BTME took place from Tuesday to Thursday this week at the Harrogate Convention Centre with a mostly positive atmosphere pervading the halls.

Certainly there wasn't the same mood as last year, when the new layout tended to dominate the discourse. As far as I could tell the configuration was accepted and people were used to the fairly idiosyncratic formation the show has now adopted. From a personal viewpoint, I do feel that the different halls all have quite distinct feels and atmospheres. It almost plays like a series of separate shows - which I suppose in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I still heard some grumblings from certain stand holders in the Red hall, and in particular the Blue hall, that they weren't quite getting the footfall they would desire. Certainly the Blue hall where STIHL, Iseki and Ernest Doe Hire were located, felt like the end of the natural route around the complex and therefore it was taking longer for the crowds to filter through.

The Purple hall upstairs conversely, which most visitors would've happened upon first, where Ransomes and Toro amongst others were situated, always felt busy and buzzy. That may have been helped by having a cafe area located in front of it which appeared to keep a good number of people hanging around.

But that said, I think the show organisers were happy that all the halls were seeing their aisles fill up quicker than they had in 2019. I don't know about actual figures yet, but addressing the press on the morning of Day 2 of the show, BIGGA's Jim Croxton said that Tuesday's attendance was very close to what they'd had on the first day last year. He did also mention that stand space sales were about 7% down on the previous year. And walking around the halls you could see a few areas that clearly had a few tables and chairs hastily arranged within them in order to fill a gap that an exhibitor could have been taking up.

An interesting comparison that I had a couple of exhibitors make to me, was with the recent LAMMA show at the NEC. One or two companies who had exhibited at both of these January shows talked about how when the doors open to visitors of a morning at the NEC, an absolute flood rush in and swamp their stands immediately. At Harrogate the doors open and a few start to trickle in slowly, eventually making their way around the exhibits. 

There were some notable absentees this year, Husqvarna being an obvious one. Jim Croxton mentioned that some companies might be attending the show on a bi-annual basis from now on. It'll be interesting to see next January whether there are any returning names - or indeed if any companies who weren't exactly delighted with their stand positioning are able to exert any influence over the organisers to be moved to a more favoured location.

One aspect of the composition of punters at the show this week which was noticeable, was that there certainly appeared to be a healthy number of visitors from overseas. Jeremy Vincent on the Trilo stand commented upon it early on day 1, how good it was that they were seeing so many international customers coming onto their stand. And walking the halls, one's ears were picking up conversations comprising many Euro and Irish accents.

In terms of what got the show talking this year, the news which broke on Tuesday that Toro are to buy Ventrac was understandably quite a surprise to say the least. It created quite the stir and no little chat amongst the exhibitors and visitors. Rupert Price of Price Turfcare, who has very successfully built up a market for the equipment in the UK over the past 3 years, told me it's "business as usual" for them. They are actively continuing their policy of building up a dealer network.

Rupert Price

There were other brands at Harrogate this week who were also looking to make appointments to their dealer networks. The newly launched Bluebird range had an impressive stand displaying a mixture of battery and petrol products. Caroline Brown, the company's marketing executive, told me they are looking to recruit and had seen a good number of dealers come on to their stand with some encouraging enquiries being made.

Also looking for more dealers are Cub Cadet with the Infinicut range of professional mowers. Vinny Tarbox, sales manager for MTD Specialty Turf Products said that due to rapid growth during 2018/19 they have started a dealer recruitment programme. He said this has always been planned upon reaching a certain annual turnover of equipment. Vinny said some appointments have been made already but they are looking to secure more in certain areas. Dealers would have access to their full range he told me.

Vinny Tarbox and John Coleman

An interesting development was Kubota teaming up with Baroness to offer packages to golf clubs. Not an official merger or anything like that, more a gentleman's agreement, UK md David Hart told me that not all of the two company's dealers are aligned, but where the opportunities present themselves, their dealers can offer a package of equipment to golfing facilities - many of whom want both tractors and cutting equipment.

Adam Butler, Baroness sales director with David Hart, Kubota UK md

Steven Greenup on the STIHL stand told me it's a valuable show for them to get their message out to greenkeepers - especially regarding their professional battery offerings. Similar to last autumn's SALTEX, their new professional walk-behind battery mower was garnering a lot of attention from visitors. 

STIHL's Steven Greenup

From what I could gather, quite a number of dealers had made the trip to the show - many stand holders remarked how pleased they had been with the numbers who they had seen come through. I think dealers would have found a trip to Harrogate worthwhile, with plenty of new product to see combined of course with the value of being able to catch up with a bunch of suppliers all under one roof.

It's been mentioned before, but the town itself is a big part of the appeal of the show. Perhaps some stand holders might feel slightly disappointed as the halls do clear out noticeably after say 2pm - but the local publicans certainly don't!

BIGGA deserve congratulations for putting on a show so perfectly geared towards the needs of their greenkeeper members. Whilst for dealers of professional turfcare equipment, there is more than enough of interest to justify a day or two away from the business.