Exhibition

Ok... Listening to the talk here, what makes a good exhibition in your opinion. What would make you crawl over glass, and look forward to this exhibition next yr more than mums home cooked baked dinner??

Our club is running one soon, and I would like to make some suggestions to them, from people who have more idea, as I dont really have the experience on what is realistic to expect from an exhibition...

Thoughts??

 

I think you need quality for the modeller, wether that be selecting a range of layouts that satisfy certain requirements, detailed scenery, operation etc. You should also these days have at least one DCC layout to represent technology. something fun for the kids and parents who just bring the kids for a look. Not to many retailers, A buy and sell stand, a U-Drive layout and a raffle layout that is not to big and cumbersome for the parents to worry about storing. When is your exhibition? Where is the exhibition? My mate and I have a DCC exhibition Nscale layout NE USA. I will send you some snaps if you like.

 

I agree on the DCC. But I think to pull it off you really need someone working the front of the layout who can really 'sell' the idea to people. Make up MU consists right in front of your very eyes kind of stuff. I suppose a small engine terminal with a long yard and a loop around the back would suffice. But I don't know if I'd crawl over broken glass to see it

I think the best thing that you could do is avoid crowding the place with stuff (ala Liverpool.) I think that was probably the best thing going at Forestville was that there was plenty of room around each layout (with a couple of exceptions) but there was room to move and room to stand.

Anyway - I suppose if you could separate vendors from layouts - that would be a good idea (I would include vendors - although I am sure others would disagree - I like to poke around for bargains) but if I were a vendor I'm not sure if I would agree to be stuck in a separate room from the layouts. Catch 22, eh?

 

I have an idea that the vendors should be around the walls so they have storage space, and layouts should be out in the middle of the room so visitors can gather all around to see the action without stumbling over some kid that is 40 years old and 300 pounds and wont move! You can tell his parents, but they can't do anything with him either. If you have something moving or making noise, you will draw a crowd. The last three shows here in Ft.Worth had coffee that would remove the paint from a 4-8-4, and what food there was was cooked in the boiler, nasty. No candy bars, nothing else. $3.50 for a weiney and slice of bread was a bit much I thought, they did have some mustard somewhere, if you could catch the kiddy writing his name on the floor with it. You should have the Hell's Angels there to deal with that kind of people or at least some dumpsters to drop 'em into.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by watash:
...if you could catch the kiddy writing his name on the floor with it. You should have the Hell's Angels there to deal with that kind of people or at least some dumpsters to drop 'em into.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Watash.. as usual you got me laffin!!!!

MRL Mick, Yankinoz and yerself, thanks for the advice, its amazin that only 3 people off the 1500 have an opinion on this..

do none of them go to exhibitions?

 

Kidding aside, I guess most people live "passive" lives, in their own world, not as outgoing as we who post here often, and become friends. I have heard that the movers and shakers chart their own course and proceed on their own way. The passives will tend to move asside. I have a bumper sticker that says: "Lead, Follow, or get *** out of the way!" A person who has no opinion to voice makes an excellent employee, an opinionated person makes a good manager.

Shows end up having sellers, who wish to make money. Buyers who are looking for something in particular, or for just a bargain, (in the wrong place). Exibitors who wish to display their handiwork, teach, and hear the praise of others. The curious who go to glean information, to learn. A show is like the old time Sears & RoweBuck Catalog, a wish book, the show is a wishing place. So you have the passives who go to see what they wish they could afford, wish they could build, or wish they could make up their mind about. You do have a scattering of scoffers, uninterested wives, kids too young or dissinterested to care, and hired vendors who are trying to get paid for performing the least possible.

Each person has their own personal attitude regarding shows, neither right nor wrong, it is what makes us individuals. The show producers have the awsome task of attempting to please and entice everyone. That is why a good show, like P.T.Barnum said, has to have a flow of paying visitors, from entrance to egress. Without that, you have mob chaos.

