Exhibition entry prices and consessions

[David Bigcheeseplant]

I notice on the Telford exhibition thread there is discussion about entry price of £12 for non members and also concession rates for seniors, so instead of distracting from the content of that thread I thought I would start a new thread on exhibition costs and concessions.

 

I guess what people charge for entry is up to the exhibition organizers and what the market will take, but for a good sized exhibitions Railex, Nottingham, Derby, St Albans are around the £5-£7 mark which I feel is very good value for money for 3-4 hours entertainment. As for concessions we abolished our senior rate this year as many other shows have done in the past few years, although we do offer a discounted advanced postal rate with a £1 off the door price.

 

I note that the specialist shows Expo EM, Scalefourum and Telford have a discounted rate for members but the non member rate is higher than the average exhibition price, and in the case of Scalefourum more non members attend than members so the higher price does not seem to put visitors off.

 

Personally I would rather pay more for a good show than go to a cheaper show with less to interest me.

 

David

[ian]

To be honest, the entrance charge is only a small part of what you pay to go to a show. There's your travelling costs, food and drink whilst you're out and the inevitable purchases - even the well organised and self-controlled modeller will probably part with ten times as much as the ticket price during the course of the day.

[grahame]

Exhibition entry price is generally not off-putting for me - even at £8 it still usually represents excellent value especially in comparison with other events entry ticket prices. And I agree with the no concessions thing - it's galling to see some people get a discount just because they're a few years older or younger than me although I do accept that membership should attract a benefit (like free entry).

 

Cost and convenience consideration for me is more about the travelling distance and logistics, and the ease once there; now that it's been diagnosed I need the other hip replacing car parking that involves any distance to walk is a no-no - far too painful. And consequently I'd like to see more seating/rest areas at shows.

 

G.

[Coombe Barton]

It's not the price of the ticket it's the total cost - as has been said.

 

BUT if the going rate for most shows is £8 and someone advertises a £12 show then I'll look a lot more carefully at what's being offfered. I'd expect more, maybe not 50% more, but more nevertheless. It's all part of the total cost. This said I won't be going to Telford - I go not only because of layouts but for trade support, and it's ExpoEM North the next weekend and that's geared to my sort of trade. I am a member of the EMGS, so there's a little bit of supporting my own society there. I want to go to Scaleforum (not a member) but it's on a weekend where I'm going to be busy or knackered, or both, being at the start of term. Were it closer to me it would be another matter, but it's part of the total cost package that includes time spent.

 

However onto the subject of concessions - I get my bus pass in less than three months - I doubt I'll be using it much. Whether I claim the concession if offered is another matter, but it won't stop me going to a show if there's no concession. As I said, it's the total cost that counts.

 

...And consequently I'd like to see more seating/rest areas at shows.

Yes, it would probably persuade me to stay longer. Age creeps up unawares sometimes.

[Kits from Somerset]

A good value show is when there are good layouts, trade stands and demorstraters. A good combonatin of all three is value for money. A good show to me is when the entry cost is the same or less than the P&P what the fellow traders will have charged if I have ordered the goods. Also sometimes you can pick up something you are looking for.

 

On consessions if there is none this will help the people on the door not get told off because they have guesed the age wrong.

[Kenton]

Show entry price has never really bothered me and I don't think I actually take in the actual cost - if I want to go to a show I go - if it is worth my time and all the effort of traveling then the relatively small cost of entry is of little concern. But then I guess I can afford it and (it may be sad) it is my main - out of the house - entertainment. Not having the slightest interest in "sporting" events.

 

I'm still a few years away from being a concession and my present view on such things is that they are a little insulting and not really required - that may change in a few years

 

Railex, is a good example of a show that is IMO cheap - If I could stand the crowds for that period it could easily be a whole days entertainment so is outstanding value.

 

The other major and specialist shows also are good value and I do mot mind paying a little bit more for not being in the "club".

 

Local shows I see are in support of a local and usually small club - the entry cost should be more reasonable but still sufficient to cover their costs and expenses with perhaps a 10% "benefit" for the club's coffers. It would help perhaps for them to publish a rough breakdown of the proceeds+expenses (accounts) as I can see some may have particular overheads that mean inflating the entry price.

