Criticism of ATEI this year is summed up by Michael Green of United Distributing Company in London, who had a large stand on the balcony area of the show.
His letter is reproduced here in full and was sent to Peter Rusbridge, the head of the ATEI organisation for owners Clarion Events.
Dear Peter,
It did not take a genius to see that attendance from the UK trade was very much down this year. This, coupled with all the time wasters from overseas, resulted in one of the poorest shows in recent history. This view I know is shared by many exhibitors I spoke to during and after the show.
Many of our regular customers were noticeable by their absence. I did see some of them at the ball, and when I asked them why they were not at the show, each one said they were there, but did not come upstairs. I have since spoken to a number of others who have told me the same.
This means we have lost the opportunity of taking orders from these customers, which is obviously true for other exhibitors as well.
This year we took the largest stand in our history coupled with the extra expense this entails, and while we did take orders, they were below our expectations. We have been complimented by the trade in general for the powerful display we presented, and we know our product range is excellent by the sales we did make, but the loss of sales to many of our customers will be extremely difficult to achieve after the show.
The reality of this is that ATEI has suffered by the move upstairs, and it seems to me that we have become the poor relation to ICE. This is a great pity as ATEI has been the industry showcase for as long as it has been in existence, and we are now seen as the poor relation to ICE.
I urge you to give this matter utmost priority thought as far as next year’s show is concerned. I feel we should now return downstairs to our rightful place, otherwise we should move to Olympia. I very much feel that unless some positive action is taken you could well find next year’s show will be very difficult to sell.
I will be writing an open letter to the trade press, as I have such strong feelings on this – feelings that I know are shared by most ATEI exhibitors.
Best regards,
Michael Green
