As seen by the two lead stories in today's Update, there has been no prorogation of discussion and debate in our industry, with conference and dealer event season well underway.

We have reports today from the both the recent AriensCo and Stiga UK events - and whilst being conscious of not over-exaggerating, it seems fair to say that a distinct whiff of positivity pervaded both. Which in the current national climate, has to be A Good Thing.

The AriensCo event was understandably dominated by the recent announcement that the company shall commence manufacture of zero-turns in Britain from their Great Haseley factory. This news appears to have created some serious interest amongst their dealers. Whilst you would of course expect the Company Vice President for EMEA & Asia to talk things up, the quote from Darren Spencer today saying, “Many dealers left saying this was the most exciting Ariens event they had been to," I'm sure isn't overly hyperbolic.

It is undeniably a big deal that the company has chosen this country, at this time and with this product to make such a significant move. It shows great confidence both in the manufacturing capabilities at Great Haseley, but also let's not forget, in the capabilities of the UK dealer network to sell these machines successfully.

Evidence, I think, of how this is indeed an important development is the fact that the American trade association, the OPEI, in this week's issue of their newsletter to members, highlighted and linked to both the story and my blog on the subject from last week's Service Dealer Weekly Update. The fact that it's newsworthy over the other side of pond too, brings into focus what a major and positive step this is.

The other dealer event report today, comes from Stiga UK's conferences which took place at the National Motorcycle Museum from Tuesday to Thursday this week. I'd say these also enjoyed a buoyant feel about them, with md Gary Whitney making a direct comparison of the mood in the room (and therefore the wider industry) compared to this time last year. He chose to describe 2019 as a "season without a punch", which whilst by no means a ringing endorsement, is certainly a welcome improvement on 2018's well documented struggles.

Similar to the AriensCo event, more positivity was engendered at the Stiga conferences by looking to the future.  New CEO of Stiga Group, Sean Robinson, was in attendance to let the dealers know what his and the company's plans are going forward.

He brought a confident message saying that the shareholders had given him a brief of "growth and expansion". He talked of re-investing significantly in their product ranges, redesigning products and potentially moving into product areas which they currently do not have a presence in, such as professional machinery. He spoke of investing significantly in understanding what their dealers needed to grow their businesses - as well as investing to really understand the nuances of individual consumer profiles, so they can satisfy those needs, cleverly and economically.

I certainly got the impression that this message was gratefully received by the dealers in the room. From what he was saying, there appeared plenty for them to positively look forward to.

And from the dealers I was chatting to at the event, I certainly got the impression that this season had been a welcome relief from the previous. I wasn't just hearing that 2019 hadn't been terrible, moreover that business had been doing OK. Pretty good even?

But what do our readers think? Are things looking up? We're running our annual Autumn Dealer Survey today, the results of which we publish in our November/December issue of Service Dealer magazine. Last year's made for pretty gloomy reading, with dealers reporting downturns in many aspects of their dealerships. If you could take a few moments to fill out today's survey, it'll be very interesting to see if what we've been hearing anecdotally about a more positive season, bears out in your responses.

Also we'd love to hear your comments about how the season has been for you in general and what your thoughts are looking ahead.

As ever the results and a selection of your opinions will be published in the magazine. Thanks for your help.

TAKE THE SURVEY.