One view from the show floor and why meeting in person is so valuable

Reflecting on day one of The Emergency Services Show and The Emergency Tech Show, I am reminded about the importance of human interaction and why seeing people face to face to have stimulating and spontaneous conversations is at the heart of what we do.

The shows are a place where you walk from A to B and find that it takes you twice as long because you bump into people you know and have those incredible conversations in person because doing it over a screen just isn’t the same.

Relatively new Chief Fire Officer Fin Monahan spoke to me on the People and Skills stage about leadership and culture in a session with Dr Claire Park. They shared how their military careers have informed their work today with the emergency services.

Later, I found Claire near the NHS Blood and Transplant stand where they are offering a ‘know your blood type’ service to encourage visitors to become blood donors and we had a chat with the team there. Where else but The Emergency Services Show can you have a conversation with a hugely experienced HEMS medic about blood donation, organ transplant and how they deal with blood transfusions on the battlefield?

In contrast to this, I had my first live podcast interview on the show floor with Chief Superintendent Fiona Gaffney and David Walters from the National Police Air Service. This is the first time NPAS has exhibited at the show and gave me the chance to talk to Fiona just weeks into her new role as Chief Operating Officer and with David about piloting uncrewed aircraft. Another great example of how bringing people to one place over two days brings opportunities to learn and network.

Chairing a conversation between former Kent Fire and Rescue Service ACFO Chris Colgan and Tim Wight from TEXPORT was a chance to get into the detail about firefighter PPE and the important topic of contaminants. TEXPORT are sponsoring our Protecting the Protectors stage and this important conversation was the central part of a day that also saw the College of Policing sharing what it is like to be a public order police officer in the middle of riots. I’ve never held a riot shield before but I can confirm it is very heavy and I am so grateful to Laura Douglas and Andy Hunt for sharing their world with us.

And rounding off a busy day, I found Pete Wakefield bringing his Firefighters Podcast to the show for the first time. He attracted a great audience listening to a conversation between Pete, the NFCC Chair Phil Garrigan and a second appearance from Fin. So great to listen in on this unedited, wide ranging conversation which will be turned into a full episode of Pete’s podcast very soon. He returns on day two with more guests.

Just a whistle stop tour of some of my day – if that sound like the place you want to be too, then join us at the NEC on 18 September. I’ll be there.

Not registered yet but want to come along? Visit The Emergency Services Show or The Emergency Tech Show to grab your free pass to join us on 18 September.