It had to be every PR person’s worst nightmare - the fire alarm
went off at 8.00am on the first morning of the IPR’s conference at the
Midland Hotel in Manchester last week - and around 200 guests were
caught in the full glory of their early morning dishevellment.
Lipstickless, suitless and mobile phoneless, many of the delegates -
wearing elegant hotel towelling robes - swarmed out of the hotel and
overwhelmed the streets of Manchester city centre.
Groans of ’I haven’t even brushed my hair’ and ’there aren’t any clients
here, are there?’ were overheard.
The cause of the false alarm remained a mystery (although some suggested
it was the press trying to flush out opera impresario Pavarotti, who was
also staying in the hotel).
However, the cause of the second fire alarm of the day, just as Hugh
Colver, Derek Draper and Ian Wright were about to regale the audience
with their collective wisdom on the politics of communication, seemed
clearer.
’Too much hot air,’ was the murmured comment
