When Paul and I first began thinking about whether to launch a new national window, door & conservatory trade show we began by speaking with people from the industry. I’d always taken an interest in Glassex during its decline, without knowing at the time I’d be involved in a trade show myself in the future. Paul had been involved as the press officer for many years so knew a lot about what made people attend, and also the reasons why they stayed away towards the end.
I talked to lots of people in our industry and soaked up as much as I could about what makes a successful trade show. It was clear that their was a sadness that an industry the size of the window, door and conservatory industry didn’t look like it was going to have it’s own show piece going forward.
But, talking to people was not enough. We needed real data, so we created an online survey and asked as many people from our industry as possible to help us, and provide answers to our questions. We sent an email to the Insight Database, I wrote about the survey on my blog, we tweeted about the survey and emailed people encouraging them to assist. People are often inundated with information overload, and time can be precious, and in many ways there is a general apathy in our industry. However, we did manage to get around 400 industry people to click on the link and give us their thoughts, so I thought I’d share the results with you, and provide some of my thoughts.
The first question we asked people, about the number of trade shows they had visited over the past two years, gave us a very promising message. Roughly two thirds of people surveyed had visited a trade show for work purposes, with many attending more than one trade show.
As you would expect, Glassex was the most visited of the trade shows visited, along with a good few people visiting Interbuild, Ecobuild and the G Regionals. The overseas exhibitions are less well attended by UK window industry people.
A few weeks ago Paul and I visited both Ecobuild and Fensterbau. I was highly impressed by Fensterbau. We have a lot to learn from our European neighbours about how to put on a relevant trade show. With 750 exhibitors, 100,000+ visitors, and major investments being made by companies in a window & door industry exhibition I came away inspired. I was also impressed by the scale of Ecobuild, and particularly impressed by the seminar programme, but I can’t help think that it’s the wrong location, and not ideal for the window industry supply chain to connect with it’s core market.
I guess it may seem obvious, but the main motivating factor for people to visit a trade show is to see new products and services. With the long time delay between a major UK window industry exhibition and the launch of the FIT Show there will be many new products and services for exhibitors to showcase. Also important to people is networking, meeting existing customers / suppliers, and making new business contacts.
Interestingly, at Fensterbau it seems that the motivation to exhibit is less about gaining new business, and more about looking after existing customers. Many of the stands are more like restaurants with staff and customers catching up to discuss new product opportunities and strengthen business relationships. In the UK there can be a narrow-minded attitude where exhibitors are keen for their own customers NOT to attend exhibitions, and only other companies customers to attend. An exhibition can be an ideal opportunity for suppliers to look after their existing customers.
It was clear from the research that people are willing to visit a trade show if it’s a ‘big show’. They want to see full industry representation, lots of exhibitors and the right type of exhibitors.
Other things like the venue location, the cost of parking, product demonstrations, and cheap food and drink all help to make the visit more pleasurable, but the overriding message is that the most important factor is the show must have most of the the major players on board.
We’ve already made a good start with getting some of the big players on board (see latest floorplan), and there should be some more big names signing up over the coming days. And, it’s not just about the large companies. Installers want to see new innovations from the smaller companies, such as tool demos, niche products and services which add value to their businesses.
I’ve highlighted that celebrities seem to be a turn off. Again, having a big name attend the show will not be enough in its own right to get the visitors there. However, it will be our intention to get some strong keynote speakers for the seminar programme who add real value.
One of the reasons we chose the Telford International Centre was its close proximity to the M6. The research suggests that people are willing to travel to a relevant trade show.
Initially, Paul and I did consider having the FIT Show in the South East. London, particularly, is the capital city and the booming area of the UK. But, when we spoke with people in the industry they felt that the exhibition venues in London were difficult for the vast majority of the industry to get to. I recently visited Ecobuild at Excel and it took me 6 hours to get there from Wakefield.
The research was strongly in favour of the Midlands as the right place to hold an event. The people who chose the other regions tended to be from those regions, so they weren’t in fact answering the question as to the best place to locate an event, but were actually choosing the easiest place for them to get to.
