In this episode of the SheClicks Women in Photography Podcast, Angela Nicholson is joined by Hazel Soper and Ruth Folkard – two of the key figures behind The Photography and Video Show, one of the most significant events in the UK photography calendar.
With years of experience in the events industry, Hazel and Ruth lift the curtain on what really goes into organising and evolving such a large-scale show. From managing deadlines and logistics to curating a compelling speaker programme and creating an inclusive, exciting environment for all visitors, their roles are packed with responsibility, creativity and passion.
Listen to another episode of the SheClicks Women in Photography Podcast
Together, they share how the show has changed over the years, particularly in terms of inclusivity and representation. Ruth and Hazel explain how, from the beginning, there has been a commitment to making women feel more welcome and valued at the show, a goal that aligns beautifully with the SheClicks ethos. With women now making up around 30% of attendees and 47% of the speaker line-up, it’s clear that progress is being made.
Angela, Hazel and Ruth also discuss the thinking behind taking the 2024 show to London and the insights gained from this new direction. While the event returns to Birmingham for 2025, its future includes both Birmingham and London to reach an even wider creative audience.
They also talk about how the show stays current with evolving technology and trends, from mirrorless cameras and creative techniques to the rise of content creators and smartphone photography. The Creator Playground, fresh branding and engaging exhibits all help to keep the show feeling vibrant and modern.
This episode is packed with insight and inspiration for anyone interested in photography, creative events, or how large exhibitions are shaped behind the scenes. It’s also a celebration of the women who are making a real difference in our industry – not just behind the camera, but behind the scenes too.
Whether you’re a professional photographer, an enthusiastic hobbyist or someone who’s just getting started, this conversation will give you a whole new appreciation for The Photography and Video Show and the passionate team behind it.
Hazel Soper (00:00)
There literally is something there for everybody. And ultimately, we want anybody who’s coming in new to say, ‘WOW’ and for the repeat visitors to come in and say, ‘WOW, this is even better than last year.’
Angela (00:15)
Hello and welcome to the SheClicks Women in Photography Podcast. I’m Angela Nicholson and I’m the founder of SheClicks, which is a community for female photographers. In these podcasts, I speak to women in the photographic industry to hear about their experiences, what drives them and how they got to where they are now.
Angela Nicholson (00:31)
I’m chatting with Hazel
and Ruth Folkard the driving forces behind The Photography and Video Show. They know the photography industry inside out.
As long time supporters of SheClicks, they helped create a space for our community to be seen and celebrated.
And in this episode, we chat about what goes on behind the scenes in one of the biggest events in photography.
Angela Nicholson (00:50)
Hi, Hazel and Ruth. Thank you so much for joining me on the SheClicks Women in Photography Podcast today. It’s really great to see you both.
Ruth (00:57)
Thanks, Ange. It’s really good to be here.
Hazel Soper (00:57)
And you as well.
Angela Nicholson (00:59)
Thank you.
Thank you very much. Now you’ve both been a part of The Photography and Video Show for quite a few years now. What first drew you into working on events in this scale? I think, Hazel, you joined first, didn’t you? So maybe you’d like to start.
Hazel Soper (01:12)
Yes, I think I’ve been on the show well since August 2015. So there’s obviously something about it that keeps me around. My entire career has been in events. I got into exhibitions and trade shows a bit like The Photography and Video Show.
a few years before, probably about 10 years before, and I just find the pace and the variety and the kind of creative aspects of what we get to do very hard to replace in terms of moving onto anything else.
Angela Nicholson (01:46)
Yeah.
See, like the pressure of the deadlines.
Hazel Soper (01:50)
I love a bit of pressure.
Angela Nicholson (01:51)
I might quote you on that. What about you, Ruth?
Ruth (01:55)
Well, yeah, I think I’m also one of those people who needs a bit of pressure to get it all through. Yeah, so I mean, I started, well, just about a year after Hazel on this show. So the first show I worked on was The Photography Show 2017.
Gosh, it feels like a long time ago now, doesn’t it? ⁓ It is, it is. But yeah, so I initially worked in like media and publishing and where I was, we were doing a few events and stuff and that was always my favourite part of the job. I always loved being on site, whether it was as an exhibitor or as an organiser, I just loved being on site and seeing everything come together and the sort of face-to-face kind of community aspect of it.
