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General discussions about modeling topics.
UK Model shows poor attendance
IanSadler
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Posted: Monday, September 22, 2003 - 05:58 AM UTC
hi i have in the last three weeks put on a stand at 3 models shows and to be honest all three were a waste of my time and effort , petrol and traveling time , as well as all the other clubs that attended , more so fort the traders . the reason is lack of public and modellers attending , it is getting to be like a church meeting , as all you see are the same faces from the same clubs and traders , very rarely to you see or speak to members of the general public . anyone got any ideas how to get the public back , or is it a case of just too many shows in the year , when the ipms nationals are over in november there will have been 48 model shows in the uk in this past year. , i still have 3 more shows to do this year , southwell in notts in two weeks , then elscar near bolton in mid november and then the ipms nationals in the last week of november .

i have all ready been invited to 5 shows in the early start of next year and i am having to think hard on which ones to attend . just had to get it off my chest after the last show . cheers ian
AJLaFleche
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Posted: Monday, September 22, 2003 - 06:40 AM UTC
I guess I'd have to ask how long it takes to drive from one end of your country to the other. The amount of time may make 48 shows excessive. IPMS/USA asks that the regional coordinators try to keep shows within a two hour drive at least a month apart.
As to getting the public to attend, are flyers posted in the hobby shops? Do the local clubs list on the internet? Do they access the local newspapers to get a press release in or better yet an article with pictures? Do you have local access channels on TV or a bulletin board channel like the cable companies provide here?
Merlin
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Posted: Monday, September 22, 2003 - 07:14 AM UTC
Hi Ian

You have my sympathy... having produced a small range of resin accessories some years ago, I know how much effort goes into preparing for shows... and how disheartening it is to see the familiar faces seeming to out-number the public!

I hope you'll forgive me doing a bit of blantant trumpet-blowing for Armorama UK, but this is just the type of issue that the site can help address. One of our first priorities will be to maintain a functional Events Calendar (at the moment it's subscription based ) and, as the A-UK membership continues to grow, we can make sure everyone is aware of what's taking place around the country.

Check us out... there's already a "Buzz" about the site that was lacking just one week ago... :-)

All the best

Rowan
Desert-Fox
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Posted: Monday, September 22, 2003 - 07:20 AM UTC
What model shows??
The problem is that I don't get to hear about any. I would go if I did!

Where is the UK annexe of armorama?
Holdfast
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IPMS-UK KITMAKER BRANCH
#056
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Posted: Monday, September 22, 2003 - 07:50 AM UTC
I would guess that the problem is due to lack of advertising. How many of the shows are advertised anywhere other than the modelling press? Maybe one way to get more people interested in modelling is to put on demonstrations at venues other than model shows. I have been thinking, for some time, about asking to do something in the village library. Model shows can then be advertised and more of the general public may attend :-)

Mal
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Posted: Monday, September 22, 2003 - 07:55 AM UTC
Typically, model shows during the summer months aren't quite as popular as during the cooler/colder crappier seasons. Could this be a factor as well?

48 shows per year? Yikes! I couldn't keep up to that pace, I'd be broke for sure. During my 'prime' I had a hell of a time doing something like five shows a year, most years, I'd do only three or four with an occasional trip either a AMPS or IPMS National (time off for good behavior don't cha know).

Individual economies ain't like they used to be either.
Merlin
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Posted: Monday, September 22, 2003 - 10:23 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Where is the UK annexe of armorama?



Hi Martin

Have a look at:

Armorama UK

Remember... this is just the beginning!!

All the best

Rowan
Teacher
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Posted: Monday, September 22, 2003 - 10:25 AM UTC
I live in Runcorn, Cheshire. I regularly buy Tamiya International Modelling magazine, Fine scale modeller, Military Modelling, and subscribe to Military In Scale. I always check the events diary in these (if there is one!). I consider my limit to be a 2 to 3 hour drive to a show. I rarely see any shows I could attend by this criteria. I've said this before on this site. Advertising for any of these shows is extremely poor. All the shows I have seen advertised recently are either 'down south' or a couple I've seen in Scotland. I cannot be alone in feeling that if I knew about these shows then I would attend them. (Well in fact I'm not alone am I 'cos there ain't nobody goin'!)
And by the way...VERY useful link to Uk Armorama, click on events and you can't see any 'cos one has to go throught he rigmarole of net passports etc. WHY? Are thses shows meant to be SECRET?