Indeed, since I’ve been out on the road signing up exhibitors, it is clear that most of the supply chain is located across a central belt – North of London and South of the M62.
Paul and I visited all the major exhibition venues in the Midlands, and there were only two realistic options. The obvious location is the NEC, but we felt that for a launch show we needed a fresh venue. The NEC and Glassex are strongly linked in the minds of those in the window industry, and we felt we needed a brand new event to carve out it’s own identity. The Telford International Centre is centrally located and because we have booked the whole venue, it will for 3 days in April 2013 feel like a fantastic home for the FIT Show.
There’s a broad range of interest in the main products our industry sells, but clearly there’s a couple of products which stand out above the others – composite doors and bifold doors. We already have a number of composite door suppliers signed up, but no specialist bifold door companies yet signed up to take advantage of this demand (although I’m sure some of the system companies and fabricators already signed up will have them on show). There is interest in aluminium and timber windows / doors, and we’re keen that the show isn’t a PVC show.
One interesting result was the interest in marketing ideas so we’re developing a strong seminar programme with marketing ideas discussed, and we’re keen for companies with marketing knowledge to share to come forward and consider exhibiting.
We have a massive marketing budget for the FIT Show to help convince people that the event will be relevant, will be the most important date in the window industry calendar and will be easy to get to.
I believe the answers above show real promise for the FIT Show. Not all people who responded to the survey were directly responsible for making buying decisions, but those who were responded positively with the majority of people suggesting they have made purchases as a result of visiting a trade show.
It’s also worth pointing out that few exhibitors will be selling directly at the show with much of the business happening after the exhibition has ended. The companies exhibiting at Fensterbau understand the value of exhibitions, with many of them investing up to 1m Euros in their stands!
I don’t think I really need to explain the answers above.
This was an interesting question for me. Over the years I’ve been a big advocate of using the internet to promote Conservatory Outlet and its dealers. When chatting with potential exhibitors about trade shows, a couple did suggest they were putting their marketing budget entirely online.
I do understand that the internet has an important role to play, and certainly will in the promotion of the show. But, people need to see products, meet their customers / suppliers and network, so I can’t see the internet ever replacing the need for business trade shows. Indeed, the two will work in tandem going forward.
Clearly, the bulk of people wish to get in their cars or vans to travel to business events, so the ease of access from the M6 and 1700 car park spaces right outside the door at Telford will be important. But, we will be keen to encourage visitors from Scotland, Ireland and mainland Europe so Birmingham International Airport is directly linked to Telford and we’ll be putting a shuttle bus on for the short journey from the train station to the venue.
Initially we were thinking we should hold the FIT Show on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and provisionally booked the venue for these days. However, again we needed to listen to what the research was telling us and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were clearly the peak days people wanted to visit. Around 40% of the respondents to the survey were from installation companies, and they weren’t keen to give up their weekends for a business event. And, if we did try have a weekend day ‘for the fitters’ then we’d also have to incorporate either a Monday or a Friday which are not peak days.
Spring came out as the preferred season to hold a trade show. Winter came out as the second favourite but you’d be gambling with the weather conditions so we chose April to hold the event, and the dates avoid any public holidays.
The final two questions confirm the overwhelming feeling in the industry that people want a show, and feel it will be beneficial to the industry.
Those of a sceptical persuasion will suggest that we’ve only surveyed a small proportion of the industry, and those that have provided their views are more likely to be proactive and positive to an industry show.
That may be the case, but since I’ve been on the road talking to potential exhibitors I’m getting very similar views from people who never completed the survey.
We’ve had unbelievable support from exhibitors. If you view the latest floor plan you will see major brands who have signed up for large stands, who had long since given up on Glassex. I am confident that we will supply what our respondents have asked for, notably full industry representation, lots of exhibitors and the right type of exhibitors.
We are under no illusion that the biggest challenge will be getting visitors to turn up in the numbers required to make the show a long term success. But, with a £500K marketing budget being invested carefully into strategies to encourage fabricators, installers and those interested in fenestration, with a killer strapline of ‘everyone’s going’ then we are very confident we’ll achieve a trade show the industry can be proud of.
