2020 Dinghy Show

It's a show about dinghy sailing. Aimed at existing sailors and - hopefully - attracting new blood into the sport.  Boats and classes saying 'you should sail THIS';  Clubs saying you 'should sail HERE'; Retailers saying 'Buy this KIT'. Not sure how the recipe can be changed, but then I have no imagination & I'm not in marketing.

Edited by Noah - 03 Mar 20 at 9:49am

Love 

1. Availability on dates desired - can it accommodate the show on the first weekend in March?

Originally posted by PaulPoshW I think the RYA may have got the first point wrong. Rather than aiming at the majority of frequent visitors surely they should be looking at how they can increase the number of infrequent.  Ease of public transport becomes more difficult as most from up north will have to change and travel across London anyway

Depends. If your current format is OK for visitor numbers but your exhibitors are complaining then all you need to do is pacify the exhibitors and keep the visitors happy.

I don't think the public transport has been well thought through. Perhaps it's OK for those doing a weekend. For those going for a day it's not great! But... Change at Reading..from up Norf, that could be avoid London.

Perhaps bringing a car will make me buy more :) (maybe people will take boats home!!)

Perhaps bringing a car will make me take more people - so instead of going alone I take the family as the transport cost is pretty much the same. Or I go as a group of sailors. Perhaps a group plan makes me less likely to bail out 2 days before hand because ICBA.

I don't envy exhibitors driving to Ally Pally. Some of the big guys must have had multiple vans etc. The CAs etc must find all that a bit daunting too.

My experience this year was enlightening. First time I took my son. Discovered there is more than I "see" normally. He wanted to go on trapezes, model yachts, VR, simulators etc. I know those things are there - I walk past. He had no interest in gear shops or looking at classes he won't sail just to see how they route a rope etc.

Previous years I've never been fussed by the presentation stuff. This year I fancied it but son wasn't up for it. The acoustics were as bad as ever...

So if we accept it needed to move... It's only a question of is this the right venue.

It feels odd. Particularly the difficulty jumping on a train. *But* that doesn't make it wrong until I've tried it.

I'd seriously consider 2 days there in the future rather than a day trip. (Did that just double my attendance ?) - let him go do stuff he wants, I can go to "talks", try on gear etc. Perhaps man a stand in my CA was going back...

I'd like to see CAs allowed free space (pay to make larger).. if moving venue achieved that - no bad thing...

CAs possibly need some help though... Coz they need to understand marketeering just like Clubs need help. I walked past a presentation that actually seemed useful - not sure what it was titled but it was mentioning event reports. Talking social media etc. We need to get better at reporting what happened. Gone are the days of a paper report published 2 months later in a newsletter. These guys were saying think video...

I'd love to not just have London Clubs there too... Again that needs clubs to understand what's in it for them. How many members do you need to gain to cover costs of stand plus "staffing" and how likely would you get those members... But it may not just be instant members. There is something about clubs being recognised as premier locations. If your name is seen at the show and 18 months later is being considered to host X race... Does it stand more chance than the slightly cheaper club no-one has heard of.

I'm prepared to be open minded until I've been to Farnborough

PS I'm traveling from the North East. This would be worse for me



Edited by polc1410 - 03 Mar 20 at 4:57pm

The RYAs list of criteria seem reasonable, and Farnborough seems to be the least worst fit. To my mind the show is suffering because too many classes have pulled out because of the expense, so its got to be cheaper than AP, NEC, which probably means Excel and Olympia too. I can't imagine Cotswold Water Park or Blenheim Palace can provide indoor heated halls with 30 foot ceiling height, Manchester feels too far North... Of course if anyone can think of a better venue than anything the RYA have considered I'm sure they'd be delighted to hear. Charming as the old days scattered round a Sports centre were, I don't think it would do for the modern audience...

Nice of the RYA to give such a relatively detailed explanation. Would be interesting to see the scoring matrix with weightings. I would imagine cost was the main decider by a big factor, plus dates, imagine better venues where booked up for years into the future.