 

I have never quite understood the big O gauge shows Reading/Telford where the show is more of a trade fair. Where are any profits going?

 

... and as for the NEC show

[Coombe Barton]

The other major and specialist shows also are good value and I do mot mind paying a little bit more for not being in the "club".

But is it worth 140% more at it appears that the differential that Telford is charging?

... and as for the NEC show

Same for me - went last year and got a reasonable amount out of it. But for me now it's really not specialist enough in terms of bits that I need.

 

BUT it's the NEC and attendant hassles do not leave me wanting to go back.

[ian]

But is it worth 140% more at it appears that the differential that Telford is charging?

 

I suspect that it may be to give you an incentive to join as you save £7 which goes a fair way towards the £24 membership fee.

[Coombe Barton]

I suspect that it may be to give you an incentive to join as you save £7 which goes a fair way towards the £24 membership fee.

 

True, but for EMGS and Scalefour it's a £2-3 difference.

[ian]

True, but for EMGS and Scalefour it's a £2-3 difference.

 

Their committees may have a different philosophy, after all there is quite a lot of overlap between the products, materials and techniques used in OO, EM and S4 so there may be OO modellers who are happy to go to an S4 show, but don't want to join the society whereas if you model in O then GOG is 'the only game in town' as it were.

 

I'll stop speculating now before the mods descend on the thread.

[PLD]

On the first part - what is a reasonable price - I don't think there is a hard and fast rule you can apply to all shows. Depends what is offered and what you want out of it in terms of quantity and quality of layouts, variety of trade stands, etc etc. As an example, I happily travel 120 miles to Wigan and pay £7/8 to get in, yet there are shows half the distance and half the cost I wouldn't bother with...

 

I think the 'specialist' events such as Guildex are an exception which are seen as very good value to a specific narrow audience, but would be seen as offering a very low number of 'layouts per pound' and imbalanced towards the trade if it were marketed as a general exhibition...

 

On Concessions, I think there is still some merit in offering reduced prices for certain groups. Certainly children need to be encouraged and is dad more likely to leave the kids at home if he has to pay full price, and Seniors is seemingly expected in the 'leisure/entertainment' market though I do have doubts about the validity of the others some shows offer or have offered such as 'unemployed', 'student' etc which are potentially more liable to abuse.

 

At Hull we did notice a trend that a growing proportion of the audience was concessions so made the decision to reduce the discount as a proportion of the full price (previously the concessionary rate had always been 50% of full price) thereby maintaining the overall 'average per visitor'. As for members' discounts, in the case of a club show shouldn't they be there anyway exhibiting, stewarding or whatever else is required of them to contribute to running the show??

 

Paul

[Trevor H]

Hi,

 

Getting back I feel £5-7 is a good price for these shows and well worth the money, although this can be a controversal subject for each individual, on how much they earn or how wealthy they are, some people are happy to spend this or more each day for lunch, whilst others take sandwiches to work

 

Subsidised tickets for pensioners is a difficult one, I probably agree they should pay the same, although as mentioned above some may find this difficult and probably only get to one or two shows a year, just to have a look at the layouts.

 

I don't get to many shows these days, but I would be more than happy to pay these kind of prices for the excellent shows mentioned in Davids thread.

 

As I mentioned on the other thread about the O gauge show, I dont agree on same price tickets for weekend or spouse and would much prefer to see them charged a couple of quid more for the privelage, although I do agree about subsidised tickets, within reason, for members when its their own expo.

 

On another note I went to the 2mm Association show at the weekend, which was £5 entry for everyone and was well worth the money spent, but I did notice it was a weekend ticket and if I'd of spent the weekend there, I would of been more than happy to say pay £7 for my ticket.

 

Trevor.

