Thousands of you turned up to the Business Design Centre in London on Friday and Saturday for the Nursery World Show 2011 and had a great time touring the stands and attending some fantastic seminars.
Nearly 100 exhibitors demonstrated and sold their resources, equipment and services to visitors from every part of the early years sector. Nature and the outdoors was a dominant theme, with colourful displays from Nature's Play Resources, Inside-Out Nature and Norseman Direct (with scrumptious vegetables).
Nursery food and drink were on offer from Yum Yum and Aimia, while food for thought was provided by a range of publishers, including David Fulton, Hodder, Routledge, Pearson and Prim-Ed. High-quality furniture and resources were shown at a host of stands, including Community Playthings, Early Years from the Consortium, Designs for Education, Eduzone, Eibe, Handmade Places, and new launch Poddely, among others.
Visitors could also find out about training from the Childcare Company, Open University and Pen Green, talk to NDNA, PLA, NCMA and 4Children, and consider a career move with nursery groups Bright Horizons, Asquith, Casterbridge and Kidsunlimited, as well as Nursery World Jobs.
Seminars given by leading experts including Jennie Lindon, Penny Tassoni and Alice Sharp were packed out.
Meanwhile, entertainment came at the live theatre stage with the likes of Play to Z, and at the enabling environments section with Community Playthings, Mindstretchers and Inside-Out. 'X Factor' star Andy Abrahams turned out to support the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust, and even Channel 4 News rolled up to interview NW editor Liz Roberts and others about government cuts.
And in a sign of the times, visitors and exhibitors tweeted and chatted on Facebook before, during and after the exhibition.
Getting creative at the show with SMART pointers on a SMART Board interactive display
Publishers' stands were very popular
The natural approach at Timotay
Keen to train at Childcare Company
Joining in at the Live Theatre stage
Nursery World magazine
Looking at the Nursery World Jobs site
Plenty to try and buy
BUSINESS SEMINAR
Some 70 delegates attended Nursery World's first business seminar. Opening the morning session was Christie & Co director Courteney Donaldson, who gave a market overview, looked at sector trends and rounded off her talk with some predictions for the sector in 2011-12.
Next to take the floor were Jacqui Smith, NDNA's national development manager (North) and Katie Clipston, regional development manager for the East Midlands. They set out strategies to help settings ensure that the extended free entitlement doesn't leave them out of pocket, such as clear agreements, networking and reviewing charging policies.
Delegates took full advantage of the extended coffee break to network before hearing the final speaker of the morning, marketing consultant Ian Brodie. As part of his talk, Ian offered low-cost steps to kick-start a nursery's marketing strategy, and among his main messages were the importance of an effective website, coming up tops in a Google search, follow-up and making marketing a habit.
