Open Air Business December 2018

The Showman’s
Show 2018
Innovation and sustainability were key themes at this
year’s show reports Michelle Tayton
ONCE AGAIN the Showman’s Show
delivered a great cross section of
products and services across the entire
event production supply chain; from
state-of-the-art structures, plant and
hire equipment to waste management,
sustainable solutions, entertainment
and finishing touches. The diversity of
the exhibits on show was coupled with
innovative launches and masses of
ideas for moving events forward.
Over 50 Vision:2025 festival teams
and environmentally-minded suppliers
gathered on the first day in the ‘Hub
Talks’ tipi to share knowledge and
experiences of working towards
making events more sustainable.
Teams from events as diverse as Hay
Festival, Boomtown Fair, Greenbelt
and Just So festival, and many more,
gathered to watch event director
Johnny Lance open the day with a
round-up of initiatives the Showman’s
Show team had undertaken to
improve its environmental impact.
This was followed by Paul Reed of the
Association of Independent Festivals
(AIF) sharing how 60 UK festivals have
come together to cut single-use plastics
at events.
After an afternoon of speakers
on innovation in supplier services
and products, and expert advice on
key topics such event power, waste,
travel and toilets, the day ended with
a call to action to join the festival
communities who are taking action
around environmental issues. Energy
Revolution shared plans to help events
balance or ‘offset’ over 10 million fossilfuel
festival travel miles by 2020 with
investment in renewable energy. The
8thPlate project called for more events
to send surplus festival food to those
in need, and Julie’s Bicycle launched
an offer for Vision:2025 festivals to use
their Creative IG Tools to accurately
measure the impacts of events.
RAW Bottles, with its high-quality
stainless steel brand-able drinking
bottles, took home the Green Supplier
and Innovation Award. Now in its fourth
year, it was judged in front of a panel
in a Dragons Den style presentation
for the first time. The panel included
Claire O’Neill from A Greener Festival,
Catherine Bottrill of Julie’s Bicycle, Paul
Reed from AIF and Steve Heap of the
Association of Festival Organisers (AFO).
Commenting on the success of this
year’s Showman’s Show, Lance said:
“The response of exhibitors and visitors
to the show is probably the best way to
gauge how successful it has been, and
I have to say we have been completely
inundated with positive feedback! On
site we had visitors popping into the
show office to say how much they had
enjoyed the show, as well as companies
who want to exhibit at next year’s event
requesting meetings and lots of great
comments from exhibitors.
“A quick look at our social media
accounts and you’ll see some really
encouraging posts from visitors and
exhibitors alike. Now that the dust has
settled and we’re back at our desks I’m
pleased to say that it continues; we’ve
received fantastic comments from
exhibitors who have been with us for
years saying that it was their best show
yet and lots of exhibitors who want
to rebook for 2019 straight away. It
doesn’t really get any better than that.
“The show had a really nice buzz to
it throughout which was great to see.
All in all, a really positive couple of
days that leave us very much looking
forward to the Showman’s Show 2019.”
SAVE THE DATE
The Showman’s Show 2019 will
take place at Newbury Showground
on 16-17 October.
➊
OAB’s Top Picks
➊ GT Trax
As well as being a leading supplier of
plastic temporary roadways and walkways,
GT Trax also provides marquee flooring,
event seating and structures, all for hire
or purchase with nationwide delivery and
installation
LuxTrax and LiteTrax are ideally suited
to marquee flooring, delivering non-slip
temporary walkways for inside or outside.
LuxTrax is used to provide walkways at
the Burghley and Badminton Horse Trials
and at many outdoor exhibitions. The Lite
version can be used to create a plastic floor
- particularly good where it will be covered
by carpet, with holes for gripper rods. www.
gttrax.co.uk
➋ DCRS
Providing radios for hire, sale or lease,
DCRS showcased its Radio Allocation
System (RAS) which uses a simple on-site
PC based system to allow event organisers
to log radios and accessories to individual
users or groups. The system is delivered
preloaded with all of the equipment on hire
and records a username, email address/
➋
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