Excel 2009 - YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY £40 to get in

[ValencianNails]

It mightn't be so bad if you get the entrance fee back in vouchers to spend AT ANY STAND, but to charge that much to get in on top of travel and accommodation expenses (plus food and drink too) is a bit much IMO.
That will definitely put me off travelling over for it, I'd much rather go to an educational weekend like The Event than ExCel, especially if they implement that fee.


edit: here's a link that mentions the cost!

Professional Beauty London - Book Tickets - Professional Beauty London 2009

 

[adelekeegan1]

This seems mad, no way would I be prepared to pay...........how can they hope to attract people, we are going there to either spend or be persuaded into new products, which we spend on.:|

Its a bit like being charged to enter Marks and Spencer IMO

 

[number1kitty]

Thats excellent news! You mean I can finally walk around a show without getting squashed by 16 year old girls in hotpants and crop tops and the general public all fighting to get free treatments and samples!

I can walk around as a QUALIFIED therapist in a PROFESSIONAL environment and have the exhibitors time for once to talk about the products withou a minnion of others trying to get freebies with no thought of opening an account or buying anything.

The years I have been and the times when I was pregnant getting bumped about by people who had no rights to be there when I often spend a small fortune there annoys me to the point that I do leave!

However If they charge then they should at least offer free seminars!

I doubt the true therapists mind the charge, Nor do the exhibitors (I often work the shows) care that students wont be there until they attain level 2 minimum. And maybe it will be a small step to telling people we are professionals not a bunch of oompa lumpas (overtanned) hot pant wearing, rude people!

Sorry but I do every show and have done for over 8 years and yes I have been as a student and there was no reason to be there because I bought nothing! And the wholesalers can easily go into colleges to sell there wares.

The guardian group are all aout money and I have been to many events run by them some good some bad. Lets see what they do to excel!

Kate x

 

[1999judy]

Thats excellent news! You mean I can finally walk around a show without getting squashed by 16 year old girls in hotpants and crop tops and the general public all fighting to get free treatments and samples!

tbh mate those girls are the techs of tomorrow??

I can walk around as a QUALIFIED therapist in a PROFESSIONAL environment and have the exhibitors time for once to talk about the products withou a minnion of others trying to get freebies with no thought of opening an account or buying anything.

The years I have been and the times when I was pregnant getting bumped about by people who had no rights to be there when I often spend a small fortune there annoys me to the point that I do leave!

However If they charge then they should at least offer free seminars!
there are dozens of free seminars...what are you interested in hun?

I doubt the true therapists mind the charge, Nor do the exhibitors (I often work the shows) care that students wont be there until they attain level 2 minimum. And maybe it will be a small step to telling people we are professionals not a bunch of oompa lumpas (overtanned) hot pant wearing, rude people!

Sorry but I do every show and have done for over 8 years and yes I have been as a student and there was no reason to be there because I bought nothing! And the wholesalers can easily go into colleges to sell there wares.
That's not true because colleges don't buy the stuff at those prices!!
Who are you buying from?

The guardian group are all aout money and I have been to many events run by them some good some bad. Lets see what they do to excel!

Excel?? we haven't had Gmex yet mate......give it a chance?? x

Kate x

Don't write the show off before it has started please mate.

 

[Peter Pan]

at £40 enterence fee - will i be attending
of course




I WONT

 

[1999judy]

£40??
hahahahahahahahahhahahaha
Some PEOPLE could put that money towards a TRAINING course!!!
Hell....... I'm not gonna pay that to socialise and find a few bargains!!
Shows need to offer more if they want US to pay.
If not...they'll find that no-one pays and continues to buy from their distributor.
End Of.

 

[sian1979]

But it isnt £40 is it....its only £20 if you book in advance...which i would always do anyway. I think £20 is ok with me...i wouldnt pay the £40....but if that is there to stop joe public turning up on the day wanting to get in on the deals then i think this is fine...as most professionals would know about this so would pre book.

After excel this year and olympia...there were loads of people moaning about the quality of the shows and wanting something done to improve them. There was a thread a while back which i am sure most agreed that they were willing to pay if it meant the quality of the show was improved....(i cant find it though...sorry!), so hopefully it will be.
Excel was my first show that i had attended...i did love it....but i only went to about 3 stands so cant really comment on the rest of the exhibition....but apparantly they have been much better in the past

Judy.....i would agree that yes that money could be put towards training.....but paying £20 to watch some of the best techs do nails for me is a bargain as i probably would learn a fair bit just from that...or even just get the inspiration to learn more.

