by uea74 » Sun Feb 13, 2011 5:00 pm
Geoff, We look upon it as a show, to the people running, organising and to retailers it is a business not a charity, neither are the costs insignificant. A few of the retailers had sites saying they were not taking orders as they were at astrofest, loss of revenue there.
The speakers will want their expenses covered at least. Again not a few pounds for a lunch of coffee and sandwich's, nearer £300-500.
Suppose that in London those costs could actually be lower as they have several close universities to call on. The speaker from Birkbeck will have been less at Kensington then at NEC. Ever thought that for speakers London may be less expensive?
Also bet hotels at the NEC are as costly as London ones. The NEC is not cheap.
I could visit several small cafe's outside of Astrofest, cannot do that at NEC. Coffee in the NEC is plain expensive as is the food in general, the town hall at Ken was not. That is part of the reason I rarely visit the NEC these days. Only the NEC grounds and £50-60 just to get in to anything at the end of the day. I had hoped that the NEC would have a good selection of specialist shows at reasonable cost. They have just priced themselves out of the market in many instances.
A show elsewhere would be good, but it isn't a case of guaranteed success. Could you guarantee a similar number at the same cost elsewhere? If so where? Is Birmingham too close to London? Too far North and several of the London and South retailers may not appear. FLO don't attend astrofest and they are well known and a 4 hour drive away.
I suspect I would not bother if Astrofest moved out of central London to a venue somewhere on the M25. Simply that road is a nightmare and not worth considering. Whats the M6 like round Birmingham these days? Nice clear road or chaos?
Consider BAS, SPA and Greenwich who attended, all London based. They are not making money from attending, their advertising may lead to income but not direct sales. The ones mentioned above will not need to put their people up overnight if at Astrofest. Elsewhere they will, or the volunteers will have to pay themselves.
Astrofest is small. Have you looked at NEAF and see who attends that. William Optics shows off it's full range, Astro-Physics, Explore Scientific, TV, Orion, Celestron, Meade, SW, Burgess, TMB, Vixen, Astro-Tech, Stellarvue and many I cannot recall but have heard of. Bet quite a few of the rising Chinese manufacturers are there. Someone once asked if there are shows here that have reductions as at NEAF - sometimes 40-50% off.
I was considering a WO Meg 72, at the end of the day I can buy it cheaper from someone who was not at the show then from retailers at the show. So little incentive with or without a spending limit to get something there.