THE GUITAR SHOW - comments time

vasselmeyer

I  missed the show last year, but have been to the previous ones. I have to say  I was pleasantly surprised at how much it has grown. It really had a good vibe around the place. My random thoughts:

• The quiet time was  mostly well observed by the stands. How else can you sell amps other than play through them? The air horn was a great idea. I'm pretty sure the ACS audio guys did a roaring trade at the show. I kept my plugs in all the time  apart from quiet times and when I was actually playing through an amp to test it out.
• The curry was brilliant and amazing value. I just waited until 2pm until the queue died down.
• A floorplan would be great...even a downloadable one for a  phone or to print one off.
• Having a huge stand with great prices in the middle of the venue (looking at you PMT) dig cause a lot of congestion and I felt a bit sorry for some of the smaller stands around it who didn't seem to be getting much of a look in.
• Birmingham is a good place to have it. If this were in London I wouldn't come. It was less than 2hrs drive each way from Manchester and I didn't have to pay to park (ended up about 400m from the venue, so not a long walk). In London I'd have to book an advance train ticket, pay to get to the venue and would get charged more like £8 for my lunch. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't see may dealers from north of Birmingham attending either.
• I didn't care about the acoustics, but I was glad to see they had a separate room.

Overall, an excellent show and well put together . Congratulations to @Jason  and crew. Keep doing what you're doing. I would say minor tweaks only until it completely outgrows its success. What dates have you  tentatively booked for next year?

RiftAmps

This weekend was my first show as an exhibitor, my comments:

• Organization -  Excellent. I found all of the answers that I needed quickly, and if I couldn't then Jason was just a phone call away.
  
  
• Noise - Yes, it got loud at some points (and some of that was me f*ing up - sorry Jason!) but I think they've managed to find a good balance. I certainly enjoyed the quiet periods which allowed me to take detailed custom orders without shouting.
  
  
• Food - Curry was spot on, in fact brilliant for only £3. +1 for Bacon rolls for breakfast next year though! A small coffee cart doing espresso/latte/cappuccino wouldn't go amiss, but instant coffee is fine.
  
  
• Crowds - It was busy, yes. But most shopping centres on a weekend are equally as rammed, and I didn't have to go candle shopping with Mrs Rift.
  
  
• Early Bird tickets - Do it, or something similar. Maybe even a 'preview' half-day on the Friday for school trips, YT bloggers, and hipsters.
  

FelineGuitars

We had a fun time at the show - thanks to everyone who stopped by and said hello.

The Show at New Bingly Hall may not be 100% ideal but it is a lot better than many of the alternatives.

Show me another show that has such a fun atmosphere, cheap entry and for the most part free parking.
The venue owners organise the catering and the food is fantastic (unbeatable for the price) and the tea and coffee are great considering it's 50p a cup
Having catering and parking that doesn't sting the pocket too much is great because it leaves more money to spend with the exhibitors or on things that you would enjoy more once you got them home.

I have done lots of London shows in the past and watched as the price and duration escalated out of proportion for our interests.
The London Guitar Show went from being a fun consumer show on 2 days to a gradually more and more corporate affair that did little or nothing to enhance the experience for the public but made it almost impossible to do for a small maker, luthier, seller etc.
Also the forced move from Wembley Conference Centre to Excell escalated the costs for exhibitors and visitors alike

Adding an education day was the first change they did and it may have ben nice for the school-kids but you weren't going to sell anything on the day if you were a high end product maker .
Adding a extra trade only day (and involving the MIA /Music Industries Association) also did nothing for the independent shop or maker who wasn't going to have any interest at all . It just meant 
1) another day away from your workshop or store so you were losing money or productivity
2) more charges for your stand as you are showing at a show for twice the length of time as before
3) additional hotel/travelling/paying for meals for yourself and /or staff that you can maybe not justify or afford.

The final nail in the coffin was the MIA thinking it was recreating NAMM /Frankfurt Messe and insisting on a no sales at the show policy. 

That instantly killed the show for most retailers, also for many custom makers who maybe relied on a small sale or two to cover a little of the show costs.

Lastly it killed the show for the visiting public , who after the first year of disappointment at not being able to buy anything, and seeing less independent makers and sellers decided not to go again.

Years ago we had a good time at Music Live back in 1999 (I believe Jason was involved with that show too) and we had one of the cheaper stands in the side hall. 

Jason has carried on with affordable pricing allowing small independent guys to have the same presence as the big players with much larger budgets for promotion. I mean we all know what a standard strat or tele look like but it's great to see stuff from makers who you would never get to see unless you lived in the same town as them at a show... or a chance to try out things you've only seen pictures of or on a forum.

