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WTM gets underway
WTM 2003 Special: This year’s WTM – the largest ever – has got underway, but have they got it right?
Last year TravelMole readers said their biggest complaint was getting to ExCel – but have organisers got it right this year?
Rather than relying solely on the Docklands Light Railway to get delegates from Canning Town to ExCel, organisers have laid on shuttle buses from the station and are encouraging delegates to take Silverlink train services as well. This array of options is all very well, but on arrival at Canning Town this morning, TravelMole’s editor came across a crowd of confused WTM-goers.
The red-jacketed ExCel helpers were all shouting out contradicting directions, holding up lolly-pop signs that pointed in different directions. After being told by one official to go downstairs to get a bus to ExCel, I reached the bottom of the escalator where another offical told me the DLR to ExCel was upstairs.
I applaud the array of options, but it should have been made absolutely clear (i.e. using large signs, not a number of shouting officials) to people arriving at the station that they could choose from one of three options to get there.
I got on the DLR and was at WTM in a satisfactory five minutes. On arrival I picked up my pre-registered badge in ten minutes. However a Meridien Club member trying to enter ExCel beside me was told by a gruff official that she couldn’t pick up her badge until 10am.
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