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...why the Horne Roadshow is better than an industry exhibition...
(TLDR: Save time, money, climate, minimise disruption, timely, targeted, one-stop-shop)
Spring is in the air, there’s growing optimism for UK society to live alongside Covid, and the UK B2B events industry is starting to get all excited again about a return to bumper exhibition halls and a bounce back from virtual meetings and conferences.
We feel rather less excited or convinced, however, about the merits of large organised exhibitions in 2022 and beyond. The pandemic has taught us how to work more effectively and efficiently, whilst the climate crisis, not to mention the soaring cost of materials, fuel and energy, makes us more mindful of what is necessary travel and our collective carbon footprint.
What doesn’t change, however, is that there is still no substitute for the real thing when evaluating new products and innovations for your new, refurbishment or repurposed hospital, residential care, secure accommodation, school or leisure project. So, before you sign up to your next Care Show, Healthcare Estates or other industry event, consider your thoughts on this:
1. Who's driving and what's the cost?
Most organised exhibitions tend to cluster around Manchester and the Midlands or at the London Excel, so-called central locations that for many people are still the best part of 4 or more hours drive away. It's costly in fuel and time, and may also require an overnight hotel. If you decide to go at all, it could be a tiresome early start in the car, or on public transport, and late return home. You can avoid all that with the Horne Roadshow; we do the driving, and the early start, straight to your door.
2. Venue choice. There, or here?
An exhibition venue most practical and useful to you and your colleagues must, surely, be your own office, if not your client’s, or your current project site itself. The Horne Roadshow can park up on your doorstep or wherever it’s most convenient for you and your team.
3. Relevant timing
The timing, duration, scale and progress of works is dependent on and determined by your projects, not a specific time of year that event organisers choose to occupy in the calendar. Wouldn’t your time be more effectively utilised if you were to attend a small series of targeted exhibitions - when they fit in with your needs? Call on the Horne Roadshow; it has a built-in heating system and can operate all year round.
4. Time factor
Closely related to point 2, venue choice, it's simple to compare required time out of the office. The Horne Roadshow on your doorstep takes around an hour or so, compared with half or 1 or more full days required to attend the organised exhibition.
5. Disappointment factor
Let’s face it, that exhibition has often been a necessary appendage to offset the costs for your dedicated society or industry conference. However, the pandemic has turned things on their head; online conferences are becoming slicker and you can’t beat the accessibility of the format. How disappointed might you be, however, to find you have travelled all the way to Birmingham only to find that you are sitting in an exhibition theatre watching a screened Teams meeting that you could have joined from home or the office?
From our exhibitor’s perspective, we’ve been disappointed too. A noticeable trend is that fewer manufacturers are choosing to take part, leaving the remaining supporters with much increased costs per sqm as organisers try to maintain margins. To compensate, but create the illusion of a well-supported event, the organisers then bring more theatres and ‘chill-out’ spaces (ooh, great, let's catch up on emails) to the exhibition floor. The reality is that each of these additional elements costs little to the organiser, but it diverts visitor attention away from the exhibition, and further diminishes its value for manufacturers. Instead, you'd do better to get your selected manufactures to come direct to you. We can with our van.
6. Covid concerns
Even though we're moving into a phase where we are learning to live with the Covid virus, the perceived risk has become a very personal issue. If you are still wary of crowded spaces such as transport hubs and exhibition halls, your decision could be simple. As an open-door event, and with standing headroom, the Horne Roadshow can accommodate really small groups of visitors, if necessary, for maximum Covid safety. Taking a break between groups also allows for additional air exchange and a quick wipe down of common touch points.
7. On your feet
Pretty self-explanatory this one … just think about being on your feet for only an hour or so in the Horne Roadshow, or 4+ hours over one or more days. Ow!
8. Information overload
Refer also to point 3 above… if the timing is not right for your project, are you really going to pay close enough attention to all the various manufacturers you see or talk to? Will you retain the relevant information for items that won’t become your focus for another 2 or 3+ months? Our Roadshow events delivery expert, concise information and advice, right when you need it.
9. Playing catch-up
Bad enough is the catch-up of emails after taking a week or two of holiday. Two days out of an already busy week, however, can be disruptive enough that the knock-on effects of that time away can linger for days, if not weeks. With average Roadshow visits lasting around an hour only, there's hardly any catch-up to worry about.
10. One-stop-shop
The versatility of the Horne range of pre-plumbed shower panels, taps, TMVs and ILTDU, means that we have managed to squeeze our entire range of hot water products into our long-wheelbase Roadshow van. With clever selection, our display of 5 shower panels, showing all control and shower head options, demonstrates our entire range of >120 models! This means that our Roadshow display is ready to go at any time, no matter which part of the range you need to see. We don’t need to swap items in or out, no matter how broad or narrow is your need.
Safe hot water - delivered. It's available now - Book your Horne Roadshow today.
