Saturday, March 25, 2017

Sarah Boyak's shoes

I first did a stint on an exhibition stand when I was 14 years old.
It was the huge Interbuild exhibition in Glasgow, and a German friend of my Father's had asked him for 'eye candy' for his stand, and he'd suggested me and my pal Norma.

We'll come back to this child labour business later.

I have worked exhibition stands for all sorts of organisations. Trade Unions, Political Parties, Government Organisations. It's a tough gig and to do it properly, you really have to be like a smiley encyclopaedia on your subject. It's theatre. It's a show. It's sales. It's public relations. And if you do it well, it's business and friends for life.

I always make a point of chatting to people on exhibition stands. They've paid to be there and they need a return on their investment. I particularly zone in on the miserable stand dwellers as they are unaware they are deflecting visitors.

I was at the SNP Conference and I was walking through one of the 2 exhibitors areas and saying hello to folks and finding out why they were there and giving them my time and.... I spotted Sarah Boyak. Sarah is the former Labour MSP for Edinburgh Central and lost her seat to the SNP in 2011. She stood again in 2016 and lost to Ruth Davidson. When Labour tried to ensure her a list seat in Holyrood in 2016, they didn't get enough list seats to keep her in a job. 

Sarah's stand was on the through-route to the main conference hall and in a prime corner position. Yet, there she was, deflecting folk with a face that was 'tripping her'. I made a note to talk to her on my next pass.

Yup, my father offered my 14-year-old services as eye-candy for a German guy called Reiner who made wall fixings, brick ties and the like. When he mentioned we'd get paid actual cash and have fun and that he'd keep an eye on Norma and me, we agreed. I'll bet Norma remembers to this day all the methods of 'block to block construction'. I remember we spent the money on tutu's, hairspray, Chanel make-up, nightclubbing (under the watchful eye of Norma's professional bouncer big brother) and Sobranie cocktail cigarettes.

When I was Labour, Sarah Boyak was a 'somebody'. I'd been a Sarah Boyak fan.

"So it is you!" I said.

Sarah Boyak looked at my delegate pass.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

Sarah Boyak looked at her shoes.














1 comment:

  1. What was she doing there? I also remember her well.
    I think she and Mark Lazarawicz should join up. All welcome.

    ReplyDelete