Vinnie
capnjock
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Posted: Monday, September 22, 2003 - 05:16 PM UTC
For our show, we put flyers into all the hobbyshops we can think of. We put notices in the area libraries, area newspapers and radio stations. We also put notices in various model mags and hope they get printed before the show. As an IPMS club, we do not schedule our show on the same day as any other show in the region. We usually keep our travel under 4 hours. Even with that one could go to a show almost every weekend from mid-July to the end of the year. Our club has noticed an upswing in models entered this year after about a 2 year softening. Hope any of this helps.
capnjock
DaveCox
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Posted: Monday, September 22, 2003 - 06:07 PM UTC
I've never seen any model show in the UK nearer than about 60miles from where I live, so I just don't bother to go.
Merlin
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Posted: Monday, September 22, 2003 - 06:14 PM UTC

Quoted Text

And by the way...VERY useful link to Uk Armorama, click on events and you can't see any 'cos one has to go throught he rigmarole of net passports etc. WHY? Are thses shows meant to be SECRET?



Hi Capnjock

If you'd read my earlier post...


Quoted Text

One of our first priorities will be to maintain a functional Events Calendar (at the moment it's subscription based )



... you'd know I'm equally fed up with how MSN are now charging for the "privilege" of using the calendar.

All the best

Rowan
jimbrae
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Posted: Monday, September 22, 2003 - 08:59 PM UTC
I read this post with great interest, and I can just imagine the frustration you must be feeling..you have my sympathies... One of the problems I have noted repeatedly (not here) in other sites, is that they are never updated. I get very annoyed when I find that a sight proudly puts up a notice saying "Site Last Updated May 2001" and similar nonsense. I hardly ever go to model shows here in Spain. Not because they aren't worth going to, oh no,the opposite is true, the problem is the distances involved. The best example of this is Almeria 2003. This is the biggest in Spain and is really worth visiting. However to get there, it's around 1000km from where I live. this means getting a flight from one of the 'local' airports (100km away), flying to Madrid and then changing flights to Almeria. 2-3 nights in a hotel and the airfares (for 2 of us of course) . We are talking serious money for a model show... O.K. there are some more local shows, nearest is around 100km, who never advertise...like never... after that the distances start increasing, 300km, 450km, 500km (anything in Madrid) so during a year I don't go to many.... Jim
scoccia
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Posted: Monday, September 22, 2003 - 09:37 PM UTC
I actually do not know which are the reasons for people not attending shows over there. What I know is why at the models shows here you always see the same faces: because all of the normal people/modellers have got enough, to see the same models in contest in almost 50% of the shows, because the contest 's judges don't care if you paint a Leopard in pink it is only important if it has got a couple of hundred euros of aftermarket extra-details or better it has been built from a friend of a friend that's even more pathetic. Last but not least in my view this events should encourage "external" people to get into the hobby, that in my view is the only way for the hobby to survive, but if your son has never built a kit will you spend a fortune to get him one if you want to give him a chance to get into a contest? And even if you do so do you think that he will continue building when these gurus
will reward a fuchsia Chieftain with nuts and bolts completely white from extreme drybrush, with a green wash and possibly blue pastels to complete the weathering instead of an honest OOB kit?
Ciao
IanSadler
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Posted: Monday, September 22, 2003 - 10:13 PM UTC
hi all , thanks for the imput , i will be passing on the very valid comments about advertising to those who run the shows when i next bump into them , as to the next uk model shows they are put up on a seperate posting as of today hope it helps to boost the attendance cheers ian
almonkey
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Posted: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 - 09:42 AM UTC
on the subject of advertising i took (dragged) my other half to the southwell show last year,only to find out we were a day early! i forget what magazine it was,and its an easy enough mistake to put the date wrong by one day,but my missus took some sweet talking to repeat the trip the next day even though its just a twenty minute journey.one other thing if you go to shows every week they can become "samey" its one of the reasons i tend to only go to one airshow a year(usually waddington)
Merlin
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#017
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Posted: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 - 10:00 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I can just imagine the frustration you must be feeling..you have my sympathies... One of the problems I have noted repeatedly (not here) in other sites, is that they are never updated.