For that I applaud and commend Jason, and also for all that goes into making a fun day out.

crunchman

mellowsun said:

Jason said:

Unfortunately ALL the venues in London are too expensive

I would have loved to have gone to the show but the venue wasn't easily reachable via train from London (3 changes to get to Jewellery Quarter as no direct trains at the weekend).

I wonder if it's feasible to have something out of central London but still within the M25. There may be venues in the London suburbs that still reachable by tube, e.g. Ally Pally, Lee Valley, or Picketts Lock, no idea of the costs of these though

Kempton might be another venue (for the moment at least depending on the possible redevelopment).

As soon as you get off the Tube network though you will probably lose out on people who will come if it's more central.  If you do something in some parts of outer London, you might as well be doing it in Birmingham.  It would take me nearly as long to get to some of the places you listed as it did to Birmingham.

I think you could maybe find a smaller venue in London for an acoustic show.  I didn't go so I'm not sure how good last year's Olympia one was, but the one the year before with Doyle Dykes and Albert Lee was good.  It's a question of scale though.  I doubt the likes of Doyle Dykes are going to be cheap.  You would need to sell a lot of tickets.

I don't think you are easily going to cover the whole country with a single show.  You didn't go from London because of the distance, and someone else said something similar earlier in the thread.  I haven't been in previous years - again mainly because of the distance.  Even if you could find a suitable, and suitably priced, venue in London, other people then wouldn't come.  Someone else from Manchester said that London would be too far from them earlier in the thread.  You aren't going to cover the whole country with one show.

3 or 4 good regional shows might the answer - maybe with slightly different exhibitors.  In the South you might lose some of the Northern shops, but I've seen Guitar Village and Ivor Mairants at London shows in the past.  They might be interested in one closer to them where they don't have to pay hotel bills for their staff.  If Jason wants to take on someone to organise one in the South for him and build on his name, contacts and reputation it might be easier than starting from scratch.  Given the issues in London, I don't know if there would be a good venue somewhere like Reading that has good train links.  Bristol might be a possibility but you are getting a long way from London again.

OilCityPickups

Jason said:

John_A said:

It's a classic case of you can't please all of the people all of the time - overall it was a great show. 

Thank you!

That was the first show Tim and I have had a chance to visit since starting Oil City and very much a scout out for us exhibiting at some point soon. We were both very impressed indeed ... there was friendly atmosphere, and as a bonus I personally had a chance to meet some of my customers who I'd only spoken to either on the phone or through e mail/PM. seeing a brace of rather gorgeous Felines equipped with my humbuckers was a bit of a high point mind :-)
Very well done @Jason ;

thomasross20

It's only a short flight away - I came from Edinburgh!

crunchman

FelineGuitars said:

Years ago we had a good time at Music Live back in 1999 (I believe Jason was involved with that show too) and we had one of the cheaper stands in the side hall.

I remember that show.  Spend a lot of money on a PRS!  Now I wish I'd gone for a lovely guitar by James Huxley.

Jason

mellowsun said:

Jason said:

Unfortunately ALL the venues in London are too expensive

I would have loved to have gone to the show but the venue wasn't easily reachable via train from London (3 changes to get to Jewellery Quarter as no direct trains at the weekend).

I wonder if it's feasible to have something out of central London but still within the M25. There may be venues in the London suburbs that still reachable by tube, e.g. Ally Pally, Lee Valley, or Picketts Lock, no idea of the costs of these though

You don't really need to catch a train to the Jewellery Quarter, its 10 mins in a cab from New St, which is one train from Euston.

The suburb venues are also a nightmare - I have looked and looked, they are affordable but horrible or great and unaffordable.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but after 20 years of doing shows in Birmingham, Manchester and London, the people that live in London are so lazy its untrue, everyone else in the UK will travel, very few in London will go if its not on their tube line. Every busy London show is full of people that have travelled in, my MPX show was at the Emirates Stadium and 80% of the visitors come from outside of London.

Jason

not_the_dj said:

@Jason ;;

I couldn't make it this year, but has the International Centre in Telford been looked at? (I'm sure it has but I'll ask anyway)

I went to a model show there (plastic aircraft not dolly birds) and was very impressed with the venue.

Its a great venue and I know people that work there, unfortunately its in Telford, which isn't that easy if you are in the South, its another hour on from Brum, so that would cut out a lot of potential visitors, there is a really good reason the NEC is the biggest venue in the country, its right in the middle

Jason

Richardj said:

@Jason, I actually in the South West of France. I was in the UK, actually in Southend in Essex, for another reason but thought it worth getting up at stupid o'clock to get on a train to come up to Brum.

It took around four hours each way, didn't cost much as I booked the tickets in advance, and I had a thoroughly good time. Also bought things I hadn't planned to. 

We used to travel up to the bike show and Crufts, this wasn't any different.

I echo most things said about the noise and crowds, but I wouldn't have missed it.

Thank you for organising it, I'll try to be at the next one too.

