Phoenix Trade Show . RIP ?

[Sim G]

So it seems that thus years Phoenix was a sad reflection of previous Phoenix affairs.... and the Phoenix, even at its best, was a very sad reflection of the Pistol AD days!

“Shooting shows/competition meets/trading events do need a complete rethink. The idea for Silverstone could be it.

[dromia]

Sorry to have to find fault with your comment above .

The NRA did not predict 60,000 footfall .

This is what they did post on the booking form, "We will be promoting our Arms Fair to the NRA membership, members of our affiliated clubs
and will use our extensive social media channels that reach up to 60,000 per week"

A footfall of 60,000 would be roughly 3 times the footfall at the recent Northern Shooting Show .

Just think about it , if every car had 3 people in it that would mean parking space for 20,000 cars would be needed .
If 10,000 cars turned up on any one day , the road network around Bisley would have ground to a halt .

Happy to stand corrected on that, I did go back to check the figures I had seen but they had seemed to have been removed from their website.

Either way it is pretty damning that there was such a poor turn out for the show, anyone know if competitior numbers were up as opposed to number of entries.

[Tony-c]

it was far quieter than I expected, those that knew what they wanted soon parted with money but I should imagine that anyone who wasnt shooting but had driven more than 30 mins to visit would have been majorly dissapointed

the marquee was a sweatbox so Im kind of glad it was quiet LOL,

the security guys worked 24 hours and were superb, everything was kept clean and tidy,

it does look fairly reasonable on a table rate but as mentioned already, you need 2 or 3 and then costs start to stack

quite a few traders rocked up late friday or not until Saturday, and there was trailers in there and traders packing away from about 130pm Sunday

you were able to come and go in the car with ease and always park right by the marquee, that was obvious tell that theres noboody around

[MistAgain]

Sorry to have to find fault with your comment above .

The NRA did not predict 60,000 footfall .

This is what they did post on the booking form, "We will be promoting our Arms Fair to the NRA membership, members of our affiliated clubs
and will use our extensive social media channels that reach up to 60,000 per week"

A footfall of 60,000 would be roughly 3 times the footfall at the recent Northern Shooting Show .

Just think about it , if every car had 3 people in it that would mean parking space for 20,000 cars would be needed .
If 10,000 cars turned up on any one day , the road network around Bisley would have ground to a halt .

Happy to stand corrected on that, I did go back to check the figures I had seen but they had seemed to have been removed from their website.

Either way it is pretty damning that there was such a poor turn out for the show, anyone know if competitior numbers were up as opposed to number of entries.

I noticed that all the info was removed from the website as well , very strange as the 2017 details were up for months after the event .

As I understand , competitor numbers were slightly up , and the number of events had more competitors registered .

Sadly as the security men were evicting buyers prompt at 6-30 , some competitors would have had no chance to browse or buy .

[Racalman]

We are planning one for either end of this year or more likely next year - Shooting Show Live.

Free to attend, free to exhibit and running a live range allowing people to actually shoot guns that exhibitors will provide. There are a range of legal, insurance and management issues to deal with but our insurers have confirmed they are happy (which was the first obstacle) and we are an RFD so live use of firearms for FAC holders is fine (subject to the usual paperwork). We will charge per firing line point to cover these costs thats all.

I have yet to visit your new range but it's not a huge distance from me and this is just the sort of incentive that will get me up there

[Christel]

We are planning one for either end of this year or more likely next year - Shooting Show Live.

Free to attend, free to exhibit and running a live range allowing people to actually shoot guns that exhibitors will provide. There are a range of legal, insurance and management issues to deal with but our insurers have confirmed they are happy (which was the first obstacle) and we are an RFD so live use of firearms for FAC holders is fine (subject to the usual paperwork). We will charge per firing line point to cover these costs thats all.

Hope it all works out for you

[Chapuis]

We are planning one for either end of this year or more likely next year - Shooting Show Live.

Free to attend, free to exhibit and running a live range allowing people to actually shoot guns that exhibitors will provide. There are a range of legal, insurance and management issues to deal with but our insurers have confirmed they are happy (which was the first obstacle) and we are an RFD so live use of firearms for FAC holders is fine (subject to the usual paperwork). We will charge per firing line point to cover these costs thats all.

Well done Thorney for taking the initiative. I wish you well and hope that the trade and in particular the importers/distributors get onside. I for one will be looking forward to seeing it advertised with a definite view to marking it in my diary.

[Thorney]

Just to say I’m not being critical of the Phoenix or the Exeter show, the Phoenix is a competition first and trade show second, maybe that needs adjusting but I don’t know the commerciality so can’t comment, if I wasn’t doeble booked we’d have been there. I also think the a show in the SW has a lot of value for those down there, as much as we might say “bloody miles away” the same applies to those who live there (and Devon and Cornwall has a lot of gun owners) a show for them I feel is a good thing to do.

What we want to do is different, a gun show without being able to try the guns seems a bit odd for me but of course location is not exactly easy to create, pretty sure the NEC would get upset if we started shooting up the car park! Nra could do it of course but the location being so spread apart would make it hard whereas we should be able to have a central area for traders with the ranges all seconds away for those interested to try the gun they’ve just seen on the traders stand.

And if we want our sport to grow it needs to be free, that’s just life these days I’m afraid.

[bewildered]

What I missed most over the last few Phoenix trade shows are the stands which had boxes of bits and pieces that we all rummaged through to find that odd bit we had been looking for for months but never able to find. Andy Allwood used to have these and you couldn't get near them they were so popular.
I have often thought an update of this would be to have a shooting stuff car boot sale during the Phoenix where we could all offload the things we no longer use but which are still useful to other shooters. Bring your own table, set it up near your car boot, set your stuff out and off you go. Pay the NRA a fiver for using the space.
I'm sure there are legal or other reasons why this can't happen but then you can always find reasons not to do something.

[GeeRam]

So it seems that thus years Phoenix was a sad reflection of previous Phoenix affairs.... and the Phoenix, even at its best, was a very sad reflection of the Pistol AD days!

“Shooting shows/competition meets/trading events do need a complete rethink. The idea for Silverstone could be it.

Indeed..... on both counts.

I went to Phoenix trade specifically to arrange a part-ex on our club full-bore rifle. Other than bumping into a few people I knew and having a chat, I probably would have been very disappointed had I gone for any other reason, even though I am relatively local to Bisley.
Having said that, there was more there for me, than the NEC show!
I can the reasons why its now what it is though, and there's certainly no simple solution.