I’m cramming my undies and shirts into a bag the size of a shoe box so I can call it ‘hand luggage’ and not have to check any baggage in the main hold so the airline can lose it on my flight down to Bristol tomorrow for the much awaited PuddyFest.

It’s much awaited because seminars are great for beer, networking, motivation and education (in that order).

I’m meeting a few mates down there and I’m looking forward to the whole thing. I always come back feeling motivated about the whole industry and with a list of new potential JV and adswap partners.

Bristol is only 200 miles from my home but as with the last seminar I attended (London last October) I’m going to be flying down.

It’s a 30 minute flight so there’s hardly enough time to have a cup of coffee before landing, and I should have checked before I booked because I now know that the airport is 18 miles from the Seminar venue so the taxi ride to the hotel will take longer than the bloody flight but there you go.

I’d rather do this than drive down or go on the train though because I quite enjoy sitting round in airports, on planes and in taxis and having time to think. I’m taking my new netbook, my iphone and a pad and pen because I expect to abandon the speakers from time to time and do some work in my room.

In fact I know a few people who have put together products while at seminars. There’s something in the atmosphere that drives creativity and for anyone who’s not attended one before, I fully recommend going for that reason alone.

Of course I’m sure the speakers will be great too.

The actual content of the workshop is (I think) list bulding. I have to be honest and say that I’d still be attending if the subject of the seminar was penile peircing because the true value of workshops like this lies in the contacts made and the motivation derived. It really is a fabulous insight on how the IM scene works.

Some of the conversations I had in London at the last seminar were mind blowing just from the angle of seeing how other marketers work, and I learned an awful lot.

If you get the chance then get yourself to a seminar near you at some point this year.

If you need any more convincing think about this – a decent percentage of the attendees at Puddyfest (and Bob Puddy is known for the quality of the speakers he presents) are established marketers.

So while these guys are still going for the educational aspect of the meeting, they (like me) see the enormous value in meeting old friends and making new ones in the IM arena. It’s the same old thing – look at what the established marketers DO as well as what they teach, and you’ll realise they attend these ‘do’s’ because of the value to their businesses.

I’ll keep you updated with what goes on.

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