Southampton boat show-waste of time

[Sneds]

I don't understand why you have to pay to get in?

And surely if you do stump up yer hard earned you should be free to go and look at whatever boat you like, appointment or no appointment. You have after all paid to be there!

Agree that if a serious buyer is viewing he should be given priority and understand the need for an appointment there but can you tell me that all days all hours were booked on these boats?

I went last year and looked at most everything I wanted to, had to queue for one or two boats but that was OK.
I found that by being friendly and not trying to be something I'm not (ie not being up my own ****) went a long way.

Looking forward to next year if I can get a free ticket!

 

[Sulley]

We had a great day out, were let on all the boats we wanted to see and great hospitality by MDL.

It's our first year in boating so we also had to buy some bits and pieces!

Also really enjoyed being able to go on HMS Bulwark.

We found one day wasn't long enough either!"

 

[maby]

I don't understand why you have to pay to get in?

And surely if you do stump up yer hard earned you should be free to go and look at whatever boat you like, appointment or no appointment. You have after all paid to be there!

...
Looking forward to next year if I can get a free ticket!

I assume that the hard earned which you stumped up went into PSP's pockets - the exhibitors pay to be there, you're not paying them...

 

[Richard Shead]

I assume that the hard earned which you stumped up went into PSP's pockets - the exhibitors pay to be there, you're not paying them...

Erm nothing goes into PSP pockets (the shippers and sponsors) the show is run by National Boat Shows which is wholly owned by the British Marine Federation.

Both LBS and SBS used to be their cash cow generating revenue that went back into the federation for the benefit of their members (some 1500) but there aint much left of the cow now....

If you want to see what they do then go on their website as its far too much to explain on here.

 

[maby]

Erm nothing goes into PSP pockets (the shippers and sponsors) the show is run by National Boat Shows which is wholly owned by the British Marine Federation.

Both LBS and SBS used to be their cash cow generating revenue that went back into the federation for the benefit of their members (some 1500) but there aint much left of the cow now....

If you want to see what they do then go on their website as its far too much to explain on here.

ok - but the fact still remains that most, if not all, of the exhibitors are paying to be there, not being paid...

 

[Richard Shead]

ok - but the fact still remains that most, if not all, of the exhibitors are paying to be there, not being paid...

of course they are that's the nature of exhibitions, and these two cost far less than most commercial or non federation owned shows to exhibit at.

As for paying to get in, its an exhibition and there is not an exhibition I know that's free to get in?

One day I will give an exhibitors point of view (not now I am of to a show!) it will be fair as I probably meet the biggest cross section of readers / owners out there from PBO to Superyacht World!

 

[Sneds]

I work in the electrical industry, there are exhibitions at the nec and more local ones, electrex is the big one at the nec and exhibitors pay to attend and spend a lot of money on bespoke stands, the vistor aka the customer certainly doesn.'t pay to get in!
On the contarry, we have to invite and encourage people to attend, people being the paying customers. Those guys who pay my wages.
As someone said earlier, planting the seed of a sale for the future.
If Sunseeker told youbto sod off at psp would you next year go and buy a boat from them or princess? I know who I'd chose and you can never tell how much someone has to spend buy checking out their gucci deck shoes.!

 

[Sneds]

Btw. Just plucked Sunseeker out of the air as a major manufacturer. No inference intended! In fact theybtreated us really well last year.

 

[henryf]

We were at IFSEC in Birmingham this year, a huge security exhibition. As an exhibitor you pay a lot of money to be there. Visitors have to register then it's free to get in. We can obviously invite as many people as we want.

The boat show is not totally different in that many people will be getting in for free, be it via one of the manufacturers, your marina, the magazine you subscribe to just kidding. But genuine customers can get in for free where appropriate.

Now if you're after a bean bag, some fender socks and a length of rope then I'm not sure if any of the suppliers will comp you but hopefully the entrance fee can be offset by the time you save trekking to each supplier individually and possibly some show savings.

Henry

 

[ari]

I work in the electrical industry, there are exhibitions at the nec and more local ones, electrex is the big one at the nec and exhibitors pay to attend and spend a lot of money on bespoke stands, the vistor aka the customer certainly doesn.'t pay to get in!

And, just roughly, how many people do you think would turn up to that if you charged them..??

 

[Frontier]

We had a good day, even the Hardy man smiled and said hello. However there was a severe lack of seating in the main food areas, and that was waiting until after 2:00pm!

Around £14 for a BLT, fruit salad, lager and a diet coke is expensive. Would be OK if there was somewhere civil to sit and eat it, but with hoards of people prowling through the food hall looking for a table it's just not comfortable. People shouldn't have to sit outside on the ground by the bins to eat their food!

Thank you Premier Marinas, for the coffee and very nice cookies, served on their balcony overlooking the water. We really needed the sit-down.

Dissapointed with the queue for HSM Bulwark, having walked around for hours we couldn't face 30 minutes in the queue just to get onboard.

I dont know where the show entrance was last year as we didn't go, but we have used the park n ride in previous years and were dropped off just outside. Now there is no convenient place for them to stop, so we were dumpped up the road in a layby. That was dissapointing.

Birchwood, were very friendly and gave us a good tour, as did Prestige. The lady demonstrator was pleasent, and knew her stuff. Princess also seemed very open to visitors unfortunatly the one boat we wanted to see was busy at the time.

HMS Bulwark has to win the contest for the boat with the largest tender garage.

Overall we had a good day, but the surprisingly good weather helped a lot.

 

[lisilou]

Gotta say, we really enjoyed it. The good weather is a bonus and makes a huge difference but we just enjoy perusing and being nosey looking at all the stuff we can't afford. just a great day out i think. Looking forward to London now .
Lisa