Hi seisobs,
No worries, I don’t think you’ll offend anyone with the post and you aren’t coming across as moaning. Politely passing on your thoughts - cheers. So, the cunning plan? IF we can make it work then the aim is to have the footie area tucked away in a quiet corner for those who are interested. I do hope no one is planning to have TVs blaring on the camp site! That wouldn’t be cool. If it happens then hopefully neighbours will give ‘em a nudge.

As far as Iain and I are concerned, we do all we can to make the HUBB UK into an event that everyone will find things of interest to get involved with. That’s the beauty of it being the size it is and at DPFH. Space isn’t a frontier. :biggrin3: I know some people don’t go to any of the presentations at all. They come to the get together as a chance to meet up with mates and meet other people who have the same aims in life. Others aren’t interested in the exhibitors, so don’t go for a looksee. But every year we are asked for more companies to be there, so we try to oblige. One friend told me last year that he keeps coming back because he's fascinated by what people do with their wheels - he was in heaven last year with all the bikes and the exped vehicles :yes:And of course many people are there mainly for all the amazing presentations, and that’s what they fill most of the hours of each of the 4 days with. Ha! Might even get into some myself this year! I suspect that most people come for a little bit of everything - I know that's me in that slot.

But the footie, because we have been asked a number of times, we are working on a corner for those who’d like to watch a match or two too, but in no way will it take over. Its early days on this, and we may not be able to organise anything at all. Trying though.

Too right, the HUBB UK is about travel, and excellent stories/presentations, meeting people, swopping advice and tips, and generally a great chance to learn in its unique atmosphere. That’s what Horizons Unlimited is all about eh. :thumbup1:

The Fire Drums this year are in a new much more sheltered area, and much bigger! You'll find them in the Orchard along with Danny and Fil's Roadkill Cookout, and the music on Friday and Saturday night.

Bikers/overlanders like football too :-( I have watched more games overseas than in the UK in recent years.

But I agree, we do not need it blaring out. There is always a pub somewhere nearby that can do that :-)

I'm a big footy fan. I've had amazing experiences watching games with foreigners all over the world. A great icebreaker. Do we want it on a big screen at a hubb meeting... NO. Discreet room with a telly sounds harmless to me.

. . . and there's always the record button at home! Yes, you might already know the score, BUT if it's a good game, you'd watch anyway, surely, if that's your thing?

Anyway, I agree with Sam. Bits of everything's my thing too! Some of the 4x4 vehicles were excellent last year (I ride); I had some great conversations! :thumbup1: Really looking forward to the smorgasbord again this year :D

Presentationtasticness
 

We're still receiving registrations from new presenters, so the first draft of the schedule is still at least a couple of weeks away. As always, it'll be subject to change, but I'll post it on here and the event page once all the presenters have had a chance to comment on it.

We already have over 60 presenters signed-up to give talks and demos, including more "new to HU" than ever before. The event page lists most of them with links to their websites/blogs.

We're very fortunate that Ted Simon will be with us again and he'll be joined by nine of The Ted Simon Foundation's Jupiter's Travellers, including Bernard Smith, Dom Giles, Anna McNuff and Graham Field. Also look out for the sessions with Helen Lloyd, recently returned from a fascinating cycle/horseback journey across Mongolia and now planning her next adventure on a motorcycle, and Jon Beardmore who'll be talking about his 4x4 Silk Road journey.

The irrepressible Ed March will be back again with his ever-entertaining understated style and Austin Vince returns with more film-making wisdom.

Arriving at the event at the end of their "Europe Ride", Grant and Susan are giving various talks, including Grant reprising his legendary tyre-changing demonstration.

Tom Allen and Jasper Ditton are both hosting sessions about blogging from on the road and a must-see for all those interested in cycle-touring will be father and son duo Tom and Richard Seipp.

Well I for one really hope you can manage to organise something Sam, and I'm sure I'm not alone. As much as the poster above might be annoyed by the idea, there are many of us who'd be saddened at having to miss out due to the unfortunate clash of these two major global events ;)

As the person who broached the subject in this thread I can only add that I wasn't asking for big screens on the campsite or bunches of rowdies singing footie songs long into the night. Just a quiet room or corner where students of the game can enjoy the tournament. It shouldn't affect anyone else so why not live and let live?

And remember this is the World Cup we're talking about, not Liverpool vs Man Utd. It's a festival of colour and fun and togetherness, designed to get peoples of all nations together to celebrate a pastime they love and share...just like HUBB UK!

I'd say the two have a lot in common (quite apart from inconveniently being on at the same time grumblemumble)

:)

I know, rubbish organisers (grumblemumble) :innocent: We'll do what we can to sort it and will let you know the plan if we can, so what's next?

