The newly reconfigured BTME took place at the Harrogate International Centre from Tuesday to Thursday this week - and whilst the aisles were buzzy, with tons of great stands featuring plenty of new kit to check out, many conversations were dominated by the slightly confusing new hall layout.

Whether it was simply the shock of the new that was giving visitors and exhibitors alike something to chunter about, it's hard to say. Certainly I think it's fair comment that initially finding one's way around the labyrinthine configuration was a bit of an issue. What it certainly meant was that it was taking a while for visitors to filter through to the halls furthest away from the entrance. The Red and Blue Zones suffered the most from this.

My initial thoughts were that the show wasn't feeling particularly cohesive. The individual halls, or Zones as they were called, kind of felt like their own separate exhibitions. Moving between them meant going up stairs, round corners, down escalators, through doorways - which to be fair to BIGGA they had signposted extensively, but it did have the feeling of splitting the show up. And certain areas of a couple of halls did appear to suffer from reduced footfall.

Jim Croxton, CEO of BIGGA, whilst expressing delight at the exhibitor numbers and initial estimates of visitors, did acknowledge everything wasn't quite perfect when he spoke to the press on the morning of the second day.

Discussing the figures first Jim said, "It seems to have gone very well in terms of pre-registration numbers and feet on the ground. It also went very well for us in terms of exhibition stand numbers. We’re really pleased that we filled all the space and a bit more than we anticipated.

"I’m pleased the way many of the exhibitors have embraced the opportunity to do different things on their stands. Those exhibitors who chose to return this year have on average taken 14% more space.

"I’m going to refrain from making any big declarations of how much bigger and better the show might have been until we get some proper feedback. We need to audit attendance figures, but the day one numbers certainly appear pretty similar to last year."

Moving on to address the navigation issues, Jim said, "Everyone I see at the show says they’re lost and confused – and that’s kind of what we wanted. That was actually part of the plan because people used to visit BTME and just do it on auto-pilot. They’d walk past stands just to see the one they wanted to go to. We wanted to make sure that visitors walked around and engaged with everybody.

"I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved and how it’s worked this week - but I don’t think that it’s perfect though. I think there’s a couple of areas which haven’t worked quite as we’d have liked in terms of footfall. Going forward we’ll be working on ways to drive people into those spaces."

Jim admitted there had been "some challenges" at the far end of the Red Zone and talked of how it isn’t just about people walking through doors that counts, it’s how they engage with stands. He said their priority over the next few weeks, when they speak with their exhibitors, will be to discover what worked and what didn’t.

The issue of the show being a three day event was also brought up. Currently BTME is open until 2.30pm on Thursday, it's third and final day - with some feeling this is perhaps a tad unnecessary and that two full days would do. Jim explained that for the time being at least they are sticking with this format. He said, "We have a strong belief that every show has a ‘last day’ which sort of peters out. The third exhibition day allows attendees to have two evenings to engage with clients and colleagues on a social basis. So we’re holding firm for another year at least with three days. It will be on the agenda to look at in the future though."

Around the stands

Speaking with exhibitors around the halls, the reactions to the new set-up were indeed somewhat mixed - although one positive comment which I did keep hearing was that lots of dealers were coming through their stands. It seems many specialists made the trip to Harrogate to chat with their suppliers or potential suppliers. Also what came out these conversations is that plenty of manufacturers are currently actively looking to expand their networks.

On the Yamaha stand for example, Dan Palmer, manager of golf cars, said to me they are looking to recruit. They are keen on finding the right dealerships for sales and service in various parts of the country. Similarly, Patrick Desmond, general manager of Kioti, told me they are always interested in talking to new dealers, so long as they are in the right areas.

Price Turfcare are also looking for the right dealers in the right places for their Ventrac machines. They themselves were certainly in the right place at Harrogate with their stand in the corner of one of the walkways between halls. Rupert Price told me that many visitors had asked him if they were late to book with their unusual position - but far from it. It was a deliberate decision which paid off handsomely for them. Their stand was constantly one of the busiest I saw all show.

David Hart on the Kubota stand told me they had seen many dealers come to talk to them. He also said that with their expansion into the agricultural sector they are looking to expand their network in that regard.

Another tractor supplier who are taking on dealers at the moment is Iseki UK. David Withers said they are interested in talking to dealers who want to increase their diesel offering. He said that smaller garden machinery dealers are seeing the value in stocking their machines, giving them the opportunity to offer their customers a larger, diesel tractor, whereas before they would have had to turn away those customers looking for something more powerful.

An obvious trend amongst the machinery manufacturers this week, was once again battery and robotic technology. On the Ransomes stand for example, Richard Comely told me their new lithium powered utility vehicle, the Hauler 800, was generating a lot of interest amongst visitors.

Husqvarna's stand was geared to get greenkeepers to start thinking about the use of robotic mowers on their courses - with the new, articulated Automower taking pride of place. Ken Brewster said a good show for them would see them generate some quality contacts amongst the sector.

And making their debut at BTME were STIHL. Steven Greenup said they felt they needed to be there to promote their range to the professional golf guys who they know use their tools. He said they'd had some great conversations and it was a superb opportunity to promote their battery range and robotic offerings - which are now fully orange.

Surprisingly though, for a show aimed at the professional golf trade, several exhibitors did say to me they had been disappointed with the number of new end-user contacts they had seen coming onto their stands. I suppose this could be to do with the number of distractions for the visiting greenkeepers which Harrogate affords. The Continue To Learn educational offering for those guys goes from strength to strength with more hours available each year. And with a plethora of great pubs and restaurants mere steps outside the International Centre's doors, getting everyone back in after lunch, or away from an early finish, is always going to be a battle.

But hopefully over the duration of the show, everybody got around to everyone they wanted to see. Because for all these quibbles, BTME is an undeniably, a great show. A show held in real regard and affection by those that visit - and I think exhibit. Next year I'm sure the layout won't seem so much of an issue now we're all used to it.

So whilst not a flawless relaunch, BIGGA should nevertheless be applauded for putting on a show which increasing numbers of exhibitors want to be a part of. Of course to accommodate this, and to attempt to make the visitor experience more rewarding, they had to take a calculated risk changing up the format - which pretty much paid off.

Here's to next year!