NEC INJURY?

09-02-2007

Organisers of the Midlands Manufacturing Technology Exhibition have decided to stick the boot in to their old venue, the NEC writes Edward Cameron.

Having snubbed Birmingham (or to be precise, Solihull) last year, they've now revealed that the number of exhibitors has increased by 30 per cent.

ETES Ltd's Phil Valentine claims that the move to Coventry's Ricoh Arena solved all the old problems of access, car parking, co-located exhibitions and traffic jams.

He added: “Exit polls at the first Coventry show confirmed that visitors particularly liked the ability to walk straight into the show from their cars without hanging around waiting for transfer buses.”

Obviously this show is hardly the most devastating loss to the NEC, that crown probably belongs to the International Motor Show, followed closely by the super-casino.

But it's another wake-up call. Trying to get in and out of the NEC is a nightmare, whether it's for a gig or a daytime exhibition.

Maybe as the ‘national' exhibition centre, small events just don't belong there.Not looking after the smaller clients properly is always a mistake, though.

It will of course help that Solihull has secured one of the larger casinos (but definitely not the “super” one), which will almost certainly go to the NEC. But if the Centre doesn't have a flourishing exhibition trade to attract visitors in the first place, what future will it have?

Time, methinks, for management to “up” it's game.