bett 2025 Not Impressed

[garethEds]

Maybe it's just me, but I wasn't impressed by BETT this year. It's been 3 years since I last attended and there was nothing much that caught my attention. AI being the big thing but nothing amazing.

 

What were others opinions? Am I alone in thinking this?

 

I spoke to a mate who works for Adobe and was on their stand - he felt the same.

 

G

[Sibrows]

I’ve not been for a couple of years and it felt like AI was being put on the same product that was being sold pre AI.

There were a couple of moments of enjoying asking various stands “Which bout of that is AI?” some couldn’t answer 😜

[JTTCM]

I noted that the stands were bigger and there were slightly less of them. Ai aside, I also noted a theme that seemed to be focused alot around SSO somewhat. Maybe that was just the vibe I noticed though. Was great to catchup with Rick too.

[Olliedawg]

Was my first time attending, i enjoyed it.

 

Was nice to speak to a few suppliers we use & put a face behind a name.

 

Very heavy emphasis on AI as above

[Rob_D]

It does feel like it's gotten smaller the last few years, and I definitely came away with less bumph than in previous years. But having a specific project I know will be going ahead, and that was well represented, made it feel more useful. (maybe less bumph is because I was more focused and less trying to see everything).

[mikes]

Honestly I went about 7 years ago and due to my location in West Wales I didn't find it that valuable, I had to leave so early in the morning, sit on the bus most of the day, and wander around honestly 99% of the things I saw either didn't interest us (e.g. a lot of primary school stuff) or stuff our school could never pay for. Ended up just exhausted and wanted to go home by 2pm. Almost tripped up Bryan Cox by accident as well

[DrCheese]

I used to go yearly but missed the last two years. I just stopped finding it useful to go constantly as everyone just spouts the latest industry buzzword (Cloud! Blockchain! AI!) & tries to pretend that they've integrated said buzzword into their product when in reality they've done nothing but slap the word into marketing material.

 

The LinkedIn crowd (You know the sorts......) who eat up the buzzwords love it of course & make out that it's the most amazing experience - In reality, they're all just backslapping each other for being in the same room.

 

Any little company that has a great product (eg Schoolcloud) ends up being bought by one of the bigger vendors & then crushed/put into development hell anyway so the experience of finding great new products has gone as well.

 

Yes, I'm cynical - It has it's value, but I think it's something that you go to every 3/4 years now not a yearly "MUST GO" event.

 

or stuff our school could never pay for.

Yeah I second this. There's little scope in our budget for anything outside of core functionally so anything shiny we do see, we can't afford anyway.

Edited January 27, 2025 by DrCheese

[FragglePete]

Been going every year, and I do enjoy it mostly as a chance to meet up with current suppliers/account managers to sing their praises or raise any issues. But this year, yeah, a bit "meh". A lot of AI but not as much as I thought there would be. Did also seem to be a lot of more Chinese suppliers (and Korean) trying to sell all sorts of stuff that will just end up as WEEE Waste in the future.

 

What I didn't like, and in some respect I can understand why..... I only represent one school as a Single Academy Trust, but wondering around with a friend who works for a large MAT they would just latch on to him and were not really interested in me even though I started the initial conversation when visiting stands.

 

I normally come away with ideas for the future, but usually feel it'll be an uphill struggle with our budgets, but this year I didn't really come away with anything that excited me.

 

Pete

[garethEds]

Some other things I noticed...

 

1. TES - Did I miss their stand?

2. Sad how RM, once a massive stand in the middle of Olympia reduced to a small square on the outsides.

 

I agree that it was nice to meet up with some people. I did find one person on the Microsoft stand was a bit rude considering their public persona is of one of openess.

 

GJE

[Ditto]

Without wanting to stir, honestly, was there any sign of progress with ESS's cloud based MIS?

[DrCheese]

Some other things I noticed...

 

1. TES - Did I miss their stand?

2. Sad how RM, once a massive stand in the middle of Olympia reduced to a small square on the outsides.

 

I agree that it was nice to meet up with some people. I did find one person on the Microsoft stand was a bit rude considering their public persona is of one of openess.

 

GJE

 

No TES didn't attend this year - They weren't on the list of vendors on the website.

 

RM - They bet the house on BSF years ago and haven't really recovered as best I can tell.

[psydii]

2. Sad how RM, once a massive stand in the middle of Olympia reduced to a small square on the outsides.

 

*tiny violins*

[psydii]

Without wanting to stir, honestly, was there any sign of progress with ESS's cloud based MIS?

 

Didn't go, but from what I have seen in the last six months, for the first time in 12 years I am of the opinion that the next gen of sims might be less than five years from being a viable product.

 

Previously it was clearly *at least* five years away.

 

But since this is basically their third go at it, and each time something derails their plans, I suspect/fear that this time around it will be the precipitous decline in customers that derails its development.

 

I say fear because IMO the market needs three products to remain competitive.

Edited January 27, 2025 by psydii

[psydii]

No TES didn't attend this year - They weren't on the list of vendors on the website.

 

So no representation of the EduKey products such as classhcharts/provision map etc?

https://www.tes.com/for-schools/now-tes

[sigma]

Haven’t been since 2020. Was bored the last time I went so in no rush to go again.

 

The last useful time was as we were about to replace the whiteboards for panels, and then it was the chance to see and try as many as possible.

 

Otherwise there are too many things that are/not appropriate/we don’t have a budget for or are just hype.

 

How many remember ‘teaching tables’ that were everywhere for a few years. How many bought them? How many still have them?

 

It was always a good opportunity to go late night shopping in the West End though.

