Who pulled out

[Kipper]

Local news last night told us that the Liverpool boat show has been cancelled due to 12 companies pulling out.
Shame we were looking forward to having a proper boat show oooop North.

[Philiz]

Is that definite? Real shame if it is, we were looking forward to it too.

Edit - Just checked their website, it is cancelled

[rafiki_]

Full page ad in MBM this month. I hope they paid up front!

[Major Catastrophe]

http://www.mby.com/news/516161/liver...show-cancelled

[303hound]

It's a shame it's been cancelled would have been nice to have a proper show up north. I guess there are just too many shows and liverpool was going to be a risk in many peoples eyes.

The timing wasn't great as a lot of people will be just getting in to full swing of using their boats what with two bank holidays being so close together.

[Kipper]

Thats interesting Major.

Seems all the stuff about what a good show Lonfon was, was Bxxxxxs. If it is actually the case that exhibors got such a kicking at the show that they couldnt stomach another one.
I dont see ti mong as an issue it seems about right to me.

Big shame though. I woulnder if they will have another go next year.

[Major Catastrophe]

I think I know the reason now as I have just spoken to one of the exhibitors.

He alleges that he struck a deal with a rep for space, and so did many others, but when they totted up the till at the end of the day, they were still short, so they sent out bills for the shortfall. In his case it almost doubled his bill.

But, he also told me that another company had leased a large area within the dock area and were busily renting it out cheaper than the official space.

In fact, my source had negotiated to rent a large space, cheaper than the cost of the small space the exhibition people were offering, as soon as he got the additional bill. Luckily, he was due to sign the lease today, so he can pull out of that without cost.

He thinks it all went wrong when it was discovered that the show wasn't enclosed, but anybody could basically check out all the boats from the dockside without paying the £15 ticket and if you paid the entry price you got a wrist band to access the pontoons.

This encouraged lots of companies to rent cheaper alternative space outside the ticketed area.

Very sad as this would have been great for Liverpool.

I do hope they rethink this, but they need to find a way of enclosing the show otherwise it becomes a free for all for other companies to sell cheaper space.

[fergie_mac66]

I think I know the reason now as I have just spoken to one of the exhibitors.

He alleges that he struck a deal with a rep for space, and so did many others, but when they totted up the till at the end of the day, they were still short, so they sent out bills for the shortfall. In his case it almost doubled his bill.

But, he also told me that another company had leased a large area within the dock area and were busily renting it out cheaper than the official space.

In fact, my source had negotiated to rent a large space, cheaper than the cost of the small space the exhibition people were offering, as soon as he got the additional bill. Luckily, he was due to sign the lease today, so he can pull out of that without cost.

He thinks it all went wrong when it was discovered that the show wasn't enclosed, but anybody could basically check out all the boats from the dockside without paying the £15 ticket and if you paid the entry price you got a wrist band to access the pontoons.

This encouraged lots of companies to rent cheaper alternative space outside the ticketed area.

Very sad as this would have been great for Liverpool.

I do hope they rethink this, but they need to find a way of enclosing the show otherwise it becomes a free for all for other companies to sell cheaper space.

could have been a more interesting show than the libs . I'll never go to the libs again

edit : libs ,have not been for a couple of years and every comment I see about it makes me less interested. but Liverpool could probably have got me in the car to go !

Edit edit : But would have had to put an extra lock on the car

[303hound]

talk of liquidation now.

[mikef]

Thats interesting Major.

Seems all the stuff about what a good show Lonfon was, was Bxxxxxs. If it is actually the case that exhibors got such a kicking at the show that they couldnt stomach another one.
I dont see ti mong as an issue it seems about right to me.

Big shame though. I woulnder if they will have another go next year.

Yup, exhibitors want only one thing from an exhibition and that is sales leads and it seems that LIBS didn't deliver despite all the hoopla in the media about a revamped show and crowds being up. I keep saying this but there are already too many boat shows in the UK, especially early in the year. There's LIBS, NEC and now, Liverpool in the first 5 months of the year and SIBS in Sept. Not only that, manufacturers have to find the budget for other more important European shows like Dusseldorf, Palma and Genoa, to name but a few.
I know myself from my own business that having too many exhibitions in a year just dilutes the marketing effort and reduces the footfall. What exhibitors really want is one big exhibition per year per country that they can splurge the whole budget on and have a really large and interesting stand which actually attracts visitors. There are too many exhibition organising companies out there trying to promote too many shows that exhibitors dont actually want and I'm not surprised that the Liverpool show has fallen flat on its face