JOANNE WATSON POST-SHOW BLOG |
25th November 2011
Everybody loves a good news story and this year's International Dirt Bike Show definitely falls into that category. Before your thoughts turn to the upcoming festive season, here is a last show round-up from organiser Joanne Watson.
"For many of you, the show will soon be a distant memory, but for us the plans will soon be underway for the 2012 event and, thanks to the tremendous success of this year, we have something of a task on our hands. There's nothing we enjoy more than a challenge though and so we will pull out all the stops to make next year's Show bigger and better. We sincerely hope you will all revisit and bring your friends and family with you.
"We appear to be something of a novelty in exhibition circles, because the 2011 International Dirt Bike Show truly bucked the downward consumer show trend when it closed its doors on Sunday 6th November. As a result we've attracted interest from media way beyond our core off-road press - which is nice. So, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, please bear with me whilst I recap briefly on this year and share some show info and stats.
"Getting down to a little number crunching, some 22,146 enthusiasts crammed the show halls over the four-day period from Thursday to Sunday, providing a final attendance increase of 28.17 per cent over the 2010 show. You may be aware that we worked hard to make a visit on the Thursday a more attractive proposition for those off-road fans who would normally have shunned the opening day in favour of the weekend, by introducing a half-price ticket incentive. There was of course always the danger that such a move could backfire, but it paid off and the attendance figure for Thursday more or less doubled, with 5102 visitors through the door and, whilst many believed the Friday to be quiet when compared to the previous year, the visitor total of 3518 was quite similar. As is the norm, it was the weekend that welcomed droves of dirt biking devotees, with Saturday proving to be most popular, topping-out at 7383 visitors, and Sunday registering 6143.
"Physically, this was the largest Dirt Bike Show to be held at the Stoneleigh Park exhibition centre. The exhibition halls housed all but one of the major machine manufacturers, distributors, service providers, countless product and static machine displays and retail stands. Two additional halls accommodated new features, namely the Try-a-Bike arena and the weekend-only EvoShock Moto Jumble. All in all, some 133 different stand holders graced the exhibition halls, of which 60 were retailing at the show and a further 16 pitch-holders were out in hall five over the weekend.
"We also took the Show outside with the Suzuki Off-Road Experience located on the grass to the front of the entrance catering for novice riders. For the more competitive, the Fast Eddy XC Special was held over the weekend in the 4x4 woods and attracted an impressive entry of youth, quad and adult solo riders.
"This year saw an unprecedented level of interest from international off-road racing stars as well as road racers, and feedback to date has been positive from exhibitors and visitors, which we view as being encouraging for the off-road industry as a whole.
"We are a small team and have worked really hard to make best use of all resources open to us. Our media partners have been brilliant with helping to promote the show with advertising and editorial and our PR campaigns have been strong across a number of cross sectors, and not necessarily confined to off-road. This year's website proved to be a very useful marketing tool with the logs showing exceptional traffic. This, together with the use of the social media platforms allowed us to reach even bigger audiences.
"The 2012 Show dates have been confirmed as Thursday 1st to Sunday 4th November, and all that is left for me now is to pass on our best wishes to you all for the fast-approaching festive season and we hope to see you at the Dirt Bike Show next year."
Joanne Watson
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