[mezzoman253]

Hi, I've just qualified for my bus pass(although I can get it until September as the age break point is being increased, in stages, similar to pensions). Now the age for this is 60, but there seems to be no consistancy at shows some having 60 and some 65. I went along to my local show last weekend hoping for my first benefit from being "old" only to find concession was 65. On returning home after the show, in the mail was a form from the government asking me to fill it in for my "winter fuel payment" this coming season! That aside if I'm going to a big show I'll get advanced tickets if able, saving a bit that way. The local shows tend to be £5 or under which is ok for me on my own. I agree children should be encouraged by either lower price per head or a family ticket, as the greater part of the modelling population is ageing, maybe it should be discounts at the younger end to encourage new blood.

 

Rob

[Kenton]

I suspect that it may be to give you an incentive to join as you save £7 which goes a fair way towards the £24 membership fee.

I'm afraid I see it the other way it is £17 (saved) I am not knocking the Guild) but it is yet another "also ran" in terms of society membership I could understand the point if I solely had an interest in O but there are so many different societies and interest groups I cannot see what they all offer for me. So I would rather put the £17 towards the "added" cost of entry into EMGS Bracknell/Scaleforum/NG-South/... or just spend it on a cup of wet coffee at Warley ...

[Kenton]

On a potentially silly idea - has anyone tried the concept of money back tickets.

 

For example a £10 entry ticket with 10 x £1 tear off coupons redeemable when the holder spend £10 or more at a participating trade stand?

 

I sometimes wonder just how many go to the show and then spend nothing at trade.

 

(Though I have been known to go to a show and only spend time at the trade stands - finding I had run out of time to visit all or almost any of the layouts)

[Worsdell forever]

[blatent plug] Come to Goathland village hall 17th/18th July. Entry 80p, no concessions or family rates just children of all ages. 6/7 layouts and refreshments! [blatent plug]

[David Bigcheeseplant]

I did forget to mention at Railex we do offer up to 2 children free with a paying adult on the Sunday only, that does reduce the cost for a family visit, also it helps to get more people to visit on the Sunday which at all shows tends to be split Saturday 60%-70% Sunday 40%-30%, I have thought that Sunday could be cheaper than Saturday on entrace costs, would this entice more people to come on Sunday?

 

David

[Kris]

I don't go to many shows, mainly due to distance and time issues. Normally I don't consider the price of the entry when I visit, but £12 is I feel very steep. There would need to be something exceptional at the show for me to even consider paying that amount, and even then my gut instinct would be to give it a miss and spend the money elsewhere.

[Kenton]

I have thought that Sunday could be cheaper than Saturday on entrance costs, would this entice more people to come on Sunday?

I don't think it is so much a cost issue - you are already doing a good deal with 1+2 offer.

 

I suspect it is more the problem that Sunday tends to be "get ready for the week ahead" or similar family "visit/stay at home" day.

I seem always to go too early and get stuck in the inevitable queue at almost every show. Probably as I often find myself in desperation for a parking space within hobble distance and keen then to get away before the rush by public and exhibitors to the lunch.

 

There is another factor - habit - I used to rush in to have a rummage in the bargain buckets under the trade stands - remember them? where you could find under priced/valued little gems - anything from a half finished or unwanted kit to the part that was missing from the one you bought the previous show. These days you do not see them as it all goes on eBay for inflated prices or elsewhere.

 

Late afternoon is never a good time to travel as you usually have to rush home to take "the other half" out for a meal/show/visit in compensation for spending the whole of the day - "half of the entire weekend!" "doing your own thing" when you should be decorating/gardening/shopping/... which you had maneuvered to avoid by going to "another" show.

[Kits from Somerset]

I did forget to mention at Railex we do offer up to 2 children free with a paying adult on the Sunday only, that does reduce the cost for a family visit, also it helps to get more people to visit on the Sunday which at all shows tends to be split Saturday 60%-70% Sunday 40%-30%, I have thought that Sunday could be cheaper than Saturday on entrace costs, would this entice more people to come on Sunday?

 

David

 

Might help a bit, but most people who are also interested in the trade stands as well will most lickly come on Sat in case what they want (and bargins) has gone.

