Colin Mallery expresses his disappointment in this year's ATEI show in a letter to Peter Rusbridge, of show organiser Clarion Gaming.
Dear Peter,
We feel that we must express our disappointment and concern regarding the lack of attendance at ATEI.
Our company is fully aware that the industry is not brimming over with confidence and had set realistic sales targets for the three days.
It soon became apparent that a considerable number of our regular customers were noticeable by their absence. Yes, there were people on our stand, some from overseas, very few who had any interest in our equipment and just came for a look upstairs.
Then there were those who were not in the industry at all – how did they get in? Result - one of the poorest ATEI exhibitions I have ever attended.
A few years ago the Amusement Trades Exhibition was a vibrant, noisy, great place to do business in, all on one floor, a mixture of one-stop shopping with fruit machines and amusements next door to each other, and our customers looked forward to coming; it’s a different story now - they can’t wait to get home.
There is no doubt the major reason the show has lost its sparkle is the move upstairs. This year we had a large stand, great product and experienced staff; the only thing we couldn’t bring was the atmosphere which is sadly lacking upstairs.
Since returning from the show we have spoken to many of our customers who without exception said that the upstairs has no atmosphere, stands are difficult to find and that going up and downstairs is a pain in the butt.
Are we getting value for money? The huge cost of our exhibition space plus transport, hotels and so on makes us think that maybe we’re not.
