On Wednesday the 18th of March, I finished delivering training at Warwick Art Centre. I was very pleased because I had been given positive feedback on the training delivery and Warwick Art Centre were pleased with the training outcome.
I walked to the bus station with Liz Leck, my creative enabler, who very kindly helped me carry my bags. It was a lovely sunny day which made everyone happier, and we could see the students sitting on the grass and enjoying the sunshine. It was a lovely sight and reminded me of my student days.
I took a taxi to the hotel that I was staying at. The taxi driver was kind and dropped me close to the entrance so that I did not have to walk far. The hotel I stayed at was a Premier Inn in the centre of Coventry. Initially I struggled to find the reception as there was another building adjoining the Premier Inn and the signs were unclear. I was relieved when I saw others struggling to find it, as I knew it was not just me. Clear signage is very important for wayfinding particularly for Neurodivergent and disabled individuals but also to enhance the customer experience for everyone.
When I located the reception there was nobody there and there was an iPad on the wall to book in. However, I prefer to speak with a human being because then there is accountability if something goes wrong. I was able to speak with someone quite easily and he very quickly booked me into the room. He booked me into an accessible room which was very kind as the original room was not accessible. The gentleman showed me to the lift and helped me to take my bags into the lift. Whilst in the lift, I noticed that the light bulb was broken and the lights were flashing. This was challenging for my vertigo and my light sensitivity, so I had to put my sunglasses on.
Once in the room, I was relieved and very pleased with myself that I managed to find the venue and arrange the hotel myself without error. I arranged the bed how I needed it to support my back and I set up my laptop so that I could continue to work.
I then went down to the restaurant to eat my dinner. I appreciated that when I told the waiter that I was autistic he showed me where the quietest area in the restaurant was. He also arranged my food in three separate bowls without me asking him, which I thought was very kind and thoughtful. This demonstrated his understanding of Autism. I had a lovely chicken and chips, and a well-deserved Berry cider. I felt that the hotel should make it clear that alcoholic drinks were not part of the pre-bookable deal as I ended up paying extra. I felt this was unnecessary.
After dinner I went back to my room, and I was relieved to take off my boots as I had been walking a lot that day. It was lovely to be able to work in peace until I wanted to go to bed. I worked to support a blind friend of mine to ensure her access needs were in place on a business course she is doing in April. I then read my book until bedtime.
On Thursday the 19th of March I felt that I hadn’t slept well because I had stomach pain and reflux during the night. I had a bath when I woke up which was lovely. What was less lovely was that the plug got stuck in the bath and I had to ask one of the cleaners to help me pull it out and it took her 3 attempts to do it. I was pleased that I didn’t have to report this to reception staff.
I ate a fantastic full English breakfast without meat due to my stomach pain; the fried eggs were delicious.
After breakfast I tidied the room and caught up with more work until checkout at midday. Once I left the hotel, I got a taxi back to Warwick Art Centre as the venue for Climb 26 was on campus.
The Warwick Art Centre Box Office team were incredibly supportive, and they let me store my bags whilst I was attending Climb 26 Warwick Tour. They even supported me to print out my pitch and costing that I was going to present to Gordon Bateman the founder of Climb 26. I bought lunch from the student shop and a nicer folder to present the pitch in. I then continued to work until the event began at 3:00 PM.
I was not worried about finding the venue because the taxi driver who brought me back to Warwick Arts Centre had showed me where it was, which was very nice of him. The venue was not particularly accessible for me as I had to climb a lot of stairs to enter. However, the event was called Climb 26 and so I should have expected some climbing.
I was very nervous about meeting Gordon Bateman as I do not usually interact with businessmen. I need not have been nervous because his charismatic and friendly nature filled the room and he introduced me to others so that I did not have to initiate the conversation myself.
The energy in the room was fantastic, and Gordon walked with me to the lift so that I did not have to climb any more stairs. The presenting area was through a small doorway, and the delegates were already sitting when we entered. This meant that I had to walk through them to get to my seat.
I reflected that years ago this would have been far too much for me and I probably would have run away through fear and embarrassment. However, this did not phase me, and I sat with a gentleman who I had been introduced to earlier. He was a musician and a poet, so I found him very interesting to speak with and we had an in-depth discussion about at what point art becomes craft.
The speakers were amazing and we heard from Gordon himself, and he set the tone perfectly – reminding us that you don’t have to sit in the “Golden Triangle” to collide, collaborate and scale. Climb UK is about breaking down silos between our regions and creating rooms where real conversations happen and new stories are created. The panel shared some powerful ideas for ambitious founders:Andrew Wood Chairman, of WiSE: talked about actively hunting for creativity, knowing your market deeply, to test ideas properly, and stay relentlessly focused on traction.
Helen Turner (Director, Midlands Innovation): highlighted the strength of university collaboration in our region, the creation of Midlands Mindforge, and the need to build a genuine founder community – including “academic dating” and better deal-rooms style platforms.
Charlie Curson (Co-founder & Author): shared insights from Be More Strategic – the parts of his talk that most inspired me were when he spoke about the upstairs and downstairs brain, the two different types of brain responses under pressure. He said that if you have a downstairs brain, like me, and you freeze under pressure you should strategically bring someone who has an upstairs brain with you to meetings and networking events so that person can write down what was said if you cannot recall it. I thought this was genius. The other thing he said was that when interviewing, interviewers are not often fully present and listening. They are rehearsing the next question that they are going to ask, meaning they miss out on human connection and vital information. I asked him if I could quote this in my training session as Derby theatre had asked for a session on recruitment and inclusive language in their session two, so I thought this was particularly relevant.
After the talks, we had a 1-minute open mic where founders in the room could pitch their businesses – with a ticket to the main Climb UK event in Leeds on 1–2 July up for grabs. I could not believe that I read my poem ‘Oh dear Society’ out in front of strangers and that afterwards Charlie Curson gave me a copy of his book for free which I was very grateful for.