Angela Nicholson (02:16)
It is.
Hazel Soper (02:17)
you
Ruth (02:41)
I just loved the feeling of that and kind of working on something for a while and then eventually seeing it all come together. yeah, that’s how it’s been for me.
Angela Nicholson (02:50)
Yeah, I
it must be great because you do see a real start, middle and end with The Photography Show or events, don’t you? Because you actually, put it all together, then people are there enjoying it and then at the end it closes and you get to hear what people think of it.
Ruth (03:05)
Yeah, which can be good or bad, but in our case, it’s usually good, thankfully. ⁓ People really do love the show and we get lots of feedback in our surveys and so on. Obviously, we get all sorts of comments, but we read them all and we talk about them. It’s good because it’s very much an event life cycle and then you go on to planning the next one and start all over again.
Angela Nicholson (03:07)
Hahaha
Yeah.
Yeah. Hazel, how do you think the show has changed over the years that you’ve been working on it?
Hazel Soper (03:38)
an audience point of view, we have…
more kind of visual storytellers and so the content creators and the video people. So it’s not just about traditional photography anymore as you know, but photography remains at the heart of what we do. I think I caught our boss, head of events, Johnny saying something about photography the other day and I was sitting there thinking, but it’s video as well. So it’s hard to forget what’s at the heart of it.
I think one thing certainly is a change in the way that we and the industry look at what you’ve been a huge part of and that’s the kind of demographic balance. I think when I first started I could show you some pictures that would make you all chuckle and would have been there. Very, very middle-aged male.
Angela Nicholson (04:34)
Mm-hmm.
Hazel Soper (04:34)
⁓ And from the very beginning, we’ve had it as part of our strategy and our objectives to rebalance that and to make women feel more welcome, make women feel more…
more like they should be there, guess. Evaluated, yes. Same for younger people as well. The industry, compared with some that I’ve worked with, so great at seeing the long-term. So seeing that students, for example, can be nurtured into a high-value client at some point, but it might not be right now. But how important it is in this day and age,
Ruth (04:50)
valued I think is the, yeah.
Hazel Soper (05:15)
to do that. So yeah I think you know the technology shifted, all of the manufacturers are doing different things. We’ve had Mirrorless come in since I’ve been working on the show. Don’t ask me anything technical because you know I’m no expert on that front. But yes I mean I think for us it’s probably the audience.
Angela Nicholson (05:29)
haha
Okay, what about you, Ruth? Have you got anything to add to that?
Ruth (05:38)
Well, I mean, yeah, I echo what Hazel said really, the audience and what they want and the kind of people, the kind of, you know, the vibe that we’re trying to go for, the welcoming everybody into it. It’s definitely, that’s definitely changed a lot over the years. And, you know, even on like the speaker front, we, I can’t remember what the percentage was Hazel at the beginning. It was something like 12 % or something.
Hazel Soper (06:02)
I think
it was 8 % female.
Ruth (06:04)
depends whether we’re talking about audience or speaker, yeah, but on the speaker panel, yeah. And in 2025, we were at 47 % female speakers across the programs. So that is a huge shift. And then, I don’t know, things like, I suppose we’ve seen kind of analog come back in a lot more and the kind of shifting technologies and yeah, I guess there’s lots of…
Angela Nicholson (06:05)
Wow.
Hazel Soper (06:08)
Speakers it was, yeah.
Ruth (06:33)
I don’t know if that’s cyclical, because of things come and go, because, you know, we’ve got compact cameras come back in and all sorts of, so it’s quite interesting. definitely the technology is more and more capable now, isn’t it? There’s, you know, the cameras do video as well. They do it really, really well. And yeah, it’s everything’s kind of evolving.
Angela Nicholson (06:37)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Ruth (07:01)
Let’s not even talk about AI.
Angela Nicholson (07:04)
I… Well, we might come to that later.
