I was very dissapointed with the show this year! I came home with money which has never happened before, I didnt get half of the things I wanted so many companys missing and tooo many tanning stalls. What went wrong?

Me too!! This is the first year I've gone as my own business rather than working for somebody else and was expecting to spend, spend, spend; we only came away with a crystal clear eye pen and some bumpf from other stalls, really really disappointed.
I felt it was a shame that children were let in also, i kept banging into buggies and a few of the students who had purchased the waxing kits were constantly banging into them too with their purchases!!
As an organiser I would worry about the health and safety aspects of this considering we are in the age of "if there's blame there's a claim". (and more importantly what a rotten day out for the little ones!!)
Unfortunatley this has put me off attending in future, i didnt find it beneficial at all infact spent the day really stressed out and desperate to go home. It was only for the fact id paid £6 for the parking that kept me there longer otherwise i'd have been in and out within an hour!! xXx

I opened my salon pre show in 2001 and I bought EVERYTHING at the show, from the facial range to my couches and nail stuff etc. Ok yes I could have done it over the phone but I love the buzz.

This year I spent £150 on wax, deposit for a course and a mag subscription to PRO BEAUTY Hmmmmm!!!!

you can do it over the phone, but some things you really need to see in real life to be confident about colour, size or quality etc. a good trade show is a great place for proper product comparisons.

no excuse for bring kids along though. if you cant get a minder then use web ordering.

I have now forgotten most of the content of this thread lol (it's late I am not used to late nights now )

But I came away from the show after only spending £12 and that was on some glitters for my daughter as she asked me to get some new ones...
Although I use CND so obviously get the majority of stock direct from S2 anyway.

The highlight of my whole day there was speaking to the girls on the Ezflow stand,
Unfortunately I had to leave (but fortunate for the girls as I would have stayed there until they kicked me out lol)

At one point I did see a lady carrying a newborn baby, and I just thought ooo myy god.. I know how manic it can get especially with those hive wax kits bashing about the place lol ( been there, done that 2 years ago )
It just seemed dangerous to me.

I was also 'had' with the clip in hair 2 years ago, lady grabbed me, shoved very nice hair piece in my hair, complimented me lots, showed me in TINY mirror Emm's comes away £30 lighter with a hair piece I have never worn since.

Maybe why that's why I am cautious of taking much money with me now.
I shouldn't be worrying about being ripped off at a 'professional' beauty show though, it should be somewhere I feel I can go to invest in my business/ future etc... in reliable companies.

And What else I don't like about some of these companies is like for example the teeth whitening stall...
Got me and loads of others to put some fizzy stuff on my front teeth for a few seconds.... got me to wipe it off, then expected me to fork out £30 without any evidence of their brand working... ME THINK NOT!
No business information at all.... Just told I could go to the website..
Nothing to help me remember this website.
She just let us put this stuff on, so we could see how it fizzed.. ... and the point of that isssss

It did not fill me with confidence one bit....

When my mum asked me what the beauty show was they only way I could describe it was ' its like a market but for nail techs and beauty therapists'

Ooo and another thing.....
How hard is it to get a cup of coffee !!! lol
If you used the stall in the middle somewhere you will know what I mean...
we ordered, then waited aaaagggeesssss while about 6 people all tripped over each other to make the latte then got it wrong, then discussed it, then tried again...

Was a bit like a comedy sketch really,

Do you go to trade-shows to spend money, is how much money you have spent equal to how good the show has been?

What do you expect from a trade-show?

Cec.

i personally dont go to trade shows to actually buy stuff.... nothing is really on special offer and there is only so much distributers can knock the price down...they a trying to run a business at the end of the day..... i annually do my scratch subscription with my insurance as thats a good deal but all in all i love going to the shows as i love the hype of the competitions (even though i dont compete...i know a few that do) and love going to stalls to see demos done by people who i wouldnt see otherwise for inspiration if nothing else.....for instance antony buckley, margarita belska, sam biddle (these were at excel whch i attended.... didnt go to manchester) to name a few .......none of these people are based on my doorstep. i can see them work and ask them things......where i wouldnt normally be able to,unless i did a course,but even then they wouldnt normally all be under one roof.
I also go for the masterclasses...which i think are great....like when gigi and sweet squared did the minx one, and georgie and antony did the colour drops one at excel. These were all free to attend.....and even though they are only short...they are still worth the little drops of education that you pick up for free.
I love going to excel....and will probably go again next year. I have only been going for 3 years and know some say they are not as good as they used to be ...may be not....but get out of them what i want. I suppose its only those who build themselves up to expect something that end up disappointed....... on the pro beauty website all the stands are listed so people cant really complain that a stand was not present when they went when it was never listed that it was going to be there in the first place. If you were only gong to see that one stand and its not going to be there then surely its simple....dont go...that way you wont be disapointed.
like say I have only been going for 2 years to excel.....i cant compare to the other shows or even to the same shows previous to them who knows..... may be would have prefered them.