Thank you for making the effort - The INTERNATIONAL Guitar Show

Gassage

Rather worryingly, I just found out @vasselmeyer has attended one of my RFU coaching sessions! That's just nuts!!

Jason

vasselmeyer said:

I  missed the show last year, but have been to the previous ones. I have to say  I was pleasantly surprised at how much it has grown. It really had a good vibe around the place. My random thoughts:

• The quiet time was  mostly well observed by the stands. How else can you sell amps other than play through them? The air horn was a great idea. I'm pretty sure the ACS audio guys did a roaring trade at the show. I kept my plugs in all the time  apart from quiet times and when I was actually playing through an amp to test it out.
• The curry was brilliant and amazing value. I just waited until 2pm until the queue died down.
• A floorplan would be great...even a downloadable one for a  phone or to print one off.
• Having a huge stand with great prices in the middle of the venue (looking at you PMT) dig cause a lot of congestion and I felt a bit sorry for some of the smaller stands around it who didn't seem to be getting much of a look in.
• Birmingham is a good place to have it. If this were in London I wouldn't come. It was less than 2hrs drive each way from Manchester and I didn't have to pay to park (ended up about 400m from the venue, so not a long walk). In London I'd have to book an advance train ticket, pay to get to the venue and would get charged more like £8 for my lunch. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't see may dealers from north of Birmingham attending either.
• I didn't care about the acoustics, but I was glad to see they had a separate room.

Overall, an excellent show and well put together . Congratulations to @Jason  and crew. Keep doing what you're doing. I would say minor tweaks only until it completely outgrows its success. What dates have you  tentatively booked for next year?

Thank you - its booked 24th & 25th of Feb, already have over 30 bookings today

Jason

RiftAmps said:

This weekend was my first show as an exhibitor, my comments:

• Organization -  Excellent. I found all of the answers that I needed quickly, and if I couldn't then Jason was just a phone call away.
  
  
• Noise - Yes, it got loud at some points (and some of that was me f*ing up - sorry Jason!) but I think they've managed to find a good balance. I certainly enjoyed the quiet periods which allowed me to take detailed custom orders without shouting.
  
  
• Food - Curry was spot on, in fact brilliant for only £3. +1 for Bacon rolls for breakfast next year though! A small coffee cart doing espresso/latte/cappuccino wouldn't go amiss, but instant coffee is fine.
  
  
• Crowds - It was busy, yes. But most shopping centres on a weekend are equally as rammed, and I didn't have to go candle shopping with Mrs Rift.
  
  
• Early Bird tickets - Do it, or something similar. Maybe even a 'preview' half-day on the Friday for school trips, YT bloggers, and hipsters.
  

Thanks Chris, I really wanted to hear your amps, fortunately I could all the way in my office, so I didn't even have to move

I'm glad you and James had a good time, my show rig was one of your amps plus John's Junkyard Dog

Jason

FelineGuitars said:

We had a fun time at the show - thanks to everyone who stopped by and said hello.

The Show at New Bingly Hall may not be 100% ideal but it is a lot better than many of the alternatives.

Show me another show that has such a fun atmosphere, cheap entry and for the most part free parking.
The venue owners organise the catering and the food is fantastic (unbeatable for the price) and the tea and coffee are great considering it's 50p a cup
Having catering and parking that doesn't sting the pocket too much is great because it leaves more money to spend with the exhibitors or on things that you would enjoy more once you got them home.

I have done lots of London shows in the past and watched as the price and duration escalated out of proportion for our interests.
The London Guitar Show went from being a fun consumer show on 2 days to a gradually more and more corporate affair that did little or nothing to enhance the experience for the public but made it almost impossible to do for a small maker, luthier, seller etc.
Also the forced move from Wembley Conference Centre to Excell escalated the costs for exhibitors and visitors alike

Adding an education day was the first change they did and it may have ben nice for the school-kids but you weren't going to sell anything on the day if you were a high end product maker .
Adding a extra trade only day (and involving the MIA /Music Industries Association) also did nothing for the independent shop or maker who wasn't going to have any interest at all . It just meant 
1) another day away from your workshop or store so you were losing money or productivity
2) more charges for your stand as you are showing at a show for twice the length of time as before
3) additional hotel/travelling/paying for meals for yourself and /or staff that you can maybe not justify or afford.

The final nail in the coffin was the MIA thinking it was recreating NAMM /Frankfurt Messe and insisting on a no sales at the show policy. 

That instantly killed the show for most retailers, also for many custom makers who maybe relied on a small sale or two to cover a little of the show costs.

Lastly it killed the show for the visiting public , who after the first year of disappointment at not being able to buy anything, and seeing less independent makers and sellers decided not to go again.

Years ago we had a good time at Music Live back in 1999 (I believe Jason was involved with that show too) and we had one of the cheaper stands in the side hall. 

