A fat day in Birmingham

By Mik Barton on Jul 21, 08 10:32 AM in PR

I was told we were having "a fat day" when we hit the tourist trail in Birmingham city centre at the weekend.

Not being a follower of any of the Australian soaps this was not a phrase I was familiar with - but the meaning of the ICC delegate who had travelled many thousands of miles to be here was absolutely clear: both he and our family were having a great day out.

As Birmingham continues to compete on the world stage for both tourism and business visitors, it's very useful (and sometimes rewarding) for us local PR people to see the 'product' through the eyes of others.

Our guests from Wales - including an ex-Brummie who had left around thirty years ago - were thoroughly impressed and even casting envious eyes on the canalside apartments. The city has so much to offer compared to their rural abode. Though personally I still prefer the beach near their Welsh home to the one in Chamberlain Square.

Our children loved the boat trip and had a great time at the Myths and Monsters exhibition. They were also fascinated by the motorbike displays in the ICC mall - which is where we met the friendly Australian business visitor.

When I was working at the heart of the Birmingham PR machine I was constantly aware of who was in town, whether it was the world synchronised rowing championships or the international federation of widget-makers. If called by the media I could reel off the number of delegates, where they came from and the value to the regional economy. Nowadays for me, and I suspect much of Birmingham's business community, the goings on at the ICC and NEC pass us by. Dare I say it; we may even take them for granted.

The 'Triumph motorbikes global dealer conference' we stumbled upon at the weekend may well be bread and butter for the NEC Group. I have no idea how many visitors or money the event generated, but I did check out the variety of national flags on the delegates badges and it was good to see how our city's reputation was about to be boosted by the people returning to countries far and wide to tell their friends they had 'a fat time in Birmingham' (or whatever the local phrase might be).

There was a low point though. When we sat for a rest in Centenary Square during one of the brief sunny intervals on Sunday afternoon, I looked around. Personally I was disappointed that the fountain is still not working. A visitor pointed out that the large digital displays still said it was just gone 8am on the 3rd of July. The screen rotated between the stopped clock, a promise (in French) to display "all the latest news for your (sic) city" and details of two events that were on at the Rep in February and March. Next to the embarrassing digital display was the rather forlorn and long-since extinguished 'eternal flame' from Millennium Eve.

I am mentioning these things because as a city while we can enjoy the view through others' eyes, we still need to keep our eye on the details for ourselves - especially with an important party conference just around the corner. Even if others are having a fat time, Centenary Square is looking a little thin around the edges.