Hi Jim :-)

Well, the good news is... I THINK I've got a fix to to the bl**dy MSN Calendar problem! :-) It's a battle with peoples Cookies at the moment... but I hope I can get something running tonight - if not then, all being well, tomorrow...

I know just what you mean about site "up-dates"... and I'm the one to kick if A-UK gets that bad!!! :-)

I think I've posted this elsewhere, but I'll re-state it... my priority has been to get an A-UK Forum system going... and (touch wood!) this has worked...

I mistakenly assumed the Calendar was OK... but MSN have moved the goal-posts...

The Homepage is WWAAYYY out of date..!!! ... but I'm hoping everyone will understand that I'm concentrating on the foundations, before worrying about a fresh "paint job"...

This is a steep learning curve for me, so I really appreciate all your support!

All the best

Rowan
capnjock
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Posted: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 - 04:08 PM UTC
Just so you know, MSN and I are NOT on speaking terms. If you can get that all to work and stay working, you are a bone fide HERO and then some. I have long past given up on most of what I have tried to accomplish on MSN.
capnjock
simonrw
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Posted: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 - 03:06 AM UTC
I think the problem is advertising.I only got to know about the South Shields show because I picked up a Scale Models International a year a go and saw there was an IPMS show. I made sure I attended this year though
tazz
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Posted: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 - 08:26 AM UTC
thats sad there was no people at the shows,
the club who is puting the show on show
put the dates in all the news papers and in the model mazignes.
that what my club does and tons of people come
Merlin
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#017
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Posted: Thursday, September 25, 2003 - 07:11 AM UTC
Hi there

Good news for one and all... Armorama has a functing calendar!

And even better... I'm sure capnjock will approve! :-)... it doesn't use MSN! :-)

It might not be the most elegant solution, but it's "one in the eye" for MSN...


Quoted Text

as to the next uk model shows they are put up on a seperate posting as of today hope it helps to boost the attendance cheers ian



Ian... get your new dates onto the calendar... Your input will be a big boost for A-UK and hopefully it'll increase awareness and add a few punters at your demos... :-)

All the best

Rowan
capnjock
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Posted: Friday, September 26, 2003 - 05:00 AM UTC
Ah Merlin, Life is good in spite of what the world says. Thank you
capnjock
Merlin
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#017
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Posted: Friday, September 26, 2003 - 09:34 AM UTC
Cheers capnjock

I doubt MSN will lose much much sleep over our calendar... but every little "victory" is SSWWEEETTT!! :-)

The day we have to pay MSN for everything... well sorry but... "scr*w you guys... I'm going home :-) "... to Armorama! :-)

All the best

Cartman,,,,sorry Rowan!
BroAbrams
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Posted: Monday, September 29, 2003 - 02:11 AM UTC
Here's an idea for you old fogies, try marketing to the kids. In the West Central Missouri chapter of IPMS we did a make and take this summer at a local mall. We got a local hobby shop to donate about 20-30 snap-tite kits and advertised for the kids to come out. We went through them pretty quick and saw a lot of new people, many of whom said that we had renewed an old interest. We also got a few lurkers to come out of the woodwork.

Rob
IanSadler
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Posted: Monday, September 29, 2003 - 02:25 AM UTC
hi for over a year we have been holding model workshop demmos every month in our local model shop, it has resulted in two mew members , it is not that they do not show an interest in the hobby when they see us and talk to us , they just get sidelined and forget to follow up , we have over 50 to 60 club leaflets picked up in the shop every month , but to they act no , hard to understand but that is the facts , we are even involved in a local Air training cor a to help them out with model making skills as part of their award system , ido not many will see it through as it means they have to practice skills , and it is not an instant thrill as per computer games - we try our best cheers ian
Teacher
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Posted: Monday, September 29, 2003 - 04:01 AM UTC
Ian! Where is this shop you speak of?


Vinnie
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