Hi Danmck,
You raise a good point, and part of your question provides the answer.
Firstly, there are now several outdoor consumer shows across the UK, of varying sizes, and we simply don't have the budget or the manpower to attend all of them (and Chris, Cameron and myself would rather spend the little time we have outside the office on a hill somewhere, rather than in a show hall!).
We have to be very careful about which to attend. There's a limited demand from the public for these shows; last year we attended one just outside London thinking we'd meet dozens of OMers but in the end our stand staff outnumbered the visitors something like 100-to-one (and there was only the four of us!).
Another of the London shows has folded after just three attempts.
Secondly, well, you ask: "When are TGO (and the rest of the walking/trekking industry) going to be represented at a show in Scotland?" The fact that no company from this industry was represented would seem to indicate that everyone in the industry felt the same. The show doesn't really represent our section of the outdoors industry but rather the caravan, 10-berth tent and portable gas barbeque section of outdoor life. TGO prefers to take the battle to the mountainside than the campground wherever possible!
We'd love to see a show right on our doorsteps that caters for our readers' and indeed our own tastes. We have been along to the Glasgow show in previous years – you're right, we're based less than two miles away; call in for coffee next time! – when some of the outdoor bodies such as the MCofS and the JMT were represented on very small stands, but there was little else. Such shows are great fun and a good excuse or a lot of like minded folk within the industry to get together and share jar but they're commercial affairs run by folk from outwith our industry. Unlike us they're not doing it for the love of it and charge a heck of a lot of money to rent stand space; the furniture you see on the stands, the electricity connection, the lights all come on top of that. Add to that the cost of filling the goodie bags we try to hand out wherever we go and Cameron's bar bill, and you'd be amazed!
However, I'm sure you'll be delighted to know that there's a good chance that a show similar to the Birmingham OS Outdoors Show will be held at Glasgow's SECC in the autumn; organisers are at the moment gauging the demand and the likely level of industry support. We've already registered our interest and if it happens we'll very much be there – OM people and TGO readers will be the first to know.
