back from BETT my thoughts

[Dos_Box]

@NorrthDown2 You are not the only one missing Saturday. That would often be the best day for meeting up with people and would take a lot of pressure of catching up with others. If you could see them on Saturday, then brilliant, if not then look at an alternate day.

As it was, I was down on Thursday and a bit of Friday morning, was lucky enough to not be on the main stand this year, but in meetings with others instead. A chance to wander around and see what was going on was also helpful, but despite many attempts, as I was not down as a school/buyer, I could not book a meeting with other exhibitors, which is a drawback as it is a perfectly reasonable expectation. I did use the Connect@BETT area for a few meetings though and only got moved on once.

I did feel the atmosphere was better than last year, and the moving of the arena was an interesting one, and I think could be workable. Whilst the footfall might drop away, having better arena experiences is a plus point for those attending based on CPD. Feedback I have had about panels and lectures was very positive, and there seems to have been some better curation this year. I would still love to see more of the sessions recorded and available later.

 

Agreed, even if Saturday was a short day, it just gave stands enough time to 'finish' business. A three day event felt very rushed (this show did seem to pass by very quickly).

I can see why they reduced the length of the show though, back at Olympia (when it was all fields etc.) there was far more footfall on the Saturday, but being out on a limb at ExCel prevents casual Saturday visitors, and last years idea of making stands stay open into the evening was doomed to failure as this is the time we have to feed our staff and do our networking then.

 

I have no doubt BETT will settle down to the show it used to be, but the current organisers should listen to the exhibitors more I feel. They (the exhibitors) know what they are doing and have been doing it a long time, but throwing random barriers up is no way to make them receptive to any new ideas the organisers may have.