Caravan - afterthoughts

There's nothing like a trip to the south west to get the wind in your hair, and a buzz in your feet.  Osnat had been teaching Georgian songs to the cast of 'Macbeth'  at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School the day before, which might explain (for the superstitious amongst you) why she had no voice at all when we met.Bristol Old Vic is undergoing a refurb so we had all our meetings in the foyer spaces which are themselves rather lovely. The first was an introduction to some of the panel's experiences of overseas touring - and a great panel they were, Emma Stenning, Katie Keeler and John Retallack chaired by Gavin Stride of Farnham Maltings.Katie Keeler was particularly helpful - don't waste money on hundreds of glossy packs, make the best work you can and research where it fits in, be nice to everyone, pay attention to detail. It was common sense but how many times do we ignore that because we think we ought to do something?Perhaps her most helpful advice was something someone had passed on to her, namely networking is about making friends - it's not about selling something and as we all know, making friends takes time.  So, firstly get good at what you do where you are before you start thinking about going anywhere else.