Exhibition cancellations (not much to do with that anymore!)

[Lodekka]

Taking a number of well made points from our learned colleagues above posts, there is another factor that could affect us all going forward.

 

Doom-mongers should look away now.

 

One contributor mentioned event insurance, it is a possibility that show organisers may need to have health statement/ proof of vaccination etc for layouts / traders etc ( may not be able to force the public to prove immunity) but who knows what the shiny suits might dream up.. a bit like when you travel abroad and needing to prove what you have been inoculated against.

 

Even a venue may insist upon such things, who knows.

 

As a show organiser planning an event in April next year, I am somewhat sceptical it might proceed.

 

Hey -ho at least I am getting some modelling done and started a garden railway, so it is not all bad news.

 

Keep safe and well

 

[john new]

It is not just organisers who have this cancellation dilemma.

 

Going back to the beginning of this crisis, for example, I opted not to book a repeat attendance SLS trade stand space for a local show that would have been on in July as I was worried at the time about what was then appearing to be a looming virus crisis. This was just before the government’s lockdown advice was issued, the Cheltenham festival was still on, football was still being played, and so forth. I  declined to book but stated that if it was all over by July (hah!), and if their show was still to be going ahead, I would see if nearer the event they still had short notice availability space for a stand, if not I planned to just go as a punter.
 

The next show I would normally be booking the Society promo’ stand into is another one local to home on 31st October. As it stands the show is provisionally on, but I am not sure I want to commit to going as a stand holder given that both my wife and I are in at risk categories. I’ve spoken to the organiser, they are not sure yet what is going to happen, will they need to reschedule to an alternative date later in the year etc.? 
 

Do I book and then cancel at the last minute if as a personal decision we think it is wise to still be social distancing (whatever the official advice is) come October or say no now to be fair to them, perhaps on the same basis as I did for the July show? [currently the most likely outcome] This is, however, the dilemma faced by prospective stand holders/exhibitors for most of the upcoming shows and for the organisers  who won’t know until the last minute if the stands they have expected to come are actually going to show up. 
 

These local shows mentioned are drive to on the day shows that I want to support and for me there are no accommodation booking or van hire issues, but what decision to make is still a conundrum -  how the heck organisers or exhibitors are coping with planning for the big shows scheduled for the autumn onwards this year I dread to think.

 

NB this post is a personal opinion, it does not represent an official statement on behalf of either the SLS or the YMRS.

 

Edited May 18, 2020 by john new
Punctuation.

[Dungrange]

Irrespective of Government Advice, Traders will make their own decisions.  My employer issued a broadcast e-mail at the start of this month advising staff to ignore the Government's 'Road Map' even before the Prime Minister spoke.  All of our staff are currently furloughed (some) or working from home (the majority) and that will continue until at least the end of this month.  However, corporate travel restrictions have been extended through to the end of September.  That means that my employer has banned me from making any non-essential travel during that period to attend something like a training course, conference or trade fair.  Although I don't work for a model railway company, if the Board at Hornby or Bachmann adopt a similar view, exhibitions in that time frame are unlikely to be viable.  Why September?  That's our company year end and the viewpoint is that this won't be over before then.  I fully expect these restrictions by my employer to be extended, so I'm doubtful that many exhibitions will go ahead this year.

[Guest Half-full]

There is a lot of talk about the over-65s etc being a large part of the exhibition going public (and exhibitors/traders), a lot of folk in the age group that I know are far healthier, fitter and more active than most 25 year olds I know.  Being healthier/fitter generally means you have a generally have a stronger immune system, and thus less likely to catch/develop a serious condition.

 

Likewise with the high-risk category, in general these people are much better at looking after themselves to stop developing/worsening a condition, and are healthier than a lot of people with no conditions!!!!

 

Some are too quick to write these categories of people off.  

 

Whilst it will most probably be early/mid next year before the exhibition circuit starts to recover, the doom mongers here are acting as if its all over and the hobby will collapse.  Lighten up please!

 

Pessimism breeds negativity, negativity breeds illness.

 

Make the most of the situation, instead of looking at everything as negative, look at the wider picture, the developing picture abroad, work on your models, make plans for the future and above all, bloody smile!

 

No matter how bad it may seem, there is always someone much much worse than you.

