The GMA's SALTEX took place on Wednesday and Thursday this week, once again at the Birmingham NEC.
Unfortunately I was unable to personally attend this year due to family reasons, but the Service Dealer team was out in force chatting to the great and good of the industry - and have reported a positive and upbeat couple of days.
The Service Dealer and TurfPro team at SALTEX this week
You can watch a selection of short videos in this Weekly Briefing and on our YouTube channel today. These a give a flavour of the show which, as you might expect, saw battery technology to the fore once again.
Duncan Murray-Clarke and Keith Christian with RT Machinery
Speaking to my colleagues, the impression they came away from Birmingham with was that the exhibition had a similar feel to last year - buoyant, upbeat and with plenty of business being achieved. The halls felt busy by 10-10.30, even on day two of the show, and the word was a fair few dealers had made the trip to the NEC.
David Hart chatting with visitors on the Kubota stand
Service Dealer owner Duncan Murray-Clarke said he got the impression that several suppliers were offering some slightly different but related products to the standard outdoor power equipment ranges on their stands this year. This was giving dealers the opportunity to diversify, adding niche layers to their offerings to customers. For example, on the Toro stand were a few items of construction machinery which one doesn't often see at a show like this.
Construction equipment on the Toro stand
Duncan also mentioned how he'd had a informative chat with Stewart and Lewis Anderson on the Weibang stand, who'd told him they'd had a great show. Duncan said it was brilliant to hear how well the company is doing and what a strong relationship they have with their quality dealer network.
Service Dealer catching up with Stewart and Lewis Anderson
At the sounding of the closing bell yesterday, GMA CEO Geoff Webb was by all accounts a happy man. Apparently the feeling is that visitor numbers might be around 10% up on last year. However, as SALTEX is an independently audited show, we'll find out definite figures soon enough when the GMA presents its visitor research once the audit has been completed.
Geoff Webb with Duncan
From what I gather anecdotally though, organisers and stand-holders alike seemed pleased with how this week has gone. It'll be fascinating to hear from any of our dealer readers who made the trip as to what they thought of the show.
Please feel free to leave your comments below.
