It was always going to be an interesting experiment holding the BTME exhibition towards the end of March.
Moved from its traditional January slot by resurgent Covid fears at the back end of last year, apparently this week was pretty much all the Harrogate Convention Centre was able to offer to organisers BIGGA. And ever since these dates were announced, fears were voiced by some that it simply wasn't the best time for the golf greenkeepers who this show is principally aimed at.
I'm told that the last couple of weeks of March are traditionally renovation periods at courses around the country, and with the warm, sunny weather we've all enjoyed these past few days, the need for these turf professionals to remain at their courses would have been exacerbated.
So, yes, the show was undeniably not quite its usual busy, buzzy self. But to be fair to BIGGA they didn't attempt to spin their way out of what was quite blatant to all who made the trip to North Yorkshire.
Director of the association, Jim Croxton, gave a open and honest assessment to the trade press at lunchtime on Wednesday, day two of the show, describing the event as "OK" and "fine" - no more than that.
What Jim did say though, and I'd agree with him on this, was that kudos should go to his team for managing to get a show on at all, what with the relatively short time period they had to rearrange everything, combined with the scheduling constraints from the venue. Essentially the choice for BIGGA was either make the best of this week, or the show's off for another year. So they opted for the former.
Whilst official figures haven't been released yet, Jim said he believed visitor numbers for day 1 were something like 37% down on what they were in January 2020. Stand space taken was along the lines of 20% down.
This reduction in visitors and exhibitors was obvious to all who had attended any previous edition of the show. One of the Red Zone halls for example was partly partitioned off, whilst around the complex there were clearly non-taken stand spaces that had instead been converted into more seating areas.
Most apparent though, it just never had that feel of a busy show. During that peak time of say 10.30 to 2pm-ish, when aisles should have been teeming with people ordinarily, it just never reached those levels. Of course there were people around, but noticeably much fewer.
However, what Jim and indeed several machinery exhibitors I spoke to, did say about the punters who had turned up, was that there was a good proportion of what you'd describe as quality visitors. Perhaps the head greenkeeper or a decision-maker from the course had come along, leaving their team behind to get on with the work that needed to be done. Usually the crew would get a day or two out in Harrogate, attending the educational seminars and looking round the stands - but this year, not so much.
Looking for positives then, perhaps some meaningful business was getting done on the stands - just probably not at the levels that exhibitors were quite hoping for.
What I will say is that I heard from various outdoor power machinery exhibitors, telling me that if this show wasn't directly supporting the wider golf industry - if it was a purely commercially-run operation - based on this week, they would have to seriously contemplate whether returning was in their best interests.
As Jim said though, the proof will be in the pudding when the results of BIGGA's exhibitor survey are analysed in due course.
Feeling around the halls
All that said, across the stands there was still enough to interest any commercial machinery dealers who had chosen to attend. There was plenty of new product and importantly, talk of stock coming back on stream - although this is still bumpy.
We will be including further detail about what various outdoor power machinery exhibitors were promoting in the upcoming issue of Service Dealer magazine.
Service Dealer team chatting with GGM Groundscare's Chris Gibson
Asking exhibitors what they hope to gain from a trade exhibition in 2022, especially considering the enforced absence of the past two years, many spoke of a reconnection with both the dealers and their end-user customers. Whilst Zoom gave us all a connection lifeline throughout the pandemic, there does appear to be a feeling that now is the time to move on, and get back talking face-to-face. You can see a selection of industry figures speak on that here.
Service Dealer's Kate Godber conducted a series of video interviews around the halls, including with the Amenity Forum's Professor John Moverley
For your suppliers, promoting their message and showing off their new innovations to both you and the professionals who will be using them, is vital. In the context of a trade show such as BTME though, quantifying how successful a couple of days in an exhibition hall has been, will forever be fairly nebulous.
When a show isn't as well attended as both the organisers and the exhibitors would clearly like, I suppose a company's odds of making the right connections, or establishing those great new leads, is cut somewhat. However it only takes a couple of valuable conversations to make the whole thing worthwhile.
Hopefully enough of these will have taken place this week to make sure that next year's event - which is scheduled to be back in January - will have enough goodwill from both stand-takers and visitors, to make Harrogate week fulfil its great potential.