I don’t know if you know, but very early on when I was thinking about starting She Clicks, I had a conversation with you, Hazel, and I asked you about representation at the show. Now, obviously I’ve been there and I know what it looked like. And I remember you told me that about 30 % of the followers of The Photography Show, as it was then,
Facebook group or Facebook page sorry, were women. And I remember thinking, well, there’s no way there’s 30 % women at the show. And it told me something about the way that women like to connect and communicate. And so that really sort of solidified the idea that SheClicks would start as a Facebook group. So thanks for that comment. That worked really well for me.
Ruth (07:46)
Thanks.
Hazel Soper (07:48)
And actually it’s worked very well for us because the SheClicks community, so many of you now come to the show. So it is actually
a 70-30 ratio. And I know that sounds pretty weak in the grand scheme of things. But when you think that we started with about 18 % female when I started, I think we’re making inroads.
Angela Nicholson (08:00)
Yeah.
Definitely,
yeah, it’s a huge shift. Because I remember at one point, basically, most of the women were behind the stands. They were either, well, some were models, but some were explaining the kit or doing something, selling. And there weren’t so many women, or they were just hanging around behind their husbands while the husband was doing all the interaction. But yes, like you say, there’s a lot more women at the show now. And it is a really nice buzz. It’s great fun.
Hazel Soper (08:29)
Mmm.
Angela Nicholson (08:37)
So thank you for your support because obviously you’ve you have given us a stand and you’ve given us the exhibitions. Thanks, supported by CEWE of course doing the prints. But that is such an important aspect, I think of the show is celebrating the photography of the various communities that are there.
Ruth (08:52)
Yeah, it’s important to us definitely to see those communities come together ⁓ and help to facilitate that.
Hazel Soper (08:53)
Absolutely.
Angela Nicholson (09:02)
Now
you’re both deeply involved in shaping the visitor experience at the show. What do you want people to feel as they go through the doors?
Mm-hmm.
Hazel Soper (09:14)
said in my most enthusiastic voice, we hear a lot of feedback from people who, from exhibitors who say, this person came up to me and they’re new to the show and they said they just weren’t expecting a show on this scale.
Angela Nicholson (09:16)
Hahaha.
Ruth (09:18)
Hahaha!
Hazel Soper (09:33)
which I always find quite surprising because we do put a lot of images of the show out there, but you know. But yeah, I think it’s.
It’s the variety of what you can get there. There literally is something there for everybody. And ultimately, we want anybody who’s coming in new to say, ‘WOW’ and for the repeat visitors to come in and say, ‘WOW, this is even better than last year.’ That is what we aim for.
Ruth (10:00)
Yeah, I’d definitely say excitement is what you want people to feel because
you want them to be excited to be there and be immersed in what it is that they love to do and to be excited to meet with friends and colleagues and to learn stuff from the educational programme and to see the new kit and things like that. So yeah, I think excitement is what you want people to feel. And welcome.
course as well you want everybody to feel like that’s that’s their place there that’s where they find their people.
Angela Nicholson (10:31)
Yeah.
How do you keep the show feeling fresh and appealing year after year? I mean, Ruth, think you’re probably more heavily involved with that.
Ruth (10:40)
the content program is a big part of that. We like to bring in new speakers to kind of refresh that kind of speaker roster, as well as some old favorites. I shouldn’t call them old, you know what I mean? But yeah, some favorites. And also kind of keeping up with what sort of things people want to learn about or want to hear about as well. You know, there’s been lots of change of behavior.
Angela Nicholson (10:52)
Favourites.
Ruth (11:02)
a lot more now about kind of ICM and creative techniques like that. So, you you’ll see a bit more of that at the show this time, for example. We like to switch up the stages sometimes, do different things, bringing in things like the Creator Playground is great for making everything feel fresh because we get to do something new and exciting every time. yeah, just kind of really be creative with it.
But as well on the kind of marketing side, this is perhaps more subtle, but we refresh the branding. Hazel’s responsible for that. We refresh the branding and how that then makes the show look and feel can make a big, you know, makes a big difference to how it feels, know, fresher and new each time.
Hazel Soper (11:44)
a lot of the exhibitors, particularly the manufacturers, yes, we’ve seen them every year and we love having them there. But that kind of element, we’re always looking for new exhibitors, the smaller independents that are sprouting up everywhere with their little gadgets and things. And we work really closely as well with the likes of Canon and Nikon to make sure that they’re evolving as well, what they do as well.