A bit of traditional HUBB UK Chill factor going on methinks. The shot was taken by Mike West last year. Recognise these in the relaxed mode guys?

Just a quiet room or corner
 

I am happy with that :thumbup1:

World Cup coverage
 

As promised, Sam and I have come up with a plan to make the Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening games watchable for those that really want to.

Thanks to Code Audio Visual, who're already sponsoring the Threshing Barn and Marquee Cinema (and make all the presentation electrickery work for us so well), we'll be turning the Stag Room over to football for the 5pm and 8pm games each day.

Because the rooms have to be locked-up at a sensible time, the 11pm games won't be available to watch.

The Stag Room is the best location for a variety of reasons, but does have limited space, so it'll be first come, first seated. To avoid disrupting other stuff happening nearby in the courtyard and marquee (and to minimise outside noise competing with the game commentary) the door will need to stay closed during each match.

I hope this will be a compromise solution that keeps everyone happy.

Live Music in the Orchard
 

This year we've got live music on both the Friday and Saturday nights in the "Orchard" where you'll also find Danny and Fil's Roadkill Cookout and the Fire Drums.

Steve McGill returns to us again on the Friday night and then the Saturday night will round-off with the sounds of Radio Mary.

See the demo videos towards the bottom of the event page for a taster of what you can expect.

How to get there
 

For those of you who're going to HUBB UK for the first time next month, you can download a copy of the How To Get There Guide for detailed destructions.

Reminiscing
 

Can't remember when we last posted this, but with only just over a month to go now seems like a good time for another look back at last year's event...

I've just been having a very enjoyable time reading through the feedback survey from last year - as in, ' with what we are doing this year, are we missing out on improvements that have been suggested?'

We've done lots - those of you who made suggestions will see the results.

As you guys will have seen from the HUBB UK event page, overwhelmingly the feedback was great (phew!) especially as it was the first time we were all at Donington. Thank you very much to everyone who filled in the feedback form/link. It's really helped us this year.

Of course there are 'one or two' things we haven't managed to do. One person suggested that everyone should have free cakes on arrival... I think I might make multiple arrivals :D

One person asked how to get to know who to talk to about travelling in the parts of the world he was interested in. That's one of the reasons we have name badges. They are your event pass but also a great way of remembering people's names and finding out who you can gather info from.

One person asked if they, as a local and not staying on site at night, could volunteer. Coo, yes please. :yes:

Last year we had over 120 people kindly volunteer to help. Most did a couple of 2 hour shifts. Some got stuck in and went for it like Trojans. We really want to thank everyone who did muck in. You are the people who made everything run as smoothly as it did. Cheers!:thumbup1::thumbup1::thumbup1:

At the moment, we are still short of 36 volunteers. I wonder if you are up for helping out? It's a great way to meet people and well, it's fun. I'm told that applies even to cleaning loos! :eek3:

If you could spare a few hours over the 4 days would you mind completing this Volunteer link please. It's for people who have already registered but not volunteered at the time. If you could put yourself down for a couple of crews then I can slot you in. The Presentation Crew will need considerably more hours from you and good IT skills ( the bonus being that not only do you get to help the presenters but you have front row for lots of presentations), and the Registration Crew role will need at least 2 x 4 hour slots because there's more to organise. On all the other crews a couple of 2 hours slots would be grand.

One of the other feedback things we've had from quite a few people was that there weren't enough site maps around. There will be this time - and some will be much bigger! :thumbup1:

Another feedback was that the presentation schedules posters were in too small print. Sorted for this year! :D

This photo from Last year is by Artyom Liss. Thanks mate.

A bit of info about my talk this year:

Mongolia to Magadan, any which (the hard) way

Riding from Mongolia via Lake Baikal and the western BAM road and Vitim River Bridge to Tynda, then to Yakutsk and the Road of Bones to Magadan

Why “Any which way”:

• I set off from Ulaan Bataar (Mongolia) twice (Had to double back to help a mate out the first time)
• I set off from Irkutsk (Russia) twice (My fault this time: unsuitable bike at first, then borrowed more suitable steed)

Why “The hard way”:

• It was hard, first time riding an unsuitable bike, then on the suitable bike it was by no means easy either.

= A lot of fun.

A couple of pics to give you an idea:

http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...ia2013_042.jpg

http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...ia2013_079.jpg

http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...ia2013_138.jpg

http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...ia2013_151.jpg

http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...ia2013_158.jpg

http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...ia2013_163.jpg

http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...ia2013_175.jpg

http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...ia2013_245.jpg

There’s an ongoing RR of the trip at http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=961578

Maybe see you at the talk?