[computrains]

Members of Scarborough & District Railway Modellers have unanimously decided to postpone our Pickering Exhibition, due to be held this August, until next year.  We cannot see how we can hold an exhibition while keeping our members, exhibitors and visiting members of the public safe.

This is disappointing for all BUT we sure you understand our concerns......

 

Hope to see you on the other side.....

Edited May 20, 2020 by computrains

[Chris M]

Being optimistic, social distancing and other measures do seem to work. Whilst I would not go to an exhibition when there are thousands of new cases everyday would think it was safe to go to an exhibition in China where they are running at 5 new cases per day. At this level there is more chance of having a crash on the way to an exhibition than catching Covid-19 while you are there. I don't know what level of new cases per day would be acceptable to me but some countries have successfully got the number of new cases down to a level where I think exhibitions would be ok.

[RJS1977]

1 minute ago, Chris M said:

Being optimistic, social distancing and other measures do seem to work. Whilst I would not go to an exhibition when there are thousands of new cases everyday would think it was safe to go to an exhibition in China where they are running at 5 new cases per day. At this level there is more chance of having a crash on the way to an exhibition than catching Covid-19 while you are there. I don't know what level of new cases per day would be acceptable to me but some countries have successfully got the number of new cases down to a level where I think exhibitions would be ok.

 

There was mention by one of the journalists at this afternoon's press conference of there having been no new cases in London yesterday...

[Chris M]

All of these cancellations could have an odd side effect for those of us who are building layouts for future exhibitions. 

 

Quite reasonably managers are saying they will put on the already planned exhibition next year. As is usual, I already have tentative verbal agreements to take my layout which is still under construction to a few exhibitions next year. I am working to a timing plan (in my head) to get me to a completed layout with three months to spare before the first show.  I'm now thinking I should maybe slow work down so the layout isn't ready until 2022.

I understand the situation and agree that it would be good to invite the same layouts next year. I'm not moaning, just changing my expectations and also thinking about changing my priorities.

Edited May 20, 2020 by Chris M

[Huw Griffiths]

44 minutes ago, Chris M said:

All of these cancellations could have an odd side effect for those of us who are building layouts for future exhibitions. 

 

Quite reasonably managers are saying they will put on the already planned exhibition next year. As is usual, I already have tentative verbal agreements to take my layout which is still under construction to a few exhibitions next year. I am working to a timing plan (in my head) to get me to a completed layout with three months to spare before the first show.  I'm now thinking I should maybe slow work down so the layout isn't ready until 2022.

I understand the situation and agree that it would be good to invite the same layouts next year. I'm not moaning, just changing my expectations and also thinking about changing my priorities.

 

I suspect you might well be right.

 

Assuming that the organisers are looking at similar dates - and the same venues (or ones of similar size), I wonder how long it's likely to be before the organisers contact potential exhibitors for both years' shows - if nothing else to check that they're still likely to be available for the revised years' shows.

 

Although stuff like this might not be an issue for quite a few exhibitors, I suspect it might be for some:

 

• Some exhibitors might be booked for a number of shows certain years, with the potential for clashes.
• Some people might have difficulty getting leave from their jobs for the new dates / year.
• Other people might have family reasons why they might not be available for a particular year's show - eg weddings, "key" birthdays / anniversaries etc.

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by Huw Griffiths

[PaulRhB]

I already had bookings up to 2023 and I expect some may slip due to deferral of bigger shows. As said above some will drop out so others will maintain pre bookings to fill those gaps.  It’s always a problem for me as we can’t book leave for the following year until November so if it doesn’t fall on a weekend off it’s difficult to commit unless it’s in known quiet spots in the year. 
On deferring a deadline to finish a layout all I’d say is you’ll get a month out and panic will set in!  

I’m still working to a September deadline year to give me focus! By the time the likely to be deferred show actually happens it might be nicely super detailed too.  

[corax67]

Our annual charity show is due to be held on the second week of October (St Michael & all Angels, Wilmington) and our committee has been having conversations for weeks as to if we could possibly run whilst assuming the 2m social distancing guidelines will still be in place.

 

Whilst no final decision has been made, but is imminent, we are struggling to see how layout operators on the larger layouts could isolate let alone the visitors, volunteers & kitchen staff. For example our own layout which wasn’t attending usually has a team of 4 to set up and constantly 2 to run, none of us are from the same households and operate from inside the 16’ x 12’ layout.

