What could be done to improve the LIBS?

[Sailfree]

The show organisers should reduce the cost for exhibitors to get more there and stop trying to screw the punters so make the show guide fee on the internet with lots of info of whats there and what we shouldn't miss. Lack of advanced info on whats there results in often not bothering to go through the hassle of getting across London to visit and I can get a free entrance ticket!!

 

[Tranona]

I don't know where you get 'an hour and two changes from'. I did the journey yesterday in 30 minutes and one change (Canning Town)

My tube line App gives 27 minutes for Waterloo to Custom House and 20 minutes for Waterloo to Earls Court. The 'too far and it's the wrong side of London' and therefore too far argument is more in the mind than fact.

The point is that if you live to the south or west of London you do not need to go to Waterloo by expensive train to get to Earls Court. Many alternatives such as coach, or driving to a South or West London District Line station. Having been a regular commuter using the Poole to Waterloo line would avoid at all costs during the rush hour - never mind the outrageous cost for a standard ticket to get you there in time for opening at Excel.

 

[toad]

I'm afraid its in a death spiral, less exhibitors mean less visitors which mean less exhibitors will justify the expense in turning up for limited sales.

 

[onesea]

Never been to Excel might of gone this year but work stoped me, either way just looking at logistics its not a place I would want to go to.

Google shows
Driving 2h 22m. straight through the middle of London or facing the legendary M25. Oh and will my car a Landrover fit in the car park?

Train shows 3h 11m. costing 90 pounds.

I only live an hour and a bit from LHR Airport.

The other factor Earls court had was somewhere for SWMBO or none boaty people to go to, an easy Tube ride away. As I understand people would go down stay over, see friends family go shopping in the sales and go to the boat show.

IMHO the London boat show should be relocated NW of London and become more of a a marine trade/ equipment show. If I was buying a boat I would head to Dusseldorf but there allot of us out there that would like chance to go learn about equipment and gear cloths etc.

Southampton is to small and outdoor to make a good show for that sort of stuff.

 

[Elessar]

I don't know where you get 'an hour and two changes from'. I did the journey yesterday in 30 minutes and one change (Canning Town)

My tube line App gives 27 minutes for Waterloo to Custom House and 20 minutes for Waterloo to Earls Court. The 'too far and it's the wrong side of London' and therefore too far argument is more in the mind than fact.

Yes, that's the theory. I live within an easy daily commute of the west of London, close enough to cycle (well i did when I was a little fitter!). I can (reliably) get to Southampton, Birmingham or Bristol quicker than excel.

 

[Richard Shead]

Sadly proved this morn. Train home last night and no reg trains this morn. Ten quid cab and onto tube then DLR but will be late.

When the trains work they work very well. When they don't well they don't !

However one of the busiest sat for a long time yesterday. Laughed at the target in the morning and was very pleasantly surprised when we smashed it !

To add if I was heading to sbs this morn I would have had the same train problem.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Sadly proved this morn. Train home last night and no reg trains this morn. Ten quid cab and onto tube then DLR but will be late.

When the trains work they work very well. When they don't well they don't !

However one of the busiest sat for a long time yesterday. Laughed at the target in the morning and was very pleasantly surprised when we smashed it !

To add if I was heading to sbs this morn I would have had the same train problem.

Was that your sales target or your travel time target Richard?

 

[Richard Shead]

Was that your sales target or your travel time target Richard?

Sales ! Hit show target now.

 

[david_bagshaw]

Earls Court had rail, busses, car parking and taxis, all at reasonable rates.

Parking a car for £15 so that you can pay £20 to look at advertising, paying £5 for a regular beer and £7 for a sandwich is all part of the challenge.

Where did you find reasonable parking at earls court! it was a tenner in 1970! and as for getting there , always took a 1 hour drive from south london. It is not the position, or access, but the fewer exhibitors and competition from the internet.

 

[david_bagshaw]

The show organisers should reduce the cost for exhibitors to get more there and stop trying to screw the punters so make the show guide fee on the internet with lots of info of whats there and what we shouldn't miss. Lack of advanced info on whats there results in often not bothering to go through the hassle of getting across London to visit and I can get a free entrance ticket!!

What is it with the marketing dept that wont supply a free show guide online. I for one never will pay extra for a guide, even a pound would be too much. I dont think the organisers realise the true costs of visiting , before the ticket price. Most NEC shows I have been too have a free paper complete with show guide.

 

[bedouin]

What is it with the marketing dept that wont supply a free show guide online. I for one never will pay extra for a guide, even a pound would be too much. I dont think the organisers realise the true costs of visiting , before the ticket price. Most NEC shows I have been too have a free paper complete with show guide.

Yes - I don't get that either - surely the guide is so packed full of advertising that it more than covers the production cost?

Of course it is less of a problem these days as there are so few exhibitors you don't really need a guide - you can walk past each stand in less than half an hour.

 

[gerry99]

Sadly proved this morn. Train home last night and no reg trains this morn. Ten quid cab and onto tube then DLR but will be late.

When the trains work they work very well. When they don't well they don't !

However one of the busiest sat for a long time yesterday. Laughed at the target in the morning and was very pleasantly surprised when we smashed it !

To add if I was heading to sbs this morn I would have had the same train problem.

Welcome to our world Richard!!!

 

[Richard Shead]

Welcome to our world Richard!!!

I do commute I to town every day it's just the weekends that always go wrong !

I don't however do the tube. Most if where you want to get to in town is a walk.

 

[Pye_End]

Lets come up with some good ideas for next year's (and onwards) show!

My children insisted on coming with me yesterday, and they very much enjoyed themselves. We crawled over several yachts - from a boat builder point of view they never know what age and visit will be one that will encourage somebody to buy one of their craft - it may be 15 years later. Even with a shrinking LIBS I have always spent a full day there and still not fully appreciated everything that is there.