I think the camera branding world at one stage was very kind of like for like aside from the accent colours but Canon especially last year just really went for it with their creativity and we love that.
Angela Nicholson (12:23)
I’m all right in thinking that you’ve challenged them as well to have better representation amongst their speakers that they have on their stands.
Ruth (12:32)
I think it’s been a consistent thing. We always talk about it and we let them know that it matters to us and matters to a lot of other people. And I think that makes them up their game as well. So yeah, we’ve definitely talked to them about that in the past. And we put out some guidance generally with our exhibitors as well about kind of model usage and stuff like that. So that the people are thinking a little bit more inclusively and, you know,
Angela Nicholson (12:36)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Ruth (12:58)
kind of moving away from the of tackier side of things.
Angela Nicholson (13:03)
Yeah, that has changed significantly. A few years ago, perhaps not when it was The Photography Show, but when it was Focus on Imaging, which was an older show that you weren’t involved in, people might ask me if it was worth taking their cameras and I’d probably say no. But these days I would say definitely yes, because there’s so much more to photograph. And it’s not like you say someone just sat on the bonnet of a car. It’s, know, there’s things going on. There’s something that’s actually genuinely interesting.
Ruth (13:05)
Mmm.
Yeah, we try to make sure there is stuff from our, that we create, but also the exhibitors are really good at putting on some great displays and things for people to photograph and capture while they’re there. So yeah, I’d say definitely worth bringing your camera. You don’t need to bring all of your lenses. And you certainly don’t need your biggest lens. We
Angela Nicholson (13:48)
Yeah.
And what is your typical show day like? Because obviously, you work for months and months, then you get the shows on, the doors open, people piling. What happens? What do do?
Ruth (14:01)
That’s a really good question. don’t think I’m…
Hazel Soper (14:02)
Well, there’s
a variety of things to do. We’ve only got a small team. So a lot of the staff that you see as you walk in, for example, our agency staff, there aren’t enough of us to kind of run that bit. I’m usually in charge of that area, of the welcome area in the front of house, as we call it, and the info point and things like that. Whereas Ruth’s usually
Ruth (14:05)
Yeah. Yeah.
Angela Nicholson (14:07)
Mm-hmm.
Hazel Soper (14:28)
scurrying around meeting and greeting speakers and you know there might be some stage management involved where we’re covering for somebody else or you know what really whatever gets thrown at us.
Ruth (14:39)
I think from my perspective as event director and being responsible for the content, the ideal for me is to have as little to do as possible. I know that sounds daft, you don’t want to have to be stuck. I’m in the back eating toasties. No, you don’t want to be rooted to a particular area. So once the show, we kind of come in early.
Hazel Soper (14:52)
She’s so lazy.
Angela Nicholson (14:54)
Hahaha!
Ruth (15:06)
sort of, I don’t know, half seven, eight o’clock and we’re there making sure everything’s, you know, everything’s set up, everything’s, you know, sometimes there’s particular sessions that you need to make sure the logistics are happening for or things like that. But the ideal for me is to, is to kind of not be rooted to one spot and to be able to just circulate around, keep, keep an eye on the different stages, keep an eye on various different things that are going on and staff as well, make sure that they’re happy.
And yeah, just kind of troubleshooting really, because stuff always happens. know, there’s always bobs that you need to sort out and yeah, that’s what it’s like. But we kind of were there for the whole day. And then if there’s networking stuff afterwards that we have to organize, know, like there’s an exhibitor gathering and there’s the pro networking on the Monday and so on. So we have to be there just making sure all that stuff’s happening and all of that. And then eventually we get out of there. We just don’t see any light.
Angela Nicholson (15:36)
Yeah.
Ruth (16:00)
Just darkness for a week.
Angela Nicholson (16:03)
Yes, just purely inside all the time.
Ruth (16:06)
Yep.
Angela Nicholson (16:07)
the decision to host the 2025 show in London sparked a lot of conversation. How did that decision come about and how do feel it worked overall? Maybe you’d like to start on that, Ruth.
