There's no denying that attending a trade show as a visitor can be kind of expensive.
You've got travel costs, accommodation if you are intending on going into the show for a couple of days, expensive food options - and possibly the highest cost of all, your time. Time away from your workplace at any point in the year can be costly in many ways, financially speaking only being the half of it!
However, I would argue, if you can organise a window of opportunity for yourself, the trade events which the industry is currently providing, offer genuine value.
TurfPro attended BTME last week and it seemed buzzing and well populated. BIGGA issued a statement on the last day saying 5,260 people had made their way through the doors of the Harrogate International Centre. When BIGGA CEO Jim Croxton addressed the press on Day 2 he said the association had been delighted with how the first day had gone, saying they were around 300 visits up on the first day of the previous year. He said, “I feel we are closer to the golf industry now than we have ever been.”
Numbers at BTME certainly seem to be helped by golf clubs allowing whole teams to visit the show – this feeling different to what is currently happening at the new SALTEX, with mostly just the senior, purchasing decision makers attending. The hugely popular Continue To Learn education programme is no doubt the major factor which encourages clubs to allow groups of greenkeepers to visit Harrogate.
Organisers said that 3,094 individual educational experiences took place last week. Jim Croxton described Continue To Learn as “..the engine of our event.”
The show itself was smaller this year in terms of floor space with Hall Q which had been utilised for the past couple of editions, not in use. It was a bit of a ghost hall last year to be honest, with several people I spoke to glad that it was gone as it just didn't generate the same levels of foot-traffic as the rest of the halls did.
It meant that as you walked through the main entrance into Hall M, all the machinery big boys were in one place. It certainly made a lot more sense thematically to have Kubota in here this year, alongside John Deere, Toro, and Jacobsen - rather than tucked away at the back of the International Centre as they were last time.
In terms of big machinery news at the show, there were a couple of interesting developments announced.
Advanced Turf Technology (ATT), makers of the TMSystem and INFiNiCut premium sportsground cutting equipment, announced that they have sold out to MTD, owners of Cub Cadet. John Coleman MD of ATT and inventor of the systems, told the press that the machines would continue to be manufactured in Sheffield, but the machines would be marketed worldwide under the Cub Cadet brand.
Also announced at the show was that Price Turfcare, a newly established business founded by Ransomes Jacobsen's former International Sales Director, Rupert Price, has been awarded the UK and Ireland distribution rights for Ventrac all-wheel drive compact tractors. Supported by a group of former colleagues, Price Turfcare announced that they have bespoke warehousing and distribution facilities near Bury St Edmunds and shall be concentrating on expanding UK sales.
And Jacobsen themselves gave a presentation to the press on how Ransomes in Ipswich fits into the global structure of the company now that it has had somewhat of a rejig. Under the umbrella of TSV (Textron Specialised Vehicles) Ransomes hold a key position worldwide in what they term the 'Equipment' bracket. Alan Prickett stressed how vital Ipswich remained to Jacobsen's worldwide profile. In the States production of Jacobsen turf care machinery is shifting from Charlotte to Augusta into a brand new, multi-million-dollar facility.
So once again I found a trip to north Yorkshire to be valuable, informative and enjoyable. I’m sure the greenkeepers in attendance found plenty to get their teeth into during the educational sessions, and the exhibitors had enough visitors in attendance to hopefully attract ones with spending power to their stands.