 

 

 

 

Karl

[Chris M]

When exhibitions do come back on line it will be a great pleasure just to go to one again. As Barry says some of the layouts may have been worked on and improved during the lockdown. 2021 could be a good year for exhibitions due to pent up demand and the whole thing coming back fresh. Assuming that the majority of layouts booked for 2020 fulfil the booking in 2021 there could be twice the number of new layouts on the circuit in 2022. Its not all bad news!

[RJS1977]

9 hours ago, Huw Griffiths said:

 

I suspect you might well be right.

 

Assuming that the organisers are looking at similar dates - and the same venues (or ones of similar size), I wonder how long it's likely to be before the organisers contact potential exhibitors for both years' shows - if nothing else to check that they're still likely to be available for the revised years' shows.

 

Although stuff like this might not be an issue for quite a few exhibitors, I suspect it might be for some:

 

• Some exhibitors might be booked for a number of shows certain years, with the potential for clashes.
• Some people might have difficulty getting leave from their jobs for the new dates / year.
• Other people might have family reasons why they might not be available for a particular year's show - eg weddings, "key" birthdays / anniversaries etc.

 

 

Let's not forget that the exhibitors and traders will also all be a year older! They might not feel quite so much like lugging a large layout or trade stand round the country as they did this year....

[Barry O]

22 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

 

Let's not forget that the exhibitors and traders will also all be a year older! They might not feel quite so much like lugging a large layout or trade stand round the country as they did this year....

Can you please go and do some modelling? Far too much negativity....

 

Baz

[bgman]

2 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Can you please go and do some modelling? Far too much negativity....

 

Here here !

 

 

[MarcD]

Speaking for myself as a small trader and as a modeller I'm trying to take a positive spin on this. I'm still working and shipping kits and I'm trying to get some modelling done for myself. Tricky with a 5year old in the house.

Not having shows to exhibit is a bit frustrating when you have been working on something. As a business it's a double edged sword less expensive running from home but less trade.  But I also don't have to listen to"Furness Railway that's a bit far north for me!".  Particularly when I'm standing under a large photo of a Cornish China clay wagon. That's a different winge. 

I was due to demonstrate/exhibit at a number of shows towards the back end of the year (some not listed on my website) and I have been kept up to date by the show organisers all the way.

Being out of control of a situation induces stress in humans. If larger show organisers gave updates on where there planning was for exhibitors and traders. I would feel a lot better. Even if it was we can't cancel until the venue states that it's not going to be open.

Back to the positive use your time productively. Do something.

Marc

[fezza]

I worry for small traders at these times but I think everyone must  accept there will be no large commercial exhibitions for a long time. But it's not all bad. In the last two months stuck at home I've spent much more on modelling than usual and I'm probably not alone in this. They key for traders is to have a good online offer. 

 

My employer (a university) is believes there will be no face to face teaching until October 2021. On that basis I think we will be lucky to see any large scale indoor exhibitions of any kind until late next summer at the earliest. Insurers know that bringing people from around the country and putting them together in a small space is asking for trouble.

 

In the meantime, as people have said, many new layouts are being built for when we can finally have exhibitions again. 

[Guest Half-full]

13 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

 

Let's not forget that the exhibitors and traders will also all be a year older! They might not feel quite so much like lugging a large layout or trade stand round the country as they did this year....

Older doesnt mean weaker, thats rather insulting

Edited May 21, 2020 by Half-full

[RJS1977]

Sorry, didn't mean to cause offence. However it is an inevitability that every year there are modellers who decide to retire their layouts from the exhibition circuit because they feel their days of exhibiting are behind them. They may still be perfectly capable of moving the layout and setting it up, but there comes a point where the effort of doing so outweighs the enjoyment derived from exhibiting.

[Pacific231G]

46 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

Sorry, didn't mean to cause offence. However it is an inevitability that every year there are modellers who decide to retire their layouts from the exhibition circuit because they feel their days of exhibiting are behind them. They may still be perfectly capable of moving the layout and setting it up, but there comes a point where the effort of doing so outweighs the enjoyment derived from exhibiting.

I actually know several modellers in that position and, though it's not the only factor, some have decided that the current shut down is an appropriate cue to finally stop building layouts for exhibitions and focus on a more ambitious home layout. OTOH there;s nothing like an exhibition date to make you actually get a layout completed!

