Just interested to see if the NEC show goes ahead as planned will anyone on here be going? We have to decide if we're exhibiting soon & it's a large investment that we probably won't be able to insure against cancellation.
TBH I want to go but probably won't as it has gone down hill for several years. Shame really as it was where me and mates from Bristol would meet up, and where the first "date" I went on with the now Mrs BSS. Last few times we have gone all round and bought all the bits we want by lunchtime, and whilst it used to take a day it was worth the price, now it is too much for basically a half day.
You’d like to think things will be back to normal and people will attend, but it’s a serious gamble for a business to undertake. The company I work for had been scheduled to exhibit at UK trade shows last year that all got postponed and have been postponed again or moved online. Those that went online I’d say were pointless in the main (so the monies spent a waste) - after all, people go to shows to see and touch the kit and talk detail face to face. Postponed shows have rolled over the booking so no direct monies as such have been lost. It’s the time/money invested in planning, getting equipment booked and shipped in advance that has caught us out. Some exhibit pieces we could self store but larger items had to go to off site storage and costs on a month by month ongoing basis. We are yet to do any postponed show and as such it’s difficult to gauge how attendance will be. However, in other countries where our colleagues have exhibited, the reports have been of a sizeably reduced attendance from previous years. I would expect bike and car shows will not suffer the same as the general public attend, whereas “Business” trade shows are made up of solo attendees but predominantly company employees sent by their employers. Realistically employers will be reluctant to send people to an environment where there is a heightened risk that could leave them liable. What are the organisers saying will happen in the event of cancellation or postponement. Are they offering refunds or not for either case? If they are looking only to move your booking on then the concern is that the new date may not work for you (due to another event or business commitment).
The organisers are offering full refunds to exhibitors if the show does not go ahead but the floor space is only a part of the outlay, we have stand builders, printing, staff costs, hotels, and many other costs that may not be recoverable if the worst happens. If we do the show I think it'll be a last minute decision & on a small scale relative to previous years.
Yes, I can agree with all that. We have moved away from purpose built stands for that reason and doing just shell scheme only. Hotels are booked (albeit if at a higher nightly rate) but with free cancellation. Printing we’ve got creative so nothing is tied to a specific show or date. Staff costs we are fortunate with, as we don’t employ any additional people to man the stands. Anything, like local haulage, we’ve only made provisional bookings in case the worst happens.
I go every year and the highlight for me is sitting on, touching and looking at all the bikes. If any of the social distancing malarkey is still in place (which I fully anticipate some of it will) then I won't be going. Imagine having to form orderly queues to sit on bikes with staff manically spraying and wiping down bikes in-between users. Not for me.