[The Stationmaster]

I did forget to mention at Railex we do offer up to 2 children free with a paying adult on the Sunday only, that does reduce the cost for a family visit, also it helps to get more people to visit on the Sunday which at all shows tends to be split Saturday 60%-70% Sunday 40%-30%, I have thought that Sunday could be cheaper than Saturday on entrace costs, would this entice more people to come on Sunday?

 

David

 

I came on Sunday for two reasons David, viz

 

1. I hoped to be able to park easily near the door (successful), and

2. I hoped it wouldn't be too crowded (successful).

 

And on top of that I could buy my entry ticket and programme and actually read the programme before going in, accompanied by a pretty good bacon roll.

 

Your show was - in overall travel + entrance price terms - one of the more expensive I have attended in the past year or so because I had to drive to get there within a reasonably sensible journey time. So it was your ticket price plus something over 10 quid's worth of diesel. Although I didn't go this year Ally Pally would in fact have been cheaper for me as my only cost in attending that exhibition would have been the entry price, and even York would have been cheaper as my only cost to get there would have been the 'bus between the station and Knavesmire.

 

So how do I compare 'value for money'? Simple set of parameters very much like those of most other people I expect.

 

1.Layouts (quality, interest level, inspiration, and - as far as I'm concerned - realistic operation; subject matter can be fairly catholic for me as long as it doesn't involve blue diesels, especially clean blue diesels ).

2. Trade - a good mixture but obviously ideally supplying the things I'm looking for (or those things I didn't know I was looking for but on seeing it couldn't do without it - made just such a purchase at Aylesbury, thanks to a tip-off from Cap'n Kernow)

3. Decent bookstall with secondhand stuff (if they have any) at sensible prices, fortunately Geoff Gamble sems to do a lot of shows that I go to (perhaps I should say 'unfortunately' ).

4. A decent cup of tea preferably on the same level as the main exhibition and with somewhere to sit and drink it and, ideally, a decent bacon roll to go with it as well.

5.(Increasingly in my case as my joints age and disintegrate) somewhere to sit down for rest of tired and sore/painful limbs again ideally same level as main exhibition area but not necessarily within it.

 

If I can get all of that for under a tenner I reckon it's a good day out.

 

And here's an interesting comparison for you Mrs Stationmaster and I went to Whipsnade Zoo Park a few weeks back - 4 quid to park and us going in at the OF rate came to a total of £38; a couple of cups of 'tea' and two '... and chips' meals came to another 17 quid. I could have gone to 4 or 5 good model railway exhibitions for that money......

[F-UnitMad]

... £12 is I feel very steep. There would need to be something exceptional at the show for me to even consider paying that amount...

For any 'normal' show I'd agree with you; but for the Guildex Show at Telford (which this price refers to) the "something exceptional" for me is that the whole show is, by definition, a one-stop shop for the scale I model in, with almost every Trader of note present, and a good mix of layouts. The bonus of the £12 covering my lad as well is good- as there's just the two of us (SWMBO has no interest) "Family" tickets are never of any benefit to me. The fact it covers two days is unfortunately for me, academic at the moment.

I'm inclined to agree with Kenton, though, I see the £12 as saving money on membership of the Gauge O Guild... If I went to more of their shows (Kettering, Halifax etc) then it might possibly be worth joining for the discounted entry price to those events; but I don't- Telford is enough!!

[Dagworth]

The other major and specialist shows also are good value and I do mot mind paying a little bit more for not being in the "club".

At DEMU's Showcase this year the difference between members and non members admission prices was infinite, members were admitted free.

Anyone who paid to get in and then joined DEMU was able to get a refund of their admission costs as well.

 

On the subject of concessions can I gauge a bit of opinion of the members here please? If a disabled visitor has a carer should the carer get free admission?

 

Andi

[David Bigcheeseplant]

 

 

On the subject of concessions can I gauge a bit of opinion of the members here please? If a disabled visitor has a carer should the carer get free admission?

 

Andi

 

Yes without question, you may loose money but you gain goodwill.

 

David

[PLD]

On the subject of concessions can I gauge a bit of opinion of the members here please? If a disabled visitor has a carer should the carer get free admission?

 

Andi

 

Please put down the can-opener and leave the worms where they are....