Guido understands that party conference exhibitor TechCentral is not planning on going to the Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth this year, instead they are planning to go for the first time to the SNP’s annual conference as well as the Labour and Tory conferences. TechCentral hires exhibition space at the political conferences and hosts the likes of Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter and other tech giants in a dedicated space focused on the Technology sector. For the parties these deals are massive revenue earners generating profits which more than cover the cost of holding the conference…  

TechCentral’s director Andrew Barrett tells Guido that “there seems to be more interest from end clients in meeting the SNP than the LibDems – they are actually in government in Scotland. We haven’t signed a contract yet but that is the way it is looking.” Loss making Dods – publishers of the House Magazine – are also rumoured to be re-evaluating the commercial viability of having a large presence at LibDem conference…