How do you exhibit your layout?

[Arpleymodeller]

Hi

 

When I started building my layout Dallam TMD I had the long term ambition of one day possibly exhibiting it. I am completely new to the exhibition scene and know nothing about how they are organised. So if I had a completed layout and wished to exhibit it do I apply to the event organiser for consideration or does the layout need to be invited?

Any help or advice from experienced exhibitors would be much appreciated.

Regards

Lewis

[craigwelsh]

Create a pdf of your relevant details and the details of the layout that you can either print off and give to exhibition organisers or email to them.

 

Lots of layouts get invited based on past appearances or previous work by the builder, obviously not options in your case so you need to either be proactive or get the layout noticed on here where there are lots of exhibition managers watching.

 

There used to be some sheets of data on exhibition layouts somewhere on rmweb but I can't see it now. It would give you an example to see someone elses.

[Worsdell forever]

Hi Lewis,

 

I've PM'd you one of my info sheets, the only thing that is not on it is the costs for getting to the show, these will all be different of course.

After you get an invite you will probably need to fill in a questionnaire for the exhibition manager (mostly info they may already have from your info sheet) this is when you need to add fuel/van hire costs. They should then send you all the info you need for the exhibition a few weeks before the show then you just need to turn up, set up and play! You will enjoy it!

[mr roarke]

Hi Lewis

The best way to get started is offer your layout to be shown at your local club's exhibition. As i also live in North Wales i know that this is easier said than done as Colwyn Bay club do have one any more. Rhyl and District MRC run a very good exhibition in aid of charity every December and attract a good attendance of visitors to the show. You could also print out an information leaflet with a couple of photos and description of the layout, including scale, gauge and time period etc. These could be given out to anyone who likes what they see for a possible invite to another show.

Then look on UK Model Shops list of exhibition managers and send them a copy. I must emphasise that Exhibition Managers are a trifle reluctant to book a layout without seeing it first. This is how i started exhibiting my layouts and must admit it is a bit daunting trying to get startd on the exhibition circuit. Once you get established and show managers know the quality of your efforts is does become easier. I am now building an On30 layout and it is already booked for 3 future shows. Having a dead line makes sure you keep up the good work.

Hope this is of some help to you and if you need more info i live in Llanbedr DC. I do not know if that is far away from you.

Good Luck

George

[corax67]

I started out many years ago by offering to fill a space at our club show when a booked layout had to cancel at last minute which led to a couple of exhibition managers seeing the layout and then inviting me to exhibit at their shows.

 

Try dropping a line to your local club and see if they have a space at their next show.

 

P.S. I am also cheap as I rarely take any expenses when I attend shows - this may also be a consideration given current economic climate.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

An alternative is, if you are interested of course, to join a local club and exhibit your layout 'in association' with them. Our club has a couple of members layouts like this, and it has proved to be of mutual benefit...you get the shows and the assistance where needed, and the club gets the extra publicity...

[37114]

I would definietely recommend the joining a club route, apart from giving you a route into a show, from where hopefully you will get more invites, you will also be able to practice exhibiting a club layout first and know what you are letting yourself in for. If there are particular shows you want to do then email off layout details to the exhibition manager. Also consider trying to get an article into a Magazine, it helps if you can put "as seen in Magazine x, issue y" on your sheet as when the exhibition manager lists the layouts in his adverts, people may recognise/rememeber the layout name.

[RedgateModels]

Quite an apt question as I'm currently panicing over this weekend's Mansfield Show

 

I'd echo the previous comments, once your layout is "ready" get a short pdf info sheet together, here's mine for Summat Colliery

 

infosheet_sm.pdf

 

Most exhibition managers will accept these and keep you on file for use in future exhibitions. I'd also recommend getting on http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk, they have an eLayouts option that I use a lot when looking for new layouts for our show that are within our area.

[Baby Deltic]

Send an article to one of the magazines, with a selection of photographs and get it published. Several of the previous layouts that my group have exhibited have been in the mags, and its a good way to show the layout off and get invites to shows.

[Jenny Emily]

Send an article to one of the magazines, with a selection of photographs and get it published. Several of the previous layouts that my group have exhibited have been in the mags, and its a good way to show the layout off and get invites to shows.

 

This is exactly how I started getting invites to exhibitions. As others have said; once you have done one exhibition, you will get noticed and other invites will come. It sort of feeds itself. Of course, getting an article published in a magazine can be an art in and of itself.

