London Boat Show.

[jac]

I think the world has moved on from the old days of the 'general public' paying good money to go to the London boat show.
The Southampton show still draws in a lot of non-boating public AFAIK. At least, I know some 'civilians' in the area who go.
At the London show, I've felt that being a yottie who might buy a boat doesn't cut it, the suits only want to talk to you if you might buy 20 for a charter operation.
Is this the same across all industries? Are Trade Shows a dying breed?
The RYA Dinghy Show seems to need a new sponsor. That is a much different game, but maybe has the same problems? Anyone go this year?

I do wonder to what extent are the general public admissions a mixed blessing.

No-one can have any issue with the attempts to tempt people into boating in general but surely if you are at a show like LIBs (or SIBS) what you really need is to increase your sales by an amount greater than the cost of the show. SO to you, whether 10k or 110k come through the door is irrelevant. What you need is potential customers who may seriously be thinking of buying. I remember at SIBS last year on the Hanse stand, the sudden change in attentiveness when we replied to the "what do you sail at the moment question" with the answer " A 36CC but she's now on the market." No-one else was suddenly allowed onto the boat and a more senior person appeared fairly shortly.

What % of punters at the show are serious? I suspect the vast minority, especially if it's a sunny Saturday at SIBS. Dealers must miss quite a few as they don't get too talk to them for the grockles in the way.

If serious buyers know that they can just make an appointment at a main dealer and get a better visit then why go to the show? If a significant number of people do that then the actual business that dealers must see at shows starts to fall then a vicious circle develops - lower serious enquiries / sales leads to less attractive show for exhibitors so some pull out, so visitor numbers fall, so boat show income falls so they try to attract more of the general public, charge exhibitors more which makes for less pleasant experience on the remaining boats, more incentive to see boats away from the show, less business at the show ........

For the exhibitors, I suspect the ideal show would be low numbers of visitors but high quality ones and spaced out over the week so that a salesman can dedicate time to them. SO seriously interested in boating activities, only visiting stands that they might buy from to chose the perfect product leaving sales staff with onloy the job of selling products as best they can, not answering stupid questions from grockles.

That's the antithesis of the good show for the BMIF who just want more through the turnstiles.