Ruth (16:20)
Yeah, sure. So it’s been something we’ve talked about for a while. I mean, when we look at the sort of geographical split of our attendees, I think it’s about 20 % usually come from London and Southeast, but we know that there’s a big pool of creatives down in London and Southeast. And then particularly when you start to look at video and content creation and stuff as well. So we’re always being challenged by our
our exhibitors and know by the manufacturers and so on to bring new people to the show to bring people that haven’t been to the show before or people that have just felt you know that they’ve maybe been once but they feel like it’s too far to travel and so on so we just felt that bringing the show to London would enable us to essentially bring the audience bring the show to a new audience and widen that kind of
widen that pool really. So we did that. We definitely had a lot of new people at the show. something like 65, 70 % of visitors were new to the show this time. So that was definitely a positive.
Yeah, lots of learnings too, but there always are.
Angela Nicholson (17:28)
Yeah, so the show is going to be in Birmingham again for 2026, but it will go back to London in 2027.
Ruth (17:36)
Yes, that’s correct. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
Angela Nicholson (17:37)
Okay.
How did the exhibitor feedback compare between London and Birmingham?
Ruth (17:44)
I mean, I think as a whole, everyone was, you most people were pretty pleased with it. I think they were appreciative of the new audience and I think they understand as well that sometimes we have to take a risk and we have to, you know, try different things to keep things fresh and keep pushing onwards. You know, we’d have all liked more people there, frankly, but that’s just, you know, there’s nothing we could do about that in retrospect. So,
We definitely have a good base to start from ⁓ and we’ll definitely be marketing as much as possible to those people and getting the message out far and wide for next time and bringing them through.
Angela Nicholson (18:20)
the show closes and everyone goes home, what happens next for you both? Maybe you could start, Hazel.
Hazel Soper (18:26)
always find it quite upsetting really when the show closes because as you know, Ange, you’ve been there as the last person goes and just everything comes down and it comes down so quickly as well, crash, bang.
Angela Nicholson (18:31)
Mm.
Yes.
Hazel Soper (18:43)
We’re straight on it with the feedback and reviewing and what’s worked, what hasn’t. And then we’re planning for the next show. We do work within the events team at Future. We run a lot of other events and we do tend to get involved where we’re needed.
Ruth (18:44)
Thanks.
Angela Nicholson (19:01)
Yeah.
Hazel Soper (19:01)
So there are other things going on all the time, but generally we are focused on this show and making it what it is year round.
Ruth (19:11)
Yeah, it is a pretty year round thing. I I guess the immediate thing that happens as the doors close, you know, we obviously pack up our bits and bobs and then we usually go out for a team meal because with the core, kind of the core team rather than the extended team that’s been working at the show. yeah, it’s because for us, mean, we’re spread out.
Angela Nicholson (19:25)
Nice.
Ruth (19:33)
all over the country as well. Hazel’s in Bath, I’m based remotely in the Midlands. Some of the others are in London. it’s just, it’s an opportunity for us to get together as a group as well and to spend some time together and kind of, yeah, I guess you get, breathe that collective sigh of, it’s done now. But yeah, it’s, it is, as Hazel said, it’s a little bit, you kind of get the post-show blues a bit because you kind of build up to this point and then you’re like,
Angela Nicholson (19:50)
Yeah.
Mm.
Ruth (19:59)
So it’s a little bit deflating after sometimes, but then you see the survey feedback come in and people say such lovely things and we get lots of lovely emails from speakers and partners and so on. So it’s really nice to see all that. We do usually then take a little bit of time out, don’t we? So we do all the feedback and stuff and then a few weeks later, once all the surveys have come back and things, we kind of
Angela Nicholson (20:01)
Yeah.
that’s great.
Just a little.
Ruth (20:26)
start to piece that together. We do a big review meeting where we look at everything and then start planning sort of strategy for the following year. yeah.
Angela Nicholson (20:34)
Yeah. So
looking ahead, what excites you most about the future of The Photography and Video Show?
Ruth (20:42)
Gosh that’s a really good question. think just saying what’s next really like what is gonna happen in terms of technology.
Angela Nicholson (20:48)
Mm-hmm.
