Expo

[John chambers]

Well it was great to see some old friend's and me and my wife still got a warm welcome from ray hale.
We came away with a couple of extra T's lol... It was great to get to chat with mark pennell and have a laugh with mark porter. Still can't believe he don't age !.. Lol.
Down side was stair's and amount of people on them.. Price of drink's.. Cold to warm burger's and hot dog.. No chair's to use if you had to eat.
Mark porter did say next year the pay desk would be down stair's.
This would be good as would the use of lift's for the people with vertigo as one young lady was scared of going up the stair's.
If these can be addressed then it would be great.
As always the bts crew were second to none and more then helpful.
Great job for first new venue.

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[Mike_Strick]

Great show as always. Lovely to catch up with old friends and spend more than I should on inverts. New venue seems very good. I can only imagine how uncomfortable the old place would have been on such a warm day; the air conditioning and extra floor space was invaluable. I was sad to hear that there were some thefts from stalls but I guess it's inevitable that as the event grows it will attract the less welcome elements as well as the usually pleasant and trustworthy crowd of enthusiasts.

[John chambers]

On the back table the staff wasn't even watching for theft !..

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[Karl Jones]

Had a great, first, visit to my first T show. Age and experience has taught me that these sort of events are always a bit of a justle at first and when I saw the queue at 11am I thought it better to hit the Costa Cafe until it died down, Did not want to try battling to go up the stairs with my stick when I got there but that was not really a problem as it was easy to see from ground floor when the queue had gone and I could then go up easier using the esculator (at least part of the way) or I guess the lifts for the whole way which I used to come back down.

One suggestion, is to point out to folk on your promotional stuff that if, like me, you have problems with crowds then it usually get quieter after the first two hours and most, if not all, vendors will allow pre orders. It is a lot easier to see stuff then.

Loved the free parking and the wristbands idea, it meant I could escape to the supermarket and mc donalds in my car to get snacks and drinks when I needed a break.

Hats off to the staff who could not sneak off so easily and were stuck there all day and congratulations on the event.

[Peter Lacey]

On the back table the staff wasn't even watching for theft !..

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Really? you expected the staff to watch out for theft? come on John that's a tad unfair.
It's sad to hear there was some theft, and it seems it was almost to order. Stopping it is rather hard though, if it can be stolen right from under the noses of the traders its unlikely anyone else can see it. Thomas Vinnman has, for a long time, sellotaped his tubs down to reduce theft.

[Mark Pennell]

Dear All
The BTS will happily put our hands up that there were a few minor issues this year. This is inevitable with a new venue, when we moved to Coseley from the old school the issues we found on the first show were overwhelming!...
This is year they were minor to say the absolute least.
As for access, myself and Kim personally escorted less able people to the lift that went from the ground to the very entrance to the exhibition, I am very perplexed to the various gripes about such access, as a venue the Ricoh are obliged by law to have disabled access and indeed it was there.
Several young families and wheelchair users were even given dual access via the door by the food when the doors opened, Kim personally seen to this. Overall disabled access was 100% better than ever before. Perhaps it was just too hard to find the lift? And of course appease those who feel they must complain regardless.
We will address this by place better signage to the lift if the event is on the upper floor next year.
As for theft, this is down to the individual traders to man there stock and police it. The society cannot cover each table with a security guard.
It was and exhausting weekend, but one I thoroughly enjoyed. It was great to talk to people I’d not seen for a long time and meet the new. Came home empty handed, never really got proper look round. The food I had was not only delicious but I had to wait for it to cool down before I could eat it.
Looking forward to the BTS Lectures and the expo 2015!

Mark

[John chambers]

Really? you expected the staff to watch out for theft? come on John that's a tad unfair.
It's sad to hear there was some theft, and it seems it was almost to order. Stopping it is rather hard though, if it can be stolen right from under the noses of the traders its unlikely anyone else can see it. Thomas Vinnman has, for a long time, sellotaped his tubs down to reduce theft.

Pete in life your meet many freeloader's no matter where you go and if they see a chance they will take. So at the age of 52 I am not stupid to think everyone is nicey nicey and not blind that I can't see where there is a problem.

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[Karl Jones]

You should all be proud, the only issues stem from it's popularity and that is just a reflection of how good a job you are all doing.

Just for clarification, I found it very easy even being a stick user but being a stick user I think I will find it even better next year if I go 2hrs later. Great venue, great show.

Go on then, I will throw in a negative for balance...
We have to wait 12 months

[John chambers]

Yes Karl twelve month's seems a long way off.. But time goes fast

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[John chambers]

Dear All
The BTS will happily put our hands up that there were a few minor issues this year. This is inevitable with a new venue, when we moved to Coseley from the old school the issues we found on the first show were overwhelming!...
This is year they were minor to say the absolute least.
As for access, myself and Kim personally escorted less able people to the lift that went from the ground to the very entrance to the exhibition, I am very perplexed to the various gripes about such access, as a venue the Ricoh are obliged by law to have disabled access and indeed it was there.
Several young families and wheelchair users were even given dual access via the door by the food when the doors opened, Kim personally seen to this. Overall disabled access was 100% better than ever before. Perhaps it was just too hard to find the lift? And of course appease those who feel they must complain regardless.
We will address this by place better signage to the lift if the event is on the upper floor next year.
As for theft, this is down to the individual traders to man there stock and police it. The society cannot cover each table with a security guard.
It was and exhausting weekend, but one I thoroughly enjoyed. It was great to talk to people I’d not seen for a long time and meet the new. Came home empty handed, never really got proper look round. The food I had was not only delicious but I had to wait for it to cool down before I could eat it.
Looking forward to the BTS Lectures and the expo 2015!

Mark

Agree Mark and I'm sure you had a long look at what need's doing and I bet next year will be even better.
I can't come away empty handed no matter how hard I try lol.

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[Craig Foulger]

This was mine and my partners first BTS Expo and it was absolutely mind blowing! I usually keep mantids as my other half can be a little squeamish when it comes to spiders. However, we were there for about half an hour and she was determined to buy me every spider in the room! In the end i settled for a very tiny. Hapalopus sp colombia, a not so tiny B.Boehmei and some elephant hawk moth pupae. Both me and my lovely lady have officially got the bug and are already planning to buy a Goliath. Thank you for a wonderful day and we will both be back next year with our life savings and an empty car

[John chambers]

1 tarantula is never enough lol

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