21923 - SCTE Broadband Aug2023 COMPLETE v1 (1)

44 Vol. 45 No. 3 - September 2023 Issue Connected Britain is now in its eighth year and has firmly cemented itself as the go-to event for anyone involved in the UK fibre industry. We caught up with Rob Chambers, Managing Director of Total Telecom, who shares with us the secret behind the show’s success. What are the themes of this year’s show? You’re moving to a new venue this year – the ExCel. It’s quite a change from where you’ve been before. RC: It is an incredible venue, and an incredible change. This is the eighth show. When we launched, it was in a hotel ballroom, the Jumeirah Carlton Tower in Knightsbridge. We had about 300 people, and about a dozen exhibitors. We thought that was quite good at the time. You just never knowhow these things are going to pan out. What was the thinking behind the latest move? RC: We went through a few larger hotel venues in between. We were lucky in the sense that we have pretty much doubled in size, year-on-year, for quite a few years. It was only last year that we’d moved into taking over the entire Business Design Centre. It’s a great location, an a gorgeous venue. It’s got a great feel about it. But it’s not very big, 6000 square metres all in. Last year every inch of that was full; we just couldn’t accommodate any more in there. How will the Excel be different? RC: The step to the ExCel is perfectly logical. It is a very different kind of venue. It’s a great location and it’s an out-and- out exhibition centre, purpose built for its job. We’ve got 13,000 square metres now. We’ve obviously got a lot more exhibitors there this year as a result. Once you take exhibitors, sponsors, startups and partners, I think there’s going to be close on 400 companies. We’re looking at over 5,000 attendees. You’ve made amazing progress in a short space of time. It does seem it’s the right place, right time that you launched this show, just as the rollout was starting to happen. You definitely captured it. RC: It’s not just about building networks either. Most companies who exhibit are involved in the build of networks. But when you actually start looking at the attendees, it’s far Interview with Rob Chambers By Melissa Cogavin, Managing Editor, SCTE Connected Britain - 20-21 September, ExCel, London Rob Chambers, Connected Britain from the industry