The 2011 expo was the BBA’s 1st venture into exhibiting and was something that the BBA Team was very much looking forward to. Whilst we had all attended various expos over the years none of us really knew what to expect from an exhibitors point of view. We booked our stand, ordered our pull-up advertising stands and backdrops, had our advertising paraphernalia printed and piled it all in a mini-bus and headed off down to London!
As is so often the case in our industry, things changed at the last minute, meaning that Shaun had to deploy on task a few days prior to the expo, which meant that our merry band of men was down from 4 to 3 before we had even set off. Situation normal. Now, as the BBA head shed all hale from the North [Kal is an import from doon sooth] the journey added a significant amount of time onto our journey, meaning that we scraped into Olympia Hall when most people were leaving. Two and a half hours later we emerged having establish the stand [not without a few issues, ABI overcame these] and headed off to our digs and then the obligatory curry followed by a few pints of flat beer [as is the norm in the capital].
The next day we arrived at the expo bright and early expecting to find the stand collapsed in a heap around our tables and chairs, but we were pleasantly surprised to see it all pretty much in place with just the odd bit of doubled sided tape needed to get it back in place and looking sharp. As a bonus, Shaun had managed to get some time off from his task and turned up to help us take in several thousand copies of The Circuit Magazine……needless to say, we were all pleased to see him! The doors opened and in flooded the public all of whom seemed to descend on us due to the prime position we had right in front of the doors. The next 8 hrs were unbelievably busy, we had a lot of members come and say hello, which was great as it meant both parties could put a face to a name. Other visitors to the stand varied from serving soldiers asking questions about the Circuit to former BBA members asking what had changed since they were members to businesses interested in doing joint ventures and so on. The variety of people present who came to speak to us was really unbelievable.  Day #1 was so busy that none of us managed to get away from the stand until about 1430 and even then it was only for a quick comfort break, a cup of coffee and a quick snack. The day started to wrap up about 1900 at which time Andy Clarke of G6 Communications, a fellow exhibitor and good friend of the BBA, joined us. G6 are also a Corporate Sponsor of the BBA, and you really must check them out if you have any communication needs at all. Curiously enough, the arrival of G6 coincided with the arrival of the complimentary wine for the exhibitors!
To summarize day #1 I would say that it was more successful than we could ever have imagined as well as being extremely tiring! We met some great people and extended the BBA’s network exponentially.
Day #2 started at 0845 and right from the off you could tell that it was going to be somewhat of a slower day. We were initially a little disappointed about this but as the day progressed it turned out to be another good day but in different ways to the previous one. The footfall through the hall was definitely down which allowed us to man the stand 2 at a time and have 2 people roaming the hall, visiting the other stands and doing some much needed networking on behalf of the Association. Needless to say, a good business card haul was obtained throughout both days! Day 2 also afforded us the opportunity to be ‘impressed’ by the equipment that was on show at the expo. As you would expect, much of the kit was expensive but not all of it prohibitively so and some good contacts were also made in this department.
Day #2 drew to a close and we packed up and headed off in our various directions. We very much regard the 2011 Counter Terror Expo as a major success for the BBA and a huge learning curve for all involved. We certainly feel much more prepared for the next time we exhibit.
Nick McCarthy