This week I am looking forward to visiting BIGGA’s BTME show in Harrogate from Tuesday to Thursday, 21st-23rd January. It’s a show I have been attending for twenty plus years. 

Harrogate is a wonderful venue for the show, offering so much more than just a trade exhibition. The after-show activities and networking opportunities in the pubs and restaurants around the town has always been a popular and integral part of the experience.

Also, during BTME there is an education programme of seminars and training opportunities for practicing greenkeepers which always seems to be a very well attended element of the event. 

As always, this week in Harrogate will be great opportunity for myself to catch up with many of the diverse manufacturers and exhibitors to learn about their latest products and services on offer. It is also nice to catch up with many visitors to the show who rely heavily on these service providers and suppliers.

For me as an editor and turf consultant, it is important to keep up to date with the latest technologies that help improve turf grass standards.

Our trade shows are an important vehicle. BTME is well liked because of its location and time of the year when it seems convenient for practitioners to attend.

However, it will be interesting to see what the attendance figures will be this year. Last year BIGGA published the following attendance information for BTME:

• Unique Visitors: 4,234, excluding exhibitors and event personnel.
• Exhibitors: Approximately 145, a 7% increase from 2023. 
• Continue to Learn Education Programme: 1,145 tickets sold between Sunday and Wednesday, not including attendees of free seminars.
• The average visitor stay was about 1.6 days, indicating that many attendees participated over multiple days.
• These numbers reflect a slight increase compared to the 2023 event, which had 4,174 unique visitors.

For me, the question I think we must ask ourselves, is the attraction of around 4,000 people to one of our industry’s major shows enough?

And bear in mind, not all attendees are greenkeepers. Visitors also come from other working areas of the industry such as football, schools, local authorities, contractors etc.

These figures have been fairly static for a number of years now. Which is strange when we consider the number of golf courses we have in the UK. As of 2019, the United Kingdom and Ireland collectively had approximately 3,100 golf courses. 

The average staffing of greenkeepers on an 18-hole golf course can vary significantly based on factors such as the course's size, level of maintenance required, budget, and whether the course is public or private. However, typical staffing levels include:

Full-Time Staff:

Course superintendent or head greenkeeper: 1
Assistant greenkeepers: 2-4
Specialised staff (e.g., equipment technicians, irrigation specialists): 1-2
Seasonal or part-time staff: - During peak growing seasons, additional part-time or seasonal workers are often employed to handle mowing, bunker maintenance, and general upkeep. This can add 2-4 more staff members during the busy months.

Total:

Year-round average: 4-6 full-time staff
Seasonal peak: 6-10 staff, including part-time workers.

High-end or championship courses may have significantly larger crews, sometimes exceeding 20 greenkeepers, to maintain immaculate conditions.

So, if we take a rough average of saying a golf course has five staff, that equates to around a minimum of 15,500 greenkeepers working in the UK.
So, my question is why are we only seeing around 4000 people attend the show?

And it’s not just BTME. Other major industry shows seem to have the same sort of attendance figures. Should we not be attracting around 10,000 to these events?

Maybe it is time to amalgamate our trade shows? Or attract some new players to the shows to increase footfall?

Maybe we should for the last days of our trade shows invite schools and colleges to attend so they can get a feel for what our industry is about and the opportunities it offers for the next generation industry practitioners?