IOM government conference

[Roger Mexico]

3 hours ago, Numbnuts said:

Didn't they say you could turn up on spec after attendence was looking poor ? 

I suspect they may be basing it on the number of badge/lanyards they handed out, so that would include walk-ins as well.  But of course it would also include all the government staff who attended professionally, which would have been a good couple of hundred in terms of those organising the event, manning the stalls (there would have been a lot of these as Departments tended to put people on for just a couple of hours) participating in or organising the various sessions and so on.  That's  not including all those who would have turned up to observe as part of their job generally.  The official press release says that the Conference "drew more than 1,000 people through the doors of the Villa Marina", so that would have included staff, maybe even the Villa's.  Or maybe there was a man with a clicker on the door and everyone got counted every time they went in.

[finlo]

5 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

I suspect they may be basing it on the number of badge/lanyards they handed out, so that would include walk-ins as well.  But of course it would also include all the government staff who attended professionally, which would have been a good couple of hundred in terms of those organising the event, manning the stalls (there would have been a lot of these as Departments tended to put people on for just a couple of hours) participating in or organising the various sessions and so on.  That's  not including all those who would have turned up to observe as part of their job generally.  The official press release says that the Conference "drew more than 1,000 people through the doors of the Villa Marina", so that would have included staff, maybe even the Villa's.  Or maybe there was a man with a clicker on the door and everyone got counted every time they went in.

I'll bet they were recounted every time they went for a piss!

[Newsdesk]

Just now, finlo said:

I'll bet they were recounted every time they went for a piss!

I understand on the last day they had people engaged blocking the doors so that people couldn’t easily leave without attending Cannans closing speech. 

[Non-Believer]

Maybe they employed the same head-counters as they do for visitor figures...?

[Roger Mexico]

1 hour ago, Non-Believer said:

Maybe they employed the same head-counters as they do for visitor figures...?

Actually the overall visitor figures are probably more reliable than some as they can check them against the numbers travelling through the Airport and on the Steam Packet.  What you have to be careful about is them claiming everyone who comes over is a full paying tourist, rather than a builder on a short-term contract or someone visiting their auntie.

[SleepyJoe]

There was a period 3 or 4 years ago when they were very much not reliable

[asitis]

14 hours ago, Non-Believer said:

Maybe they employed the same head-counters as they do for visitor figures...?

The projected attendance figures were promulgated by Anne Reynolds !

[code99]

21 hours ago, SleepyJoe said:

The future is green tech

I don't agree with you on a 'KPMG whitewash' tho' - my reading of their final recommendation report is that the IOM will prosper with effective climate change response and investment in green digital (sustainable) infrastructure. With that population increase may occur [the unmentioned corollary is that without it population may decrease]

There is insufficient emphasis on this in the CoMin Economic Plan

I agree  – “the future is green tech”.

I’m not saying that KPMG did not have some good ideas (very intelligent people have come up with some very excellent ideas), all I’m saying that underneath those ideas it is hard to find much of substance. That is what I mean by a ‘consultants whitewash’ for the Island’s future, i.e., all superficial image little substance – as if their report is an edited ‘copy and paste’ of similar material that KPMG have previously prepared for some of their other clients. E.g.,:

• The KPMG report avoids dealing with our today’s substantial challenges, paints a hypothetical picture ten years from now, and provides no ‘pathway’ for how to get from where we are today to that hypothetical future;
• As far as an “effective climate change response and investment in green digital (sustainable) infrastructure” is concerned, I think that the KPMG report makes our future appear ‘solid’ e.g., they talked about onshore and offshore windfarms, and these farms being partially funded by the private sector. Unfortunately, talking about these things is easy, doing them, especially getting private funding for them is much harder;
• There is also the important issue that the IOM electricity network would need major upgrades before substantial ‘green electricity’ could be plugged into it. Those upgrades would become the responsibility of Manx Utilities.

I agree with you that "there is insufficient emphasis on this in the CoMin Economic Plan" - my overall impression is that they don’t have focussed plans that will effectively transform the Island into a much better place.

[Non-Believer]

18 minutes ago, code99 said:

my overall impression is that they don’t have focussed plans that will effectively transform the Island into a much better place.

"When you're up to your neck in alligators - it can be difficult to remember that the original intention was to drain the swamp"...?

[cissolt]

The most interesting green tech in the KPMG report was the suggestion that we could become a cannabis tourism hub.  Alf has conveniently ignored that part.

Seems like it's worth exploring, the 500 thousand visitor strategy may be achievable if that was encouraged.

[SleepyJoe]

1 hour ago, code99 said:

I agree  – “the future is green tech”.

I’m not saying that KPMG did not have some good ideas (very intelligent people have come up with some very excellent ideas), all I’m saying that underneath those ideas it is hard to find much of substance. That is what I mean by a ‘consultants whitewash’ for the Island’s future, i.e., all superficial image little substance – as if their report is an edited ‘copy and paste’ of similar material that KPMG have previously prepared for some of their other clients. E.g.,:

• The KPMG report avoids dealing with our today’s substantial challenges, paints a hypothetical picture ten years from now, and provides no ‘pathway’ for how to get from where we are today to that hypothetical future;
• As far as an “effective climate change response and investment in green digital (sustainable) infrastructure” is concerned, I think that the KPMG report makes our future appear ‘solid’ e.g., they talked about onshore and offshore windfarms, and these farms being partially funded by the private sector. Unfortunately, talking about these things is easy, doing them, especially getting private funding for them is much harder;
• There is also the important issue that the IOM electricity network would need major upgrades before substantial ‘green electricity’ could be plugged into it. Those upgrades would become the responsibility of Manx Utilities.

I agree with you that "there is insufficient emphasis on this in the CoMin Economic Plan" - my overall impression is that they don’t have focussed plans that will effectively transform the Island into a much better place.

A focused 4 year economic plan to get us from the here & now to the next general election is what is needed immediately, not a 15 yr outline strategy for a conservative offshore dreamland 

[jackwhite]

On 9/23/2022 at 6:14 PM, NoTail said:

I was 1 on Tuesday. My guess would be that there were a max of 200 whilst I was there. Wednesday must have looked much busier 

Was there both days. There were a lot more than that there Tuesday.

Wednesday was actually quieter I thought. 

[Twitch]

31 minutes ago, jackwhite said:

Was there both days. There were a lot more than that there Tuesday.

Wednesday was actually quieter I thought. 

If you were there Tuesday and Wednesday then you count as two people.

[Steady Eddie]

7 minutes ago, Twitch said:

If you were there Tuesday and Wednesday then you count as two people.

You beat me to it. I was two people too. 

[jackwhite]

17 hours ago, Twitch said:

If you were there Tuesday and Wednesday then you count as two people.

Anywhere did I say I wasn't? Too many people willing to be smart arses on here.

Regardless I'd say the number of tickets passing through each day was around 500. There were some people only went for specific sessions.