Hazel Soper (20:50)
and how that’s going to evolve over the next few years. know that…
know, photography and video on smartphones is a thing and it has grown into a huge part of the visual storytelling story. So kind of where we go from in that respect, AI has got to be something that’s there, hasn’t it? Whether it’s workflow or whatever. But I think the thing that excites me about the show every year is that we have an
Angela Nicholson (21:15)
Yeah.
Hazel Soper (21:20)
opportunity to do things differently, be creative and kind of run with the trends as it were. It’s not the kind of show…
you know, like the Concrete Show, which is on at the same time where frankly, I mean, somebody’s got to be interested in concrete, right? But it’s just, it’s, it’s just a lovely show to work on. And, and really I can’t wait to see kind of what happens over the next few years.
Angela Nicholson (21:46)
Yeah, I think anything that involves an element of creativity, that sort of just gets, sparks imagination, doesn’t it? And is interesting. Ruth, do you have anything you want to add?
Hazel Soper (21:54)
Yeah.
Ruth (21:59)
I mean, much what Hazel said, but also, you know, seeing those new or younger kind of artists, photographers, videographers, you know, coming through and seeing the work that they produce as well. I mean, I just, it never fails to astound me. I mean, this year we had the, we had a gallery from, actually it’s one of our,
Hazel Soper (22:15)
Mm.
Ruth (22:21)
Future’s titles in house, is The Week Junior and they have The Week Junior Science and Nature and they have a photo competition each year and we had 10 images was it Hazel on display from these kids that have entered this photo competition and I’m like they stand up against the other, you know, it’s amazing. You know, seeing the new work come through and what people create, I just, you can’t beat it really.
Angela Nicholson (22:39)
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I must admit it is a really special moment when I go and see the SheClicks Gallery and just, you know, there’s one thing about having those images on a screen, but when you see them printed and they’re all together and you think, you know, these are amazing images and also the response of the people who have their images on the wall, it’s such an important step, you know, it has such an impact on them. It’s really, really lovely. So, yeah.
Ruth (22:59)
Yeah.
Hazel Soper (23:00)
Mmm.
Ruth (23:08)
Yeah, I love it when you
see people having photos taken with their images behind them. They’re like, it’s so nice. Yeah, it really is.
Angela Nicholson (23:14)
Yes, that is so good. It’s such a nice thing. Yeah.
Hazel Soper (23:14)
you
Angela Nicholson (23:19)
Right. Well, I think it’s a really good time to go to Six From SheClicks. I’ve got 10 questions from SheClickers and I’d like you to answer six questions by picking numbers from one to 10. So Hazel, would you like to pick the first number?
Hazel Soper (23:31)
I’ll go for number one.
Angela Nicholson (23:34)
Number
one, did you notice a difference in the audience between London and Birmingham? That question is for Marie-Ange.
Hazel Soper (23:41)
Yes we did. I think the audience in London is definitely more video, definitely more content creator and a little bit younger perhaps but whether that will then translate into a further evolution of the Birmingham event and we hope it does is yet to be seen.
Angela Nicholson (23:43)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. OK. Ruth, would you like to pick the second number? Number five. Are there any exhibitors or speakers you’d love to have at the show, but you haven’t yet managed to secure? That’s another question for Marie-Ange.
Ruth (24:03)
Pick number five.
Ha ha!
I hope she’s doing well today. Well speaker wise it’s got to be Annie Liebovitz hasn’t it really. Yeah I mean last time I enquired about her I think I’d have had to take out a mortgage to pay for her fees.
Angela Nicholson (24:20)
huh. Yes.
I remember you
telling me Yes
Ruth (24:29)
But
yeah, I’d love to see her at the show. Yeah, I mean, she’s, yeah.
Angela Nicholson (24:35)
Well, you get her on the show and I will get
her on the podcast. How about that?
Ruth (24:40)
Let’s do it. Yeah,
there’s pincer movement.
Angela Nicholson (24:43)
Yes
What about, what about exhibitors?
Ruth (24:47)
you
Angela Nicholson (24:48)
I mean, you’ve got quite a few big ones back again now, haven’t you? I Adobe’s signed up again.
