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Think you must have been the only one on lJN that didn't get a direct email from them! (i.e imo spammed) - may have been a great idea for a show, - but to me the timing is bad, - busiest month of the year, - School holidays, in a month that already has 3 bank holidays in it.
if i'm going to pay for childcare, it will be so that I can earn money, -
mind you saying that, the creating landscapes show in October is in Half term!
Dan Tarleton said:
I toddled up to the show with my husband yesterday. Our main impression was that there were a lot of disappointed stallholders - disappointed partly because of footfall and partly (depending on who they were) because of content.
As a visitor it was great because it was so uncrowded. We arrived at 12.15 and the chap at Majestic trees told us that it had been busy between 10 and 11, so perhaps we missed the rush. By the time we left at around 3.30 the impression we had was that anyone wandering around was a stallholder. Some stallholders weren't even bothering to man their stand by then so I didn't get to talk to PRISM, a research group from Exeter University looking into workspace design (indoor plants presumably would have featured in our conversation).
Other stalls that I don't think you'd have expected to be there represented a gardening website, an exotic garden in Suffolk and quite a few florists. Plants and planters, outdoor furniture were also well in evidence.
To be fair, there were companies offering landscaping materials, outdoor lighting systems, turf and paving (such as CED Natural Stone, Grey to Green, Rigby Taylor) but they got a bit lost amongst the other stands. There was no heavy machinery and the overall feel was more of design and equipment to dress up the garden. In fact, it felt like a show for the public.
There was a good range of lectures in 3 lecture theatres, any of which I'd have liked to attend (the one we went to in the morning, on "The Invisible Boundary: Where does Garden Design End and Landscape Architecture Start?", had 40-odd people there, so perhaps a lot of people disappeared to the lectures in the afternoon). Sean Myall from Marshalls was talking on Sustainable Paving at the time we went - I was sorry to have to miss it.
One stallholder told us they'd been told to expect 2-3000 people (not sure if per day or over 2 days) but had much revised their expectations. The same stallholder was disappointed because a great deal of the emphasis was on indoor gardening, floristry etc, as he said, "Flowers put in offices at great expense."
All in all, it wasn't the show we expected. There was a pianist and champagne bar in the middle (it was hard enough to hear in the lecture theatres; we didn't need extraneous music), a few Features, which included an "arboretum" (Majestic), and a sculpture feature of Ferri Ceramics (fascinating in their creepiness) but until I read the catalogue I just thought they were big display stands.
So, interesting for a mooch, and if you wanted to find ideas for dressing clients' gardens, or are into servicing offices or in floristry, but as a landscaper I think if you'd given up time to visit you would have been disappointed.
I visited today, and had a similar experience. I spent about two hours there fomr 9.30, which included a talk (some good quality speakers). Various stall holders said it would get busier later... ?
It was personally helpful as I could have a proper chat to two or three folk I'd been wanting to catch for ages, and there were so few punters about they could afford to talk for a good while. I don't know how many exhibitors there were, but the space wasn't exactly crowded.
As Helen says, I came away rather non-plussed - who was this aimed at, and why?
I popped down yesterday and agree with Helen and Nick. Not very busy, mainly exhibitors walking around (I think), good seminars with very good speakers and I caught up with a couple of people I hadn't seen for a while.
Worth going? Yes and no.
Nice review Helen
I have to say I'm not surprised about the lack of footfall the arse has dropped out of the B2B market, only the upper end is thriving and that will not continue for long. We've seen one exhibition organiser go to the wall already this year and another couple teetering, it's not a good time for them.
And yes the spam for this event was OTT and badly done, good copy sells, bad copy sucks.
Helen Gazeley said:
I have been reading with interest the comments of those LJ members that visited the Olympia Landscape show last week. I attended on Thursday 14th April to see the event for myself and to meet up with a number of people I have been speaking to for some time about exhibiting at Creating Landscapes Trade Show.
The Olympia Landscape Show was very well presented, difficult not to be in such a wonderful backdrop at one of London’s premier exhibition venues. But there lies one of the problems, as this great venue comes with a high price tag which has to be passed onto the paying exhibitors.
I certainly could not fault the way the event looked or felt. Yes it was quite and I spotted a number of stands that were empty or had no one manning them, this I find very sad from an exhibition organisers view. However, I am sure there are reasons.
As the event was quite, this enabled me to visit a number of stands and companies and have good in depth conversations about Creating Landscapes. I will not bore you with a list of all those I met, but I am keen to highlight a few, who I am keen to encourage into supporting our Show. These include:
Energreen UK Ltd who were the only machinery company represented at the event. I met up with Lucio Cardani who was keen to show me around his very impressive remote controlled slope mower. This I am sure would be a great hit at Creating Landscapes, particularly as we have demonstration space for exhibitors who need to show off their kit in a working environment.
I also met up with Nick Mann, of Habitat Aid. He lives in Somerset like myself and found this amusing that we meet up at a trade exhibition in London. Nick is a LJ member and full of ideas for Creating Landscapes. I am hopeful he will be able to support us as an exhibitor in due course.
The product that impressed me most had come from Belgium, from Forest Avenue & Co being represented by their UK distributor Randle Siddeley Associates. Forest Avenue manufacture a man made “willow hurdle”. They make this in a number of different colours and types and looks like the real thing. One type is even made to “fade” over time giving it an even more genuine feel.
I also met up with Adrian and Tamsin Slater of Vector Works Training who have committed themselves to supporting Creating Landscapes which is great news.
Both Phil and I will be keeping you updated on Creating Landscapes progress, but do keep on checking the Show’s web site for the latest news and developments.
Yours
Stephen
Thank you for the positive feedback and observations about the show. Importantly the proffesional way in which it was hosted. I had a very rewarding although tiring event which was useful for many reasons.
We managed to catch up with old contacts, see new products, meet new designers, discuss a number of new projects within the UK and identify some new international franchising opportunities.
My seminar was well attended and the other seminars I visited were equally well supported.
Whilst wearing my other hat as Efig chairman www.efig.eu.com we managed to identify some new membership opportunities and discuss the lobbying we at efig are doing to make plants on, in and around buildings the norm rather than an after thought. ( watch out in the press and hort week)
This type of event could always do with more visitors but you do get out of an event like this exactly what you put into it, those who work the arena will always get more reward than those who wait for the work to roll in !
I have attached an image of our garden for those who are interested !
Happy planting and hope to see you soon,
Tom
Thanks for popping in Tom.
Sadly, many of us won't get to read Hort Week because of their decision to take everything behind a paywall. With 90,000 visitors to Landscape Juice last month, uploading news here will probably be more positive.
Thomas Palfreyman said:
Nice clean looking stand Tom, is that an outdoor television?
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