Our stand at the show

So this was our stand at The Showmans Show 2009. Hopefully most of you came along and saw it in person.

Firstly I apologise if it seemed rude I wasn’t up greeting everyone, I injured my back quite badly on Wednesday morning which meant I could only stand for a few minutes at a time (an appointment with a specialist is booked for later today). By the end of the show even the security guard was taking the p**s out of me for taking so long to hobble back and forth to the car park!

Secondly a thank you to Colin, Kim and the local first aiders for keeping me in drugs for 2 days (some of them even helped my back!), but especially a big thank you to Mal at Premier Party Tent who hung round in the pouring rain to take my place dismantling all of our marquees. Sir you are a gent and I owe you a very large pint.

A lot of things came from the show and I learnt about various things which I’ll discuss on here soon enough (every day’s a school day!).

Unfortunately a slightly sour note came from the show and it’s been bothering me ever since. Someone started a rumour saying I was bad-mouthing one of our competitors. Now anyone who knows me or has dealt with us knows that this is something we just don’t do. Not only that but I’d encourage you never to do so either.

As a hire company you’ll always have people asking you to compare yourself to another company and I’d strongly strongly urge you to stick to positive comments, only praising yourself and your companies strong points. If you start saying negative comments about someone else then they’ll start doing the same to you and before you know it you’re both coming across like politicians and customers won’t want to deal with either of you!

Anyway back to us – I’m very lucky in that we get on very well with most of our competitors so a quick phone call took any tension out of that situation but it’s still not pleasant to have said about you. I’ll give this anonymous person the benefit of the doubt and rather than accuse them of malicious rumour-mongering maybe they misinterpreted my comment last week of bad-payers not being allowed to attend as aimed at one of our competitors. It certainly wasn’t.

Thanks for reading, thanks for visiting us at the show and for those who don’t know my wife’s pregnant and due to pop in the next 4 weeks so I may suddenly disappear for a few weeks

Spencer

Marquees often need connecting to a house, especially during the winter.

Someone will be organising a house party and will come to you because they basically want to gain an extra room. How are you going to do it?

First off you need to see if you can butt the marquee up against the house. Always use the 6m flat gable against the house if possible,  that means if it rains the water will go off the side and also as there’s no eaves bar at the end the door should open in to the marquee with few problems (as long as it’s not too high).

Sometimes this simply isn’t possible, in which case you need a walkway. But where can I buy one I hear you cry? Come along to our stand at The showmans show and you’ll see our new modular 2mx6m walkways that can be used as 2mx4m or 2mx2m. Priced very reasonably etc etc [fill in your own sales pitch here].

Other things to think about when using a marquee to gain a room on to a house:

• Recommend either the food or drink or both is placed in the marquee. People always end up in the kitchen at house parties for a reason.
• If there’s a window next to the door you’re butting up to don’t cover it over with a marquee wall, leave it open to help the atmosphere at the party (as long as it doesn’t leave draughty gaps)

We’re in our usual spot at The Showmans Show – Avenue E, stand number 267.  Come out of the entrance hall, turn right then first left. We’re along on the right. Alternatively follow your nose to the bar and we’re halfway there on the right.

Thanks for reading.

Spencer

On the 21st and 22nd October is The Showmans Show. For those who dont know the show covers all things to do with marquees and outdoor events. Anyone who supplies the marquee hire industry has a stand at the show. So for anyone who runs a marquee hire business or are thinking of starting up it’s a must-visit.

I was talking to a couple of guys last weekend that are thinking of starting up a hire business who were shocked I recommended they visited the show. “But you’re pointing out somewhere with all your competitors”. I have no problem with that, I’d much prefer people bought from us having researched the industry fully. As well as that we’re quite uniquely placed in the industry in the quality and value for money we offer

We’re working very hard at the moment to give you all some more hire options next year. Just to reassure existing customers these are all ideas to expand our (and your) range of marquees & accessories, we’ll continue supplying our current ranges so you’ll always be able to buy spare parts etc if required.

What are these new ideas? Well, you’ll just have to wait and see

Look forward to seeing you at The Showmans Show