And the MIMA goes to...

I had never been to an awards dinner, so I was quite excited when I got an invite to the Meetings Industry Marketing Awards (MIMA) dinner this year. Why I got a free ticket (on sale for £175+VAT), is still a mystery to me, but then I never quite know why/how I end up on certain guestlists. Obviously, I am not complaining!

The dinner/ceremony was held in the Champagne Suite (capacity for a banquet for 1,200!) at the 4* Novotel West, near Hammersmith and unfortunately right across town for me. The evening started with a champagne reception and me running into a friend! What are the chances of us arriving at the same time? Just to say that there were about 450 invited guests that evening.

I also got excited about seated at table three in the front row. Given that we got served our food last, it seems that the tables at the back were the better ones after all...

The evening started with two charities supported by the Meetings Industry Meeting Needs (MIMN) charity got the opportunity to present themselves. Both absolutely worthwhile causes but I hate to say that the presenters did a rather terrible job. They both rushed through and it all seemed rather random. The second guy kept getting his numbers wrong and claiming that 30,000 people losing their lives in a recent storm was a low number seemed very wrong indeed. And whoever abbreviated the school in India they support with 'PUSS' either had a twisted sense of humour or didn't think very much about it. The presentation ended on the rather somber motto of theirs: 'As long as children are allowed to suffer, there is no love in the world.' Which I don't agree with at all. 

Don't get me wrong, by the sound of it, both these charities are doing amazing work which I have so much respect and admiration for. It's just that I don't think their presentations really reflected this very well.

Dinner followed and then the awards ceremony. I had hoped for a celebrity to do the compering, but no such luck. And the next hour turned into a very boring affair. Winners in 10+ categories were announced. Each group had a shortlist and then a bronze, silver and gold winner. The gold winners were then interviewed together with a representative of the jury who had picked them. And far from being inspirational and innovative, we got to hear about the importance of mixing social media channels (really?) and using postcards for marketing purposes... To be honest, I might have missed out on all the meeting marketing gems, as I stopped listening.

After the awards, desserts and coffee was being served outside. As it was quite late by then, I headed home pretty soon after that. Overall, it was an interesting experience (people had warned me, that it would probably be a rather boring affair...), and I had pleasant conversations over dinner. And met my friend. And enjoyed the main course and dessert. All good.

my golden ticket; pretty flower centrepiece;
crayfish with cocktail sauce; venison with a fantastic apple sauce and celeriac dauphinoise