Coming up next week, of interest to many of our dealer readers, is the GMA's SALTEX show at the NEC.
Taking place on Wednesday and Thursday, the team from Service Dealer and TurfPro will be there. We have a stand at H011 and will be wandering the aisles each day, catching up with dealers and suppliers, on the look out for interesting information to pass on to our readers. Please say hi if you choose to make the trip to Birmingham.
It will be fascinating to see just how busy the halls are this year, following hot on the heels of what was regarded as a successful sophomore GroundsFest. Whilst at Stoneleigh, I cannot deny that I heard plenty of chat along the lines of 'how does SALTEX' follow this?'
The GMA will be keen to put on a great show, there's no doubt about that. As a trade journo, I've noticed a real increase in the volume of pre-show publicity the organisers have distributed this time around. They are clearly wanting to come out strong in the face of new competition. The unknown at this stage is just how much of an impact (if any) the young upstart turf show, has had on the old grandee.
Will the commercial end-users turn up in their droves? Will you dealers make the journey following a busy couple of months (and please tell us in the comments below what your intentions are). And crucially for the long-term, will the exhibitors feel they are still getting value for money from taking a stand?
The answer to that last one I suppose, is very much dependent on the show continuing to attract quality punters through the doors to check out the products and services on display.
On the wider question of our trade show attendances, it is a subject that our editor of TurfPro, Laurence Gale, has strong opinions on. He argues for that for the size of the professional turfcare industry - including practitioners, related workers, students, etc - the exhibitions catering for this sector should be attracting loads more visitors than they do currently. And to be fair to Loz, he's been saying this for many years - way before GroundsFest was on the scene.
It's certainly an interesting question as to why our main shows do not boast lager visitor figures? It does appear to be quite different in the States, for example. Service Dealer's owner, Duncan Murray-Clarke, has just returned from the Equip trade show in Louisville, where its OPEI organisers were telling him that they had broken records again this year. It was their biggest ever show in terms of visitors, exhibitors and square footage. Which is something it feels like they say each year. They are clearly on an upward trajectory with every edition.
OK, the U.S is a ridiculously larger market than ours, with a much greater pool of interested parties to draw upon, to both attend and exhibit. But I'm not talking about the specific numbers they are achieving, just the principal of growing, quite substantially, year on year.
Why isn't it happening in quite the same way for our shows here? Yes, GroundsFest attracted more in their second year than their first, but if we accept Laurence's argument of the size of potential attendee numbers, there should be more shouldn't there?
I'm aware this discussion around shows is almost as old as the industry itself, but I guess it keeps cropping up because the landscape keeps changing and there is always something new to add into the mix. In the latest copy of our magazine for example - which you should have just received or are about to receive - we have a fantastic piece from industry expert, Keith Christian on this very topic.
The question that has been asked over and over again, is do we have too many industry shows? Everyone will have their opinions, dependent on whether they are looking at the situation from the viewpoint of a visitor, exhibitor or show organiser. I suppose in the end, it's only really the market itself that can offer a definitive answer (although to be fair, it's taking its time!).
In the meantime, as a journal for the dealer sector, we shall continue to attend as many events as we can, and comment fairly on what we find.
So all the best to the GMA for a great show next week. And if you do attend, be sure to let us know what you thought of it.