The most effecient show I have gone to was a tractor show that was arranged so that from the entrance, one was directed along one wall where parts and accessory vendors booths were all along the right hand wall, full size tractors were out away from the wall providing an isle all around each machine, and another row of vendors booths lined up bach to back down the center of the room. When you got to the far end of the exibit hall, you made a left turn (180 degrees, and started back. This was the area where the garden sized equipment was displayed, again with the appropriate vendors along the wall and back to back with those in the center of the room. As you approached the exit, you came across the farm toys and motion displays, and their vendors. Some had peddle tractors the kids could ride (so many minutes for 25 cents) around a marked off area. I had a display for Caterpillar Made from a Tonka toy, that the kids could run in a dirt box for 5 minutes. I ran it when no kids were there. At that show a fellow had a small winding loop of track with about 6" guage that had little cars with seats and hand cranks that the kids could ride on. He was planning to make and sell them for garden toys. Those had lines of kids wanting to ride from the time the doors were open until they closed each day! He had painted them in the John Deere green and yellow. I fully planned on making one for my kids, but time and bills passed. It fit in with the garden area stuff, but was the only sorta railroad exibit there. Anyway, that was the layout in the hall, but after you left there were refreshments out in the anti-room as you left the premises. It was planned out well, and no food or drink was spilled on any displays. Good POINT! People were told when they bought their tickets that, they were responsible for any damage their kids might do before they entered. Another good POINT!

[ 21 March 2001: Message edited by: watash ]

 

WATASH
I am loving your work. I intend to use some of your wisdom on my subordinates. I work in an organisation where they try and make leaders, this is in possible, leaders are born, and I have found the good ones dont even have to try.

BIRD,
Did you get my Email, I will send you photos in a few weeks, if I can work out how to post on here I will also go that far. DCC is exciting and I am really looking forward to exhibiting the layout.

Mick

 

Bruce, Mick brought up several very valid points, and those I will attempt to compare with Forestville.

Firstly - quality. I personally think it is important to have quality, not only in looks and presentation, but in operational interest. This appeals to both sides of the spectrum. If it looks good, the average non-MR observer will be impressed and drawn to it. Gold River Canyon is a good example of this. The other side is the MR person who will look at the operational side as well as the aesethetic.
Forestville had a couple of these types of layouts present but these were let down to some degree by the lack of lighting. It was relatively dark inside, even considering it was an overcast day.
Also, DCC wasn't present, or wasn't openly advertised as being there. I think a working display of this 'new technology' would be of interest to those considering it, or those interested in such things.

Secondly - vendors. Have good ones with interesting stock on hand and not too many of them. Forestville had a couple there whom I had no idea why they bothered. Little of interest, and little interest in being helpful. The best was the manufacturer/retailer of Australian outline pewter castings. He was quite animated in explaining why he used pewter over white metal!
So, if you have a couple of suppliers of materials like Simply Glues, or the casting business from down the South Coast who were at Liverpool last year (name escapes me), or the vendor mentioned above for example, they add a little interest to the event and also gives people a grounding in what can been used to create the scenery they are looking at.
Maybe a clinic or two on bechwork, scenery, track laying, etc. could be considered as well?
The bring and buy stall is almost a given at these events, but why do I see the same rubbish turning up every time?

Thirdly - U-Drive and raffle/door prize. Great ideas. The U-Drive gets the kids interested and when the parents see the interest in their child, will be more open to entering the hooby. I also think the idea of a raffle or door prize is a good one. Remember not everyone turning up at these exhibitions is a model railroader.
The prize at Forestville was a Model Power trainset. BAD MOVE. It would have to be the about the worst thing to give away - it will disappoint a winner, or their recipient, in a very short time and may turn them off any future interest in the hobby. This point has been brought up in other forums over the years. Make sure it is a worthy prize and possibly with a choice of scales, even if you need to piece it together rather than using a 'boxed' set.

So I'd say in summary, make the exhibition visually stimulating, entertaining, and informative for all attendees. It's hard to create a balance between these points without making some compromises and I doubt there are any clear-cut rules to follow in this regard.
Keep the layouts as fresh as possible. Unfortunately, there are too few layouts on the circuit and they are over exhibited to a point. There's no fun turning up at an exhibition and seeing some of the same layouts you saw a month before.
And whatever you do, don't make it look cheap.

Sydney N has had good and not so good exhibitions in the past. I am sure there are still members around who had their hand in the exhibition's organisation in years past. Also take a look back those exhiitions, and those of other clubs', and take the best parts from them and try combining them together to see if they fall into place with the venue you are using.

Yes, I hear you... count me in on the exhibition commitee if you are game!

Gary.
More than miffed at exhibition quality these days.
Soapbox put away... for now.