I find both LIBS (and SIBS to some degree) a little short on chandlery other than lifejackets, rope, electronics and clothing. Baseline is at SIBS, as is the gas stand (whatever it is called). The like of A2A4 seem to offer their services via boat jumbles these days, and perhaps they would have been at LIBS 20 years ago instead? ASAP and other catalogue/internet companies have a 'corporate' stand, and I believe it would benefit the show if you were able to buy things from these type of companies. I suspect boat jumbles have taken people away from the big shows.

The Earl's Court v's Excel seems to be based on transport and atmosphere. Personally I find Excel considerably easier/quicker than rail. This Sunday rail problem has been there since the dawn of time and I remember having to get a bus change to go to Earl's Court as a boy. I believe that 'life' has also moved on since Earl's Court - there are fewer boat builders, probably less equipment producers, and less money sloshing around the industry. There are loads and loads of second hand boats, and a lot of very good and durable equipment on most of them, so making cash justifications for going to shows for some gets harder, wherever that show sits.

This probably one area that the organisers of the the show can have an impact - the cost of a stand (not just the floor area - including hotel costs, travel parking etc), especially for the smaller producer.

In the 'old days' it was possible to get a combined discounted rail ticket/entrance to show. Not sure if Dusseldorf still do this, bit I used to go to shows there with free rail tickets included in the show ticket. The show should consider how to make it value for money for a visitor, not how to find ways of extracting every last penny.

 

[JumbleDuck]

What is it with the marketing dept that wont supply a free show guide online.

I assumed that they wanted to cover up the paucity of exhibitors. I was planning to go, as I had a work meeting nearby one morning, but that was cancelled and it isn't remotely worth the cost of a trip down from Scotland for me.

 

[bedouin]

I assumed that they wanted to cover up the paucity of exhibitors. I was planning to go, as I had a work meeting nearby one morning, but that was cancelled and it isn't remotely worth the cost of a trip down from Scotland for me.

I work so close that I can see Excel from my office windows, and as I have a travel pass I can get there for free - but I still didn't think it worth going this year - I just can't imagine many people thinking it worth travelling for more than an hour or two to get to.

 

[Vara]

The thing that would be the saving of LIBS would be a massive upturn in the British and European economy, it's not worth fiddling at the edges to please punters with no money to spend.

 

[Marmalade]

For me there's a number of factors

1. The economy is poor and has been poor for some time. The impact is most keenly felt in areas of discretionary spend - such as leisure pursuits. We've been in recession / downturn etc. for 7-8 years now.

2. The rise of ROBO shopping - Research Offline, Buy Online has changed the face of events like the boatshow, as the invaluable advice given on stands doesn't turn into identifiable sales that can be used to justify the cost of attendance. We've seen the increase in manufacturer stands at the show recently (Raymarine, Musto etc) where they're there simply to promote rather than sell their technology / product. The days of the "boat show deal" are gone it seems. I've bought a few things there in recent years and to my dismay have always arrived home to find I could have got a better price online.

3. Boatbuilders find the cost of attendance increasingly less value-for-money. The downward spiral that this creates looks fatal. Fewer boats means fewer attendees. Fewer attendees means lower footfall and fewer enquiries/leads. Lower footfall means fewer companies choose to come the following year. So fewer boats...
This seems to have hit the sailing boat communities hardest leading to the impression that LIBS is just about the Sunseeker set.

4. The venue is OK to get to. You feel ripped off however by...
- additional cost to park
- high cost of very average food - mostly junk / fast food
- at peak times nowhere to sit - we've seen people sitting on the floor up against a wall eating their lunch

 

[JumbleDuck]

4. The venue is OK to get to. You feel ripped off however by...
- additional cost to park
- high cost of very average food - mostly junk / fast food
- at peak times nowhere to sit - we've seen people sitting on the floor up against a wall eating their lunch

In ExCeL's defence, I have always found the range and quality of food there to be very good, though the prices are generally eyewatering. 've never failed to find a seat, though it has sometime involved a bit of a walk down the central aisle to find a quieter region.

My own pet theory about the undoubted and painful slow death of the London Boat Show is the undoubted and painful slow death of the British boat building industry. Thirty years ago there were lots of British boat builders keen to show off their latest: She / Sadler / Moody / Westerly / Victoria / Trapper / Newbridge / Rustler and lots, lots more. Now we're down to Cornish Crabbers and a few specialist makers of huge things for the super-rich. OK, someone will find a counterexample of two, but I'll stick by the central argument.

That doesn't just mean fewer stalls; it means less interesting to look at. The fun of going to Earl's Court for me was to see loads and loads of boat designs and new ideas. Nowadays it's a few identikit AWBs, something from Cornihs Crabbers and the Mystery 34 and that's yer lot. There's no sense of excitement, no sense of "what will someone have come up with this year?"

Southampton manages to feel very different. I think because so much of it is outdoors and also it comes at the end of the season, when there are so many more opportunities to lie outrageously about the year's exploits. They also seem able to attract a much, much wider range of yachts - I'l hazard a guess that pontoon space at Southampton is much cheaper than hall space in London, and a lot easier to get a boat to.

 

[haydude]

I have never understood why they charge fees to attract customers. Perhaps the organizers haven't understood the basics of commerce. Looking at the US model, they should also provide free parking.

So, if there are no entrance fees and free parking, customers will flock in even if not so much interested, visitors will be high and so the potential customer base will be a lot larger. In such circumstances exhibitors will want to be present and thus they will be enticed to pay higher fees to the venue and organizers that will cover the costs.

It is that simple, yet effective.