Everyone is entitled to their own thoughts so i won’t waste time and energy trying to change that.... but i will say that i see it from both sides of the coin.

I exhibited with PB for 15 years with my own small company and yes, it’s a cost that needs careful thought, as we were selling items mostly under £5, but i soon realised it’s not always about the money you take at the show. The stand fee is not only for the "bit of carpet" but includes other things. The advertising, the contacts, the training course bookings and actually getting to meet our customers is a big part of it. It is every companies own choice to exhibit or not and they have to accept either way if it is right for them. With the financial climate the way it is, do you really think that the shows wouldn’t be affected? To say that the organisers are "greedy" proves you have little knowledge of the expenses involved in an exhibition. Do you think the owners of Manchester Central or Excel give it for free? Do you think the security, the cleaners, the badge company, the printers, the carpet you walk on and the toilet paper you wipe your arse on comes for free?????

I also see it from the organiser’s point of view now as i run the nail competitions. I have worked my arse off for the last 6 months to put on a non-profit making competition that PB invest in as they understand how important it is to a lot of nail techs (108 entries proves it). There were 8 nail surgery sessions and lots of master classes for everyone, so how can you do it all in an hour? A show is like life, you make the most of what’s on offer. The staff involved have worked for a year to put on a show that offers something for everyone. Without the support I get from PB, I would not be able to run such a fantastic nail competition. I can assure you that this was not thrown together in a week and i take that as a personal insult. To make a comment like that proves that there is no knowledge of the logistics of event management! OK so maybe not all the companies you wanted to see were there, that’s what an exhibitor list on the website is for, so no one is disappointed when they get there. As the saying goes... you cannot please all of the people all of the time.

How many of you "moaners" have actually emailed PB with constructive criticism and feedback on what you would like to see at a show? I doubt many of you have….

So…if you don’t like trade shows or feel they are not up to your requirements, then simply don’t go and leave more room for the rest of us who do enjoy them!

I know I said that the cost of exhibiting at the show sounded expensive, but even so it is certainly something that I would aspire to - ideally at a point where the business isn't "make or break" so I wasn't specifically relying on any sales made at the show, but could just be there to network, meet people and raise awareness of my brand.
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Amen to that...definitely a rep worthy posting

It takes a lot to get you angry Rachel and boy can you let rip! Well said!!!xxx

Mmmm as I was the only one...(I think) who actually used the word "Greedy" I guess this means me... Your right I don't have a full understanding of the costs involved...I don't need to cos it wouldn't ever be relevant to me...nor most of us salon proffesionals....when I said Greedy I didn't mean because of the price of the stands...I am sure the organizers do have to take into account the charges by Manchester Central/Excel...(I never for a moment thought it was free)...what I meant was that it appears to many that they almost have the attitude of "as long as they are paying, we don't care what they are selling"....the quality of the some of the stands is poor...and it lessons the impact of a professional trade show when you have cheap tack on alot of the stands that are nothing to do with our trade.

Its like they will sell to anyone....and I can only think of 1 reason for this...Greed.....Thats what it seems like to me and thats what it seems like to alot of us who go to the shows.

If they where a little more selective with whom they sold stands too then sure...there might be less stands....sure they wouldn't make as much money...but I personally would rather see less stands but a higher standard of stands.

(and I always carry my own loo roll in my handbag...).....

mm you should do what my sister used to do when we were adolescent adults clubbing and what not...rather than taking the loo roll from home she had this thing about nicking them from the ladies toilets and stuffing them in her hand bag...of course in those days us guys used to nick beer mats and pin them to the walls in our bedrooms

Nothing to do with the show thread but...well you started it with the loo roll vein

See no one would mind probably paying £20 a day to get in to the show if it meant exhibitors were also able to have reduced costs and thus afford to exhibit.

We all know nothings free - and we never said it was, but there has to be a balance.

The problem now is exhibitors will be cautious spending thousands for a stand because of the poor qaulity of previous shows and the visitors will be dubious paying to get in because of previous shows being bad!

So theres problems that need fixing. The organisers just have to win people back.

Yes we are a nation of www users now but that will never replace the 'buzz' we get from a show and that is priceless.

Charge Everyone to get in - stop with the freebies and that will subsidise stands for exhibitors.

You have to pay to get into any other exhibition from the baby show to the clothes show and any other event so why do we expect the beauty shows to also be free.

If people refuse to pay £20 to get in there hardly the quality of people the show wants as them grumbkling over £20 to get in means they won't be buying anything on the day!

The shows have been excellent in the past and have got worse since. SO we al know its doable.