 

I sometimes wonder though whether in Britain the exhibtion layout tail has tended to wag the personal layout dog (We have far more exhibitions than any other country so logically a far higher proportion of layouts designed to be exhibited)   However, the Buckingham branch was only exhibited in its earliest portable versions, the Madder Valley, Augher Valley,  Craig and Mertonford, North Devon were always permanent and even the archetypical portable layout, the Charford Branch, was mainly portable so that it could be put up in whatever accomodation the RAF provided John Charman with and, after he left the service, spent most of its life in one place. 

 

Exhibitions are a great place to show off our hobby to each other and the wider public but for  many modellers they seem to have become the hobby itself with layouts built only with a view to exhibiting them. That's fine for those who want to do that but how many of us I wonder build layouts that are far smaller and simpler than we really want just because they're the largest we can comfortably transport to an exhibition and handle ourselves or perhaps with one other helper.

 

Edited May 21, 2020 by Pacific231G

[Gilbert]

7 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

I actually know several modellers in that position and, though it's not the only factor, some have decided that the current shut down is an appropriate cue to finally stop building layouts for exhibitions and focus on a more ambitious home layout. OTOH there;s nothing like an exhibition date to make you actually get a layout completed!

 

I sometimes wonder though whether in Britain the exhibtion layout tail has tended to wag the personal layout dog (We have far more exhibitions than any other country so logically a far higher proportion of layouts designed to be exhibited)   However, the Buckingham branch was only exhibited in its earliest portable versions, the Madder Valley, Augher Valley,  Craig and Mertonford, North Devon were always permanent and even the archetypical portable layout, the Charford Branch, was mainly portable so that it could be put up in whatever accomodation the RAF provided John Charman with and, after he left the service, spent most of its life in one place. 

 

Exhibitions are a great place to show off our hobby to each other and the wider public but for  many modellers they seem to have become the hobby itself with layouts built only with a view to exhibiting them. That's fine for those who want to do that but how many of us I wonder build layouts that are far smaller and simpler than we really want just because they're the largest we can comfortably transport to an exhibition and handle ourselves or perhaps with one other helper.

 

Interesting comment - I've just braved the loft and revived a partly completed US HO layout I decided a few years ago would be too unwieldy for exhibition use and "stored". I've cleared my shed so I can put it up for home use only.

Much work to follow I think...I'll start an appropriate topic in a US thread..

I'll continue to show my other layouts but I'm finding "smaller is better" in my current plans...

Edited May 22, 2020 by Gilbert

[Barry O]

8 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

Sorry, didn't mean to cause offence. However it is an inevitability that every year there are modellers who decide to retire their layouts from the exhibition circuit because they feel their days of exhibiting are behind them. They may still be perfectly capable of moving the layout and setting it up, but there comes a point where the effort of doing so outweighs the enjoyment derived from exhibiting.

What has this to do with exhibition cancellations?

As I said before quit with the negativity for your own sake not just ours.

 

Do you do any modelling at all? If you do post the fruits of your labours on RMWeb...

 

Baz

[RJS1977]

One of the previous contributors mentioned that he was reconsidering his build plan for his exhibition layout as he anticipated that most shows would move this year's exhibition invitations back a year, meaning that exhibition managers would not be looking for new layouts for another 12 months. I was just trying to point out that there might still be some vacancies :-)

[Barry O]

3 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

One of the previous contributors mentioned that he was reconsidering his build plan for his exhibition layout as he anticipated that most shows would move this year's exhibition invitations back a year, meaning that exhibition managers would not be looking for new layouts for another 12 months. I was just trying to point out that there might still be some vacancies :-)

You have a quaint way of saying somethings.

 

As I say, try focussing on doing some modelling rather than looking at the negative side of life...

Baz

Edited May 22, 2020 by Barry O

[stan williams]

Cambridge University have just announced that there will be no face to face lectures/lessons until

the Summer of 2021, possibly not until October next year.

Manchester University have just announced the above but until the end of 2020.

There will now be a whole host of other Universities doing the same.

 

This puts in to perspective the situation this virus has created.

There will not be  any model railway shows  for some considerable time and possibly far fewer

when they return.

Some who miss out this year may look at it more deeply and convince themselves that putting on 

an exhibition is hardwork and may decide not to comeback ?

 

Stan.