I went to the annual BECTU London Freelances’ Fair 2011 on Friday 17 June 2011 at Savoy Place.

In the morning I went to The Freelance Toolkit Workshop – an extremely informative and useful session run by David Thomas.

After a peruse around the fair exhibition area (pictured), I participated in two seminars in the afternoon: the first on using DSLR cameras to make film and television programmes (not convinced, to say the least!) and the second on pitching programme ideas (a sort of role playing exercise – very interesting).

This year saw a significant increase in attendence compared to last year – many thanks to BECTU’s Writers Producers and Directors Branch for organising the event and to the sponsors for their support.

I attended this year’s BECTU Annual Conference in Eastbourne on the weekend of 4-5 June 2011.

Went to the BECTU London Freelances’ Fair 2008 last Friday at BAFTA Piccadilly.

This is the third year of the Fair, and attendance appeared to surpass last year.

Informative stalls were complemented by a range of seminars and workshops.

At one of the seminars, Dean Whitbread, Chair of the UK Podcasters’ Association, spoke on the exploiting the digital future panel.

Following a quick apparatif of Timothy Taylor’s Landlord at the nearby Red Lion, I returned to the BAFTA bar for a lively discussion with event organisors from BECTU’s Writers Producers and Directors Branch.

• Go home, Bill: It’s time for a new era at Microsoft – if only the company were ready [I, Cringely]
• Bill’s excellent adventure ends in tears – and torpidity [Observer]
• The MBA myth [37signals]
• Why did you hire me? [A List Apart]

• Social networking gets a sanity check [GigaOM]
• Why the new media world looks like a Doctor Who plot, says the BBC [Guardian]
• Go Speed Racer go [Subtraction]
• Origins of the ampersand [Hoefler & Frere-Jones]
• The Ampersand [The Ampersand]
• Choosing the right tool [Stopdesign]