person. I hope you found the show worth it, when I do such things I steel myself for the probability that it's a long game. Really enjoyed the talk also; first slot on day one is a tough gig - especially right after the keynote. Thanks for the pint glass :-) As my son said "What is it with you and Firebricks?" (I've only got 3 so far, so I don't know what he means).

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  5. Good to see you yesterday, would have been nice to actually manage to get onto your stand! :-)

    Next year you will have to make some modifications to the orc, would have been great to suddenly tap one of those dogs on the shoulder! Mind you the best moment had to be fantastic view of some right dogs talking to a couple of sweeties!

    Mind you I would love to know how much you have to pay someone to walk around for two days with a dogs head on, thats got to be somwhat hot in there, suppose at least you are recogisable looking absurd unlike being dressed as a fairy - and any idea how you see out of those things, can't see the eye holes!

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