Initially I started to develop this program to facilitate the organisation and running of the Canberra Stampshow every 2 years. This required, of course, talking with many people on the problems associated with organising an Exhibition or Show. One of those people was the then APF President, Bernard Doherty , who suggested that, with the right approach, this program could be used to assist in the running of other Australian stamp shows. The initial designs were thus modified to fit that aim. We will refer to Stamp Exhibitions as "Shows"; the name of the program ShowMan is an contraction of "Show Manager" that lies easier on the tongue.
It took two years of design and programming, and a number of active tests, the first one in Hobart, Tasmania, in April 2003. The program and its accumulated data are now in regular use. Improvements and changes have been made over the two years since the Hobart Show, and the final touches are now being made in adding documentation and extensive Help facilities to make the program more user-friendly.