G10 regional exhibition weathers the snowstorms

Despite the freak weather conditions that hit the UK in early December, the final G10 Regional Exhibition of the year took place at Wembley Stadium. Exhibitors worried that they were unable to get to the event for the build-up all managed to arrive on time, and while the visitor numbers were understandably lower than expected, some brave souls battled snow and ice to attend.

Exhibition organiser Tony Higgin said: “Ironically the north London area only experienced a light snow fall, but a number of exhibitors told horror stories about getting down to the venue in time. Of course we were aware that our visitor numbers would be hit, and they were, but I take my hat off to those buyers who did brave the elements to attend.”
Even Bohle Ltd, industry experts at organising their participation at exhibitions, had a heart-stopping moment when they realised their team might be stuck at the wrong end of the country. Dave Broxton, managing director, remembers, “We had to abandon our plans to bring the stand down in cars and put our gear into our company engineer’s 4x4 just to guarantee we would be able to get there. But, despite the freak snowfall, we still feel we will get a return on investment because the cost of exhibiting was comparatively low. We took a reasonable number of enquiries, some good glass hardware leads and some high value machine enquiries, one of which has since converted to an order for a straight line edging machine.”
AGC Flat Glass also had a good show having taken what Mark Rodgers, UK sales manager, describes as “decent leads: converting some of these into new business will have made attending the exhibition worthwhile.” He goes on to say, “The industry needs events like the G10 Regionals and needs to support them. With today’s modern methods of business where the internet and email now dominate, it is still invaluable to meet customers face to face at neutral venues such as G10, which is why we will continue to support this traditional exhibition format.”

Rebecca Mayhew, brand manager for VEKA, agrees: “Exhibitions are still an important way for buyers to see new products first-hand, and it’s not just exhibitors who need to take advantage of platforms like the G10 Exhibitions, but visitors too. We were impressed with the range of high-profile, market-leading companies who had taken stands, and the people we saw at the show are to be commended for recognising the value in taking time to visit, in spite of the appalling weather.”

When asked about his thoughts on the visitor attendance Higgin said, “We had a lot of interest from visitors registering in advance, and we had done a lot of marketing to them to make sure they knew who was exhibiting and what they would be able to see on the stands. Such extreme weather is every organiser’s nightmare, but I would say that with a total attendance of 164 people, we lost at least 50% of the visitors we conservatively estimated we would get. That said, those who were able to get there have reported it was worth the journey, and exhibitors are reporting some new business. The low cost of exhibiting means that, even in exceptional circumstances like this, they are confident of a return on their investment.”

www.g-events.co.uk/exhibitions