Ruth (24:51)
Yeah, I
think it would be really good to see Leica on the show floor. I think such an aspirational brand, you know, really such a historical brand as well. And I feel like, yeah, Leica would be a really good one for us to get into the show. I we had them many moons ago. I can’t remember if that was in my time at the show, but yeah, I’d say Leica.
Angela Nicholson (24:57)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Okay. All right, Hazel, do want to pick number three?
Hazel Soper (25:20)
Well I will pick number three.
Angela Nicholson (25:20)
as in the third number, sorry. Okay. A
Ruth (25:22)
She’s like pick number three, pick number three.
Angela Nicholson (25:26)
few people asked this, how far in advance do you stop planning each show?
Hazel Soper (25:32)
the day we close the show.
Angela Nicholson (25:37)
Technically, isn’t it actually earlier than that? Because you have picked the dates, haven’t you, before then?
Hazel Soper (25:37)
honestly.
Yes, we will have confirmed the dates. So we’ve confirmed the dates for 2027 already and 2028 I think. And you know, there’s things like…
Angela Nicholson (25:50)
Yeah.
Hazel Soper (25:58)
the things that the team who book all of the exhibitors on site, the things that they need, that all has to be done before the show, before the show. But yeah, really, really the kind of essential planning starts as soon as it stops.
Ruth (26:14)
Yeah,
I mean, think with the kind of London and NEC, London and Birmingham rotation now as well, we’re kind of seeing it a bit more as a two year cycle really. So there are certain things that we’re planning already for London 2027. Yeah, and as Hazel said, yeah, you have to have the floor plan all ready for the next show, ready for exhibitors to rebook on site for the next time and all that. yeah.
Angela Nicholson (26:14)
Okay.
That’s exciting.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Ruth (26:39)
But then, I guess the kind of nitty gritty stuff starts shortly after the show.
Angela Nicholson (26:45)
Okay. Ruth, do you want to pick the fourth number?
Ruth (26:50)
Number eight,
Angela Nicholson (26:51)
What do you think people would find most surprising about your jobs? That question is from Liz.
Ruth (26:59)
Hmm.
What would they find most surprising about our jobs?
I I don’t know if this is surprising. People think events is glamorous. It’s not really. I don’t know. What do they find most surprising about our jobs? Probably actually that we’re such a small team. I think people don’t realize that there are actually only a few of us that work on it all year round. Yeah, as Hazel said earlier, we sort of drag other people in at the show and sometimes close to the light.
Angela Nicholson (27:12)
Ha ha ha.
Ruth (27:35)
it’s time as well but yeah we’re a really small team that work on it so that’s probably what’s most surprising.
Hazel Soper (27:41)
think the best example of…
Angela Nicholson (27:41)
Any thoughts on that Hazel?
Hazel Soper (27:43)
Well, the best example of that was, it wasn’t The Photography Show that I did. I was working at one of our women in home events a few weeks ago. And I had a conversation with one of the attendees about the fact that she’d seen me in different places about four times. So there’s a little bit of a, if you know Pepper Pig and Miss Rabbit, who turns up in every single shop as the, you know, she’s a shopkeeper.
Ruth (27:59)
You
Angela Nicholson (28:03)
Yeah.
You
Hazel Soper (28:09)
she’s a nurse, she’s a firefighter. That’s basically our team. And it’s not very glamorous. Really isn’t.
Angela Nicholson (28:11)
Haha
haha
Ruth (28:16)
Yeah, this is true.
do like, I suppose you could go, you could be involved in a few different industries and be in a few different places and we’d still be there. We might be checking, you know, scanning people in for registration on one show or managing a stage on something else. Yeah.
Angela Nicholson (28:32)
Okay, so your penultimate number then please Hazel?
Hazel Soper (28:37)
Nine.
Angela Nicholson (28:39)
This is an interesting one. What is your favourite stage or zone at The Photography and Video Show and why? That question is from Liz.
Hazel Soper (28:51)
I think for me it’s probably it’s going to be Photo Live. I’m a very, not a very good photographer I would like to add, but a very visual person and I just I love watching the live demos and how things are kind of done in practice. So that would be it for me.
Ruth (29:01)
you
Angela Nicholson (29:11)
Yeah.
What about you, Ruth?
