I had a phone call from the organisors of the Glee exhibition at the NEC, he said that they had stand space available due to cancellations.
I have attended Glee the last two years on the Sunday and it seemed to me to have declined during that time, nothing to the size it had been previously apparently. It is not unusual to have late space at shows, what surprised me was that no particular size stands were mentioned, normally a withdrawing exhibitor would have booked a specific size of stand, square meterage was quoted and for a late offering it wasn't particularly cheap.
We are very busy at the moment and as I am pretty tight for staff and can't manage even to exhibit at the Creating Landscapes show which I would have liked, so I declined the offer. Exhibiting in my experience is quite a big committment and a three day show can take out a fortnights production in terms of preperation, setting up and dismantling, when you add on printing, signage, subsistance and other costs it can grow like topsy.
I like exhbiting my products giving people the opportunity to handle our garden arches, obelisks and products allows people to assess the quality for themselves by touching rather than looking at pictures.
On exhibiting I wish everyone exhibiting at Creating Landscapes a profitable show, I know how much hard work goes into the process and the level of commitment required.
Seriousgardener.co.uk
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I am not sure whether to go or not this year Lisa, last year I had been round pretty much all of it by lunch time, I was actively looking for products to sell on my websites alongside my own stuff but wasn't too inspired by what I saw.
Are you visiting this year?
When I started poking my nose into Glee, all I was interested in was putting right the organiser's mis-representation that the show was a landscape and garden show.
It obviously sells landscape and garden products and there is a some crossover with our industry but the majority of products being sold are retailers trying to get into garden centre or retail outlets.
There's undoubtedly a decline in Glee's exhibitor and visitor numbers and I feel the reasons for this can be attributed to a number of things. Not least the internet.
It's not just Glee suffering either, preliminary figures released by SALTEX point to a 25% drop in exhibitor numbers this year (although I'm still awaiting final clarification from the organisers).
Exhibitor numbers:
2009: 500 (Source ABC))
2010: 400 (ABC)
2011: 300 (estimated)
This is on top of the 33% drop in visitor numbers in 2010.
It is pretty hard on the exhibitors as much as anything else, as I mentioned in my earlier post the commitment is quite signicant in terms of time, cash and resources.
I agree Phil.
no, I would've liked to have gone to Glee but I haven't got time and really need to keep up to date with my customers this year. I was really impressed with it when I did go last year and the products that were being sold by the different traders were also very impressive. Although the guy I'd been speaking to said it was half the size, I still thought there was a lot there. I do wish everyone at Glee well though and hope they all do well.
i think glee has had its day ,its a poor show now
GLEE is still an important show for retailers but the forming of the SOLEX show at Telford took away around three halls of garden furniture from GLEE. This was due to the furniture suppliers needing orders earlier for manufacturing in the Far East to meet the deadlines of retailers early season delivery needs.
Phil,
I did glee, I think I will give you a call.
It is a big show- but cost a lot and as there are so many bigger firms hard to get a mass of people to your place.
If doing any show, (I am doing fouroaks -next week)
you should invite the people you wish to see- hard work and cost a bit but if not doing so you will not get enough leads to cover costs.