It's amazing how things always seem to work. I can understand why tesco places such importance on its clubcard becuase yesterday morning we predicted how many people would stop to see us on Friday based on Wed and Thurs numbers.
(I can't say what those numbers were becuase I know that I have readers from company's who would love to know this.)
And guess what - we forecast the number to within 3% - not bad eh and so a very pleasing day all round for us with interest levels well above what we hoped for. We even got enough orders on the stand to pay for most of the show which is a big bonus!
So now let me consider the show in general. RM stand is very quiet - mainly becuase they have the whole of Olympia 2 now so lots of people stay there. Personally this is really bad news for us small companies as some people come to BETT to see RM (indeed many do) and they end spending their time outside drinkiing the free T&C provided by RM. Good marketing for them - bad for the industry though and this selfishness is really disappointing.
You can see the credit crunch even in Education. Lots of empty stands, where people paid the deposit in March then didn't pay the second installment in October. Lots of space where stands used to be as well. No real significant changes in big stand design so most companies are using their stand assets for longer - it used to be two years between designs, now I'd guess it's at least a year longer.
Breakthrough technologies? Lots of tablet mini books, internet security and esafety, home/school communication links, mobile learning, assessment and progress tracking. So nice technology based "toys" but I don't see them as eartth shattering. Education City are doing well in the primary sector, good software nicely produced and well done to them as every year they have moved forward.
The whiteboard companies invest a lot in software and they certainly blast away with their big stands and amazing "transforming learning" messages, but in reality it's just a bit better than last year. No BBC, No Apple and so on the technology front, no real significant innovations that I could see.
Haven't has a chance to get down to policy in Practice where DCSF, Teachers TV, Becta et al are - so missed any announcements about things.
Dafest stand - someone upstairs on the gallery has about 30 sq meter stand (approx cost £12000 just for the space) and on it they have some big dance mats and loud music. Result - annoyed neighbours I expect and an empty stand as every visitor walks past wondering why they want to learn how to dance like Girls Aloud and even if they did want to learn, why they'd do it at an exhibition with all their colleagues watching.
Diplomas and Functional Skills stuff - no movement since the first day that I've been able to see.
NWGL have promised level 2 ICT "for the summer" on CD. Level 2 Maths for 2010 on CD but no level 1, no entry level, no English so personally delighted. BKSB previously mentioned, books and re-used paper based materils from Nelson Thorners and some other publishers, same with exam boards.
That's it foe now, I hope my reader enjoyed the review!
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