Ruth (29:15)
Well, I probably would have said that too, but I mean.
The Creator Playground is a really fun place to be. So we do love making that. As a sort of second to that, I’d say behind the lens is really nice at the show because it’s always a darkened theatre. you see, you know, it shows the images really, really well. And yeah, it feels really special in there.
Angela Nicholson (29:26)
Yeah.
Ruth (29:42)
If I could pick one from the past, I’d probably pick one of our kind of the Feature Stages that we did when we did Wedding and Portrait or The Great Outdoors that was really good. We did The Great Outdoors with all the bluebells in the background and yeah, that was fun.
Angela Nicholson (29:53)
Great, excellent okay say your final number then please Ruth
Ruth (29:58)
did we do number two?
Angela Nicholson (30:00)
No. Okay. So, what criteria do you use when selecting speakers for the stages? That question’s from Paula.
Ruth (30:09)
Lots of criteria actually really. It’s quite an involved process and it goes on probably much longer than it should do. By which I mean I probably should get back to some more people that I haven’t got back to yet. yeah, we invite people to apply is the first stage and then we also talk to all of the
Angela Nicholson (30:19)
I’m
Mm-hmm.
Ruth (30:32)
know, the exhibitors and see ⁓ who they want to put forward, you know, they apply as well. I guess because we have to cover so many different things at the show, we have to firstly kind of plot out a skeleton program and see where that leaves us and sort of we go through and see which submissions we think are interesting.
different, what different points do they cover? You know, sort of look at everything from kind of like the demographics of the speakers to the subject matter they’re covering and, you know, whether have they spoken before, have they spoken at different, you know, different shows before? Yeah, so there’s lots of different things involved in it.
At its core, the subject has to be interesting and well delivered.
So we just have to be confident that it’s going to hit all of those things. ⁓ But in essence, there’s lots of different elements to it. So it’s picking.
Angela Nicholson (31:28)
haha
Ruth (31:33)
people that we think are going to speak well, deliver the content well, good spread of content and how we think that information will come across.
Angela Nicholson (31:41)
And presumably the headline speakers, you approach them. They don’t have to fill out an application form.
Ruth (31:47)
Yes, although occasionally they have, but yes, we approach them. yeah, that’s kind of a, we look at, you know, survey responses, because we always ask in the surveys, you know, well, who would you like to see at the show? We look at people who are, you know, doing interesting things. They might be doing exhibitions or they’ve got new books out or things like that. I kind of have an ongoing…
Angela Nicholson (31:50)
that’s nice.
Hazel Soper (32:09)
We’ve definitely asked
Ange Nicholson before for her recommendations and I think the SheClicks community have been asked before as well.
Angela Nicholson (32:12)
It’s It’s true.
Ruth (32:13)
We have definitely asked you.
Angela Nicholson (32:16)
Yes.
Ruth (32:17)
Yeah. And yeah, well, we do take recommendations all the time. Sometimes somebody will say to me, have you ever thought about this person? I’m like, yeah, no, that would be really good. Let’s do, let’s have a look at them. But yeah, we, we kind of have an ongoing list of people that I’d like to see at the show. And yeah, we kind of look at where those people sit in the kind of overall scheme of
Angela Nicholson (32:25)
Yeah.
Ruth (32:37)
know which genres they are and try and balance it all that way.
Angela Nicholson (32:42)
Yeah. fantastic.
I’m really excited about the show coming up in March. It’s the 14th to the 17th of March, isn’t it, at Birmingham NEC in the UK. Fabulous. Well, I can’t wait to see you there. Thanks very much for joining me today. It’s been great talking with you.
Ruth (32:50)
It is,
Thanks very much,
Hazel Soper (32:58)
Thank
you, Ange. Speak soon.
Angela Nicholson (32:59)
Cheers,
bye bye.
Ruth (33:00)
See you
Angela Nicholson (33:01)
Thanks for listening to this episode of the She Clicks Women in Photography Podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. Special thanks to everybody who sent in a question.
You’ll find links to The Photography and Video Show’s website and social media channels in the show notes.
I’ll be back with another episode soon, so please subscribe to the show and tell all your friends and followers about it. In the meantime, enjoy your photography.