[PLD]

As you may have gathered, it can be a bit of a catch-22 situation to break into the exhibiton circuit. Most exhibition invitations are recieved when the layout is seen at other exhibitions but how do you get that first invite.

 

I would echo the suggestion of contacting your local club and ideally join them, then 'volunteer' the layout for their show. Most exhibition managers do like to see what they are getting (particularly from an unknown source) before committing to a firm booking, preferably in the flesh so invite the Exhibition Manager to visit and view (or even play with) your layout. Even if he doesn't invite it there and then, he will more than likely be willing to give you advice on what may need to be changed/improved to make it suitable for inclusion in future...

 

The Managers of the larger shows especially don't tend to appreciate unsolicited mailshots with layout details. Start small and work your way up.

 

Otherwise get it featured in a magazine - especially if it can be timed to publicise the afore-mentioned show!

[mudmagnet]

Yes, it can be difficult getting onto the exhibition circuit. The best route, as suggested is to exhbit at your local club show, but follow up invites do depend upon there being exhibition managers coming to the show and see your layout. Also, sometimes exhibition managers have a firm idea of the layouts that they are looking for and yours does not fit in with their plans, then difficult to get an invite. I reckon that it takes 2 years to get firmly established on the 'circuit' as most medium shows start planning at least 12 months in advance! Several friends with exhibition layouts are on waiting lists for 3 years time!

 

It may also be worthwhile speaking to exhibition managers direct at shows, but catching them when not busy can be difficult. Having layout details to hand is worthwhile.

 

I think that half the battle is getting known and having something that exhibition managers want to invite (they all have their own ideas).

 

Good luck.

[Andy C]

Theres a lot been said already that applies to how we work booking layouts for manchester - the main thing being we dont book layouts sight unseen unless we know you and your pedigree. I've been caught out doing that once, booked a lemon, and will never do so again., PLDs comment about inviting an exhibiton manager around to have a look at applies.

 

I would be very careful about approaching a manager at his show. It is a very stressful weekend by and large, and also very very busy. Lets just say sometimes its not appreciated.

 

My personal preference is to see a new builders layout under show conditions and how the builder reacts with the public- I know this doesnt help you as we are back to the catch 22 again - but it gives me a true idea if a layout is up to entertaining the public or not, after all thats what its about, not a vehicle for someone who wants to play with his trainset all weekend be insular and not interact with the audience. That, the complete performance if you like, plays a big part in exhibiting for me.

 

As already mentioned the layout has to fit in with te rest of the show, an exhibition manager has to try to get something of everything to please the afficionados of that particular scale, gauge or genre. Here you may have a problem and I immediately thought it when i saw the name of your layout, and groaned inwardly, the three letters "TMD". I dont mean to denigrate your layout but you are in a very competative market with a depot layout. There are more TMD layouts about now than there were GWR branch line termini in the 80s and 90s, and beleive me that is saying something as they were ten a penny.

 

As I intimate you cannot fill a show with layouts of the same nature so the exhibition manager has a vast choice to go at with TMDs, and you may be well down in the pecking order. I said this on another thread, but if its built to the standard of Mike Anson's "Western Road" then please , please bring it to Manchester, this year as well! If not, then the jury as they say, is out. This may sound a little blunt but id rather tell it as it is, the laws of supply and demand apply in this instance.

 

All the best anyway and if we do see the layout at a show, you never know!!

[Arpleymodeller]

Thanks everyone for your help. Well after reading through the replies I have a much better understanding of exhibitions. Im going to see if I can take Dallam to the Rhyl and District MRCs exhibition in Decemeber as by then I will probably have it finished.

Regards

Lewis

[mike morley]

Something I've heard about with regard to exhibiting a layout is PAT tests.

What are they, what is required, how do I get one, what do they cost, etc?

[dseagull]

Something I've heard about with regard to exhibiting a layout is PAT tests.

What are they, what is required, how do I get one, what do they cost, etc?

 

Portable Appliance Testing.

 

Tests the electrical safety of any portable appliances (in your case - controller/transformer).

 

Any good local electrical firm should be able to do one for you, cost will vary, will be valid for a year. Alternatively, the exhibition manager may have arranged for someone to come and test everything before opening time, may or may not pass the cost on (no personal experience in the expo world, but I do know what PAT Testing is!)

[mike morley]

Thanks, DSeagull

 

My putting of two and two together had lead me to believe that it involved little more than proving your earth was connected and providing an ELCB just in case. Now I know better.