Jason has carried on with affordable pricing allowing small independent guys to have the same presence as the big players with much larger budgets for promotion. I mean we all know what a standard strat or tele look like but it's great to see stuff from makers who you would never get to see unless you lived in the same town as them at a show... or a chance to try out things you've only seen pictures of or on a forum.

For that I applaud and commend Jason, and also for all that goes into making a fun day out.

Thank you - I just got your ansafone message, finally out of the venue (we had the marquee to get out today)

vasselmeyer

@Gassage  It would be interesting to see a Venn Diagram  where "guitarist" and "rugby coach" intersected.

Jason

crunchman said:

mellowsun said:

Jason said:

Unfortunately ALL the venues in London are too expensive

I would have loved to have gone to the show but the venue wasn't easily reachable via train from London (3 changes to get to Jewellery Quarter as no direct trains at the weekend).

I wonder if it's feasible to have something out of central London but still within the M25. There may be venues in the London suburbs that still reachable by tube, e.g. Ally Pally, Lee Valley, or Picketts Lock, no idea of the costs of these though

Kempton might be another venue (for the moment at least depending on the possible redevelopment).

As soon as you get off the Tube network though you will probably lose out on people who will come if it's more central.  If you do something in some parts of outer London, you might as well be doing it in Birmingham.  It would take me nearly as long to get to some of the places you listed as it did to Birmingham.

I think you could maybe find a smaller venue in London for an acoustic show.  I didn't go so I'm not sure how good last year's Olympia one was, but the one the year before with Doyle Dykes and Albert Lee was good.  It's a question of scale though.  I doubt the likes of Doyle Dykes are going to be cheap.  You would need to sell a lot of tickets.

I don't think you are easily going to cover the whole country with a single show.  You didn't go from London because of the distance, and someone else said something similar earlier in the thread.  I haven't been in previous years - again mainly because of the distance.  Even if you could find a suitable, and suitably priced, venue in London, other people then wouldn't come.  Someone else from Manchester said that London would be too far from them earlier in the thread.  You aren't going to cover the whole country with one show.

3 or 4 good regional shows might the answer - maybe with slightly different exhibitors.  In the South you might lose some of the Northern shops, but I've seen Guitar Village and Ivor Mairants at London shows in the past.  They might be interested in one closer to them where they don't have to pay hotel bills for their staff.  If Jason wants to take on someone to organise one in the South for him and build on his name, contacts and reputation it might be easier than starting from scratch.  Given the issues in London, I don't know if there would be a good venue somewhere like Reading that has good train links.  Bristol might be a possibility but you are getting a long way from London again.

I know there is a new show at kempton, but I looked at it, I thought it was horrible, it had a lot going for it, onsite train station, easy access from M25, but my god the room was grim, I couldn't see Marshall, fender et al doing a show there.

I've done Bristol too, not great

They are suitable for table top shows, but thats not want I want to do

I had to laugh recently, I had a company (with someone else) called UK Guitar Shows that did the Bristol Guitar Show, there is a new company now called Guitar Shows UK doing The Bristol Guitar Show

I mean come on, don't take the p*ss, think of your own name

the idea of regional shows won't work, already get 100% of some companies show budget, there aren't enough "other" companies to go round, and I don't want to go smaller, I'm aiming for bigger.

Jason

TheGuitarWeasel said:

Jason said:

John_A said:

It's a classic case of you can't please all of the people all of the time - overall it was a great show. 

Thank you!

That was the first show Tim and I have had a chance to visit since starting Oil City and very much a scout out for us exhibiting at some point soon. We were both very impressed indeed ... there was friendly atmosphere, and as a bonus I personally had a chance to meet some of my customers who I'd only spoken to either on the phone or through e mail/PM. seeing a brace of rather gorgeous Felines equipped with my humbuckers was a bit of a high point mind :-)
Very well done @Jason ;

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it

Jason

thomasross20 said:

It's only a short flight away - I came from Edinburgh!

Good man - proof that everywhere else, people travel

Gassage

vasselmeyer said:

@Gassage  It would be interesting to see a Venn Diagram  where "guitarist" and "rugby coach" intersected.

Somewhere around 'broken fingers' !!

guitars4you

Fully support your comments above @FelineGuitars - Like wise I did Wembley and Excel - loved the old vibe of Wembley and glory hunters effectively mucked it up with big ideas - Last show I did in London was Olympia and they had plans to repeat it in Birmingham - A few will remember Clive who effectively took our deposits and ran

Since then we have had the vintage/used based stores, mainly in the north and now Kempton - So yes we can find faults with The Guitar Show but by a long way it is the best we have - it works well for what is after all a 'cottage industry' - Not sure were some of these stats come from but I heard the other day that the musical instrument industry is small than the sales of Tesco's bake beans