[2ilent8cho]

Been going BETT since 2004, I'd say this was the most disappointing one I've been to. Just AI everywhere as a buzz word, and nothing to get excited about. Also not a fan of the way registration works now, I miss just getting there, go up to a machine, enter details and pass gets printed. Felt like a right faff getting registered this time.

[PotNoodleTech]

I say fear because IMO the market needs three products to remain competitive.

 

IMHO they won't exist in 5 years to launch anything.

[FragglePete]

Some other things I noticed...

 

2. Sad how RM, once a massive stand in the middle of Olympia reduced to a small square on the outsides

GJE

Didn't you see the new RM Head Office there..... pft!

[Garacesh]

I used to go yearly but missed the last two years. I just stopped finding it useful to go constantly as everyone just spouts the latest industry buzzword (Cloud! Blockchain! AI!) & tries to pretend that they've integrated said buzzword into their product when in reality they've done nothing but slap the word into marketing material.

 

The LinkedIn crowd (You know the sorts......) who eat up the buzzwords love it of course & make out that it's the most amazing experience - In reality, they're all just backslapping each other for being in the same room.

 

Any little company that has a great product (eg Schoolcloud) ends up being bought by one of the bigger vendors & then crushed/put into development hell anyway so the experience of finding great new products has gone as well.

 

Yes, I'm cynical - It has it's value, but I think it's something that you go to every 3/4 years now not a yearly "MUST GO" event.

 

There have been many instances on EduGeek where DrCheese and I have vehemently disagreed about things.

This is not one of them.

 

I last went to BETT about three years ago. Maybe four. And I found it to be much the same. Gone were a lot of the actual developers, and in, seemingly, were the booth babes.

Just to be clear, I'm not disparaging women because they're conventionally attractive, and I'm a staunch support of visibility of women in tech fields, but I found that when I was asking technical questions it was "Let me just grab..", "So-and-so will know that.." etc. Not every single woman there, obviously I didn't endeavour to talk to them all, I'm no creep, but it did seem they were there in more of a salesy capacity than anything else.

 

There were still some good stalls for kit I feel schools would need. Web filters, hardware, CCTV, classroom management, and accessibility hard/software (I was dead impressed by ORCAM, I think they were called?), I wouldn't say my attendance was worthless, but it started to feel like there was also a lot of what I'm going to call 'SLT-bait' mixed in with it. Expensive shinies that gave me the impression of over-promising the world and charging you out the backside for the privilege. I might as well have defenestrated myself with how hard I facepalmed at the mention of "AI-driven behaviour management"..

 

Now I've gone to the dark side corporate, BETT is obviously a no-go, not at that cost, so I can't speak for how it was this year, but I'd be surprised if there's much different. There'll always be a place for it, it's worth keeping an eye on the direction the industry is going so you can get in the door early or prepare your "that's codswallop, mate" counterpoint (delete as applicable) but it felt to me that it had been leaning away from informational and more towards a 'secure sales leads!' angle as time went on.

Edited January 27, 2025 by Garacesh

[jthompson]

I've only ever been once (over 10 years ago now) and I got absolutely nothing from it. Personally, I've never understood the point of it: I fully accept that I may be missing said point, though.

 

I'd much rather just, y'know, look at websites.

[Andycat]

I went this year after an absence of about 6 years. I went primarily to look at new displays as we're out to tender at the minute.

 

I thought it was too big, too many suppliers either in suites away from the arenas, or even hotels close by etc. Many people on stands who were just bait, no knowledge at all.

 

I got the info I needed, but in a much longer time than it should have been!

 

And why London? Why not somewhere central?

[localzuk]

I haven't been to BETT for a number of years, so this was a larger setup than the last time I went. That said, I have a few issues with it. The organisation of the event was a bit of a mess. I arrived via Customs House, and there was no signage apparent on where The Arena was - vs it previously having been in the centre of the convention floor.

 

Next, the badges - printing my own is fine, no issue with that. But when I arrived to actually get in? No-one could tell me simply where to get a lanyard. The first person said I'd have to join the huge queue for the registration/printing stuff. Took my own walking around to find some lanyards.

 

It just felt disorganised.

 

On the general concept - I found it somewhat useful, but I had specific projects in mind, so knew what I was looking for. Some of the big stands, I don't really know why they were there though. Dell? Went to ask them about their next generation of 2 in 1 devices, and it took them passing me to someone else, who told me a reorganisation was coming soon and they couldn't really say much. Not particularly helpful!

 

But, the main good thing about BETT? Meeting up with people. I caught up with various people I've not seen for several years, or knew only via email etc... Putting a face to a name is always good for building relationships further!

 

If you go to BETT to just walk around and see the new stuff? I think you'll walk away disappointed these days. Tech isn't developing so rapidly. We're seeing iteration rather than innovation in most cases. And most iteration today is nailing "AI" onto existing products.

[FN-GM]

I personally think that this is a product of the industry. Apart from AI, I can’t think of much innovation that has occurred in the past few years. It’s all been more of the same.

[Rob_D]

And why London? Why not somewhere central?

 

Probably because London makes for a good travel hub. Although Birmingham NEC would be a good alternative further north.

[garethEds]

Probably because London makes for a good travel hub. Although Birmingham NEC would be a good alternative further north.

 

Alternative years would be a great idea - like they used to do with the Motor Show.

 

G

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Another point - I was amazed at how many schools took pupils. I'm sure I remember many years ago that children were not allowed. All the ones I saw were well behaved, but I bet some vendors were taken for a ride with the freebies.