 

Mike

[newbryford]

Portable Appliance Testing.

 

Tests the electrical safety of any portable appliances (in your case - controller/transformer).

 

Any good local electrical firm should be able to do one for you, cost will vary, will be valid for a year. Alternatively, the exhibition manager may have arranged for someone to come and test everything before opening time, may or may not pass the cost on (no personal experience in the expo world, but I do know what PAT Testing is!)

 

Some exhibitions insist on PAT - usually a regulation of the venue. Some don't. Some insist on an RCD, some don't.

 

I once took an unopened RCD to the NEC and then had it tested there - it failed.........

 

Cheers,

Mick

[bbishop]

A couple of thoughts about RCDs. Some venues have the function built into their electrical system. Even if one is needed, check back to the socket, because there may already be an RCD in the system and there is absolutely no point in adding a second one.

 

On a slightly different topic, check to see how many extension leads there are from the socket to your exhibit. If there are more than two, you might want to have a quiet word with the venue or exhibition electrician.

 

Bill

[Barry Ten]

I got on the circuit, in my small way, by getting to know the lads in my local model shop over many years. When they decided to have an open weekend with some customers' layouts in attendance, they asked me to bring my French one along. An exhibition manager saw it at the open weekend and invited it to the next Cardiff snow, and it's gone on from there. I also have received an invitation following my article in Continental Modeller. The layout has now been out eight or nine times I think.

 

One thing I didn't anticipate was the good mates I'd make through showing my model - the whole Cardiff gang, as well as mates from a little further afield. It's been great fun, especially after being something of a lone wolf modeller during my time in the Netherlands.

 

The only thing to watch is that it can start taking over your life - it's not just the odd couple of weekends you might give up to show the layout, but the weeks of work putting things right and improving details after each show.

[steve1]

Something also to be considered is how you present the layout.

 

It needs to look good away from the modelled side too. A decent painted or varnished fascia is essential, plus a drape to cover any supports the layout uses. You'll need to have good lighting, preferably integrated, as not all halls are well illuminated.

 

The overall presentation is an important part of making a good impression.

 

steve

[lapford34102]

It needs to look good away from the modelled side too

 

I'm not showing you the operators side of my layout then!

Totally agree with everything else though. It doesn't need to be anything that posh, just reasonably neatly presented. I will wholeheartedly agree with the lighting bit. Poor lighting, all too prevalent at some show venes, can kill a layout. I use a couple of screw on uprights with a couple of cheap Ikea spots clipped to them. Again nothing exotic but they do the job.

 

Stu

[Kenton]

Something also to be considered is how you present the layout.

 

It needs to look good away from the modelled side too. A decent painted or varnished fascia is essential, plus a drape to cover any supports the layout uses. You'll need to have good lighting, preferably integrated, as not all halls are well illuminated.

 

The overall presentation is an important part of making a good impression.

 

steve

That is true but it still amazes me how many layouts are "allowed in" to shows without any of this - even some of the bigger shows.

 

The Catch 22 is a real blockage. You are much less likely to have an invite unless you get the "sponsorship" of a local club and if you don't get on with the often oppressive atmosphere of the clubs then your up the the creek. It is a very incestuous environment with, it seems, only one club inviting other clubs layouts.

 

Of course if the layout is truly exceptional it will get an invite through other means - display on RMWeb, grabbed by the mags, websites with lots of visitors passing on the good word.

 

Understandably there are many "early" layouts that are not to that amazing standard, yet are still very worthy of a show (often as good as others included) without that push from a club it is very unlikely to appear. But not impossible. Good luck, hope you make it.

[Tim V]

I think Andy C has the nub of it, why should an exhibition manager invite XYZ layout?

 

What is different about this layout?

 

What makes it stand out from the crowd?

 

If there's a choice, good presentation will make a layout stand out.

[Arpleymodeller]

Of course there are hundereds of layouts that apply to go to exhibitions and most will get rejected for numberous reasons. So I fully understand the layout needs to stand out from the crowd and make the exhibition managers want it to be displayed at their show. Im going to try achieve this by scratchbuilding where I can so its more unique. Also Ill have an accurate loco fleet with sound, detailing and weathering that represents the era well. Im also thinking of some discription boards showing how I built the layout with pictures of each stage. This may encourage others to start a similar project and proves that anyone can build a layout that looks decent and interesting. Still early days as far as exhibitons are concerned, if I can get Dallam to the standard of James Makins Wells Green TMD ill be very happy B) .

Regards

Lewis