July and August were traditionally the quiet months for railway exhibitions; the holiday months, the gardening months. A scan of the RM listings in the August issues shows that this is still true, but there is a (worrying?) trend that suggests that we are still in a post-covid world. When you read the listings closely you realise that they are packed, beefed-up, padded, a repeating event and photos where 3+ years ago none would have existed.
I can only make the assumption that we have still not recovered. Look closer still and you will spot that a few listings are not what they seem and are not full exhibitions at all, but rather club open days. I'm making assumptions again, but does this point to a deeper problem and one that I predicted during the first lock down; that the pandemic has altered the shape of the exhibition circuit; possibly for all time. The reasons for this are partly financial, but it's probably more of a case that the routine has been stopped for many and it is just too much of a faff to go out on a Thursday night to the club, far easier to sit at home and binge-watch something on Netflix. The open day is a semi-desperate attempt to keep some sense of forward motion and keep the club in the public eye and to hopefully replace some of the older with new blood. Is this the shape now? Is it gone forever?
On a personal level I can relate very closely to the above. Quite honestly I don't know where I'm going with this or anything else, and again all the pre-existing shapes and relationships have changed and my usual crash pad of building layouts for exhibition in the down points ain't there any more. I've gone from ten exhibitions a year to one; literally decimated. Without those targets of reasonable sized events, what is the point?
One target however is a visit to Devon in a few weeks to get Rhiw 2 photographed by young Craig. This has given a small nudge to get some of the ballast patched where it had fallen off at the Steyning show. The platform lamps also need re-setting as they had developed a concerning lean due to the layout being stored on its end.
If we could just get back to where we all were before, or at least something close to it.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I've been a bit insulated from all this as I haven't done a great deal of exhibiting, and the few layouts I've built are probably better suited to open day type events anyway.
One of my longer term goals (ie once we've moved out of the South East and I get my weekends back) is to build something that I can take to shows; I just hope that there are some left to go to!
There are a few things on over the next couple of months near here...Bexhill and Lenham (SNCF Society) spring to mind...though mostly we're concentrating on getting ready to put the house on the market.
Dunno what the solution is to the exhibition conundrum...wait for things to improve, or is this just the new normal?
A lot of what I seem to be doing is squirrelling stuff away while I've got the money to do so, a bit counterintuitive in a way as it's more stuff to move, but it seems prudent to do it while I can.
How did getting show bookings work before? Take a layout to a show and get invitations to others while there?
The Beckenham MRC seem to be doing OK; a "vintage" show plus a (weekday) open day in spring with the big show in Autumn, all very busy so there's obviously a demand for shows.
Cheers,
S
Perchance we need to consider this matter in terms of past, present, and future - what was, what is, and what might be.
ReplyDeleteThe first is easy. Can it be otherwise than that we recognise the past "Golden Era" of exhibitions and exhibiting that covered the twenty-five (maybe thirty) years up to 2020?
What we can realistically hope for in the future will possibly depend on how we see the present.
A number of large exhibitions have dropped by the wayside - some of these were general (eg. REC, CMRA) others specialist (eg. ExpoNG). Despite this decline, it has to be said that there are exhibitions taking place and others being planned. The current situation could therefore be assessed on a philosophical basis by posing the traditional question. Is the glass half empty, or the glass half full?
Some might say that smaller events are coming to the fore in greater numbers. Will this prove to be the glass never being fully drained, and indeed slowly being topped up?
Christopher Payne
Which was my basic premise: that we are are in a consolidation period. Other large and specialist shows include the ERA, GlobalRail, Crawley and Epsom. These are just the ones on my radar so there must be plenty more that have fallen. In many cases we are now in a holding position with open days being the flag in the ground that is hoping to be 'topped up'. I note that in other places you state age as a factor and I think this is widespread; people have lost the momentum and now fell disinclined to go back to the previous structures.
DeleteAgreed, I have in another place mentioned age as being a factor in persons deciding not to resume their previous activity. This does seem to be the case as far as exhibition management is concerned.
ReplyDeleteHowever, "age" is a factor of life from cradle to grave, and the issue seems to be that whilst some exhibition managers have retired because of advancing age, there are not volunteers to replace them from the ranks of those somewhat younger. I say "somewhat", because those much younger are often and understandably pre-occupied with the demands of career and family life.
Having raised the question as to why somewhat younger persons are not rushing to step into the role of exhibition manager, I might ask if this could be caused by other factors. I have in mind issues such as increased hire costs for venues, and the demands of meeting health and safety standards.
Christopher Payne
When I lived in London in the early 70s I had access to a van and helped to move a large layout from its west London home to exhibitions, mostly but not entirely around London. With a change of employer the use of the van disappeared but I continued to help at various shows with muscle power, organisational effort and operating the layouts themselves. Now some 40 years later. I have no van, don't live in London, the layout I shifted no longer exists and I don't have the energy I had back then. I am still in a club member but don't see the younger members stepping forward to do the kind of things I did. Our shows are a lot smaller by necessity due to a shortage of personnel and cost although they still happen.
ReplyDeleteI miss the big shows and in particular the trade they attracted where I could see and select what I needed. However I am working through a collection of stuff acquired over the years so I am not totally reliant on distance buying and my construction ambition is less.
I know of at least one show that is currently in a much smaller venue than previously but wants to be bigger again and another that is just a bit bigger every year I go to it. I don't think that all is lost but the process of recovery and rebuilding may take a while.
Why do I construct layouts?
ReplyDeleteGood question. Forthcoming exhibitions, an annual ,"What have you got for us this/next year?" Over past years this had declined as known exhibition managers dropped out. The Covid and everything stopped. My "the layouts are really home layouts that may be exhibited," attitude held, to a point. I have the means to put up all but one of my former show layouts and operate them at home. Do I? Rarely.
The loft empire has been dismantled and a smaller layout, to a larger scale is being built to replace it. This has rekindled my interest greatly, but not in the direction of portable "show " layouts. And yet?
The other day a coupole of plans/idea came to mind, one OO and an operational upgrade to Summer Springs, whilst still employing some of the stock from that line. With another modeller the development of a simple and reliable O scale coupling which can be made to operate magnetically brings another "coffin" scheme to mind. An O scale operating "coffin" (box 2m * 1ft, plus fiddle yard) appeals. In both cases though would it be priomarily for showing? I wonder. If asked, yes. Am I that keen on pushing myself out there? In all honesty I would have difficulty answering that.
Over the last few weeks I have attended a couple of small shows (viewer) and have had invites to three shows next year. I could probably fit a couple more in, providing the effort was much less than the reward. Reward in terms of enjyment of the experience.
I am now drawing out plan number three. Will any of the trio actually hit plywood? Possibly