 

[ValencianNails]

I doubt the true therapists mind the charge

I'm a 'true therapist' and passionate about my craft, just because I believe that £40 entrance fee is out of order doesn't make me any less of a technician or any less passionate about what I do!

 

[1999judy]

Judy.....i would agree that yes that money could be put towards training.....but paying £20 to watch some of the best techs do nails for me is a bargain as i probably would learn a fair bit just from that...or even just get the inspiration to learn more.

No I'm sorry I disagree mate...a show is a show and a course is very different.
You are being told EXACTLY what to do and how to do it and SHOWN on a course.
At a show you are just watching tbh.
I know it's an inspiration but unless you have the knowledge and experience to put it into practice it's wasted.
Sorry hun..I hate to have a disagreement but feel quite strongly about this x

 

[sian1979]

No I'm sorry I disagree mate...a show is a show and a course is very different.
You are being told EXACTLY what to do and how to do it and SHOWN on a course.
At a show you are just watching tbh.
I know it's an inspiration but unless you have the knowledge and experience to put it into practice it's wasted.
Sorry hun..I hate to have a disagreement but feel quite strongly about this x

no..probs.:hug:
i see what you are saying.....i wasnt trying to compare a show to a proper educational course....sorry...i dont word things very well sometimes, lol!

 

[1999judy]

no..probs.:hug:
i see what you are saying.....i wasnt trying to compare a show to a proper educational course....sorry...i dont word things very well sometimes, lol!

Give over mate that is what the site is about!!!
We are ALL entitled to our opinions:hug:

 

[Vetty]

I'd pay £20 but not £40. Tbh, doubling the cost for walking in is a good thing if it keeps out the non-pros..... This is a really difficult thing to solve though, keeping it free is the ideal but with access being restricted to those with tickets - but that doesn't happen as we've all seen...... IMO £20 is on the top end of reasonable.....

 

[Kittensgotclaws]

I'd pay the £20 to get in, i think raising the fee to the £40 if you have not booked is a good idea as it will keep out the non professionals. Since we will all know when excel is on we would pre-book rather than take our chances wouldn't we? At least this way we dont face the chance of havin our ankles bashed in by buggies! :green:

 

[~cHeRiSh~]

I would pay £20 pre-booked entry too, if this works and non professionals don't go. Hopefully our entry fees will mean lower stand charges and therefore more quality exhibitors attending, so much more to see and do and better deals for us to purchase at the show - and not just extra revenue for the show organisers. If the number of quality exhibitors continues to drop like we have seen in the past couple of years then I wouldn't carry on going even for no entry fee.

I think the organisers needs to keep the show fresh and unmissable to keep us attending, as its not just a day out of our week, but travel, hotel, excel car parking charges, lunch etc. They need to be offering us something a bit extra now, especially as they have introduced this entry fee.

 

[Rach]

Like many people have said, i presume the '£40 on the door' is to try and prevent people walking in which makes sense, as im sure most of us professionals would have pre-booked anyway.

I would be happy to pay £20 if the quality of the show have improved, and to attend the seminars which i found were really interesting last year.

 

[angel fingers]

i think we have been luck up till now to get free entry. in the u.s all the pro shows have paid entry.

entrance fee would keep public out, but then again if the door staff did a proper job they wouldnt get in anyway.

 

[Zo Zo]

I would pay the entrance fee. I normally save so much money buying show offers and VAT free products at the shows, that £20 is a drop in the ocean. Also, the link that Sandi posted states that the Masterclasses will be free, which they haven't been in the past.

 

[bombini]

I think there is to much focus on it being £40 the existing Pro Beauty charges £15 if you turn up on the day and no-one moans about that so don't think we should worry about the £40.

Back to the £20, Yes I will pay it but obviously I would prefer it to be free :green: however I won't be paying anything until I have seen a full exhibitor list, I want to see the big names that used to be there 4/5 years ago, a decent list of seminars, vouchers etc that are actually useful not those £100 off a £10,000 caci machine ones !!

I think it will be successful charging therapists as you only have to look at the Hair Show at excel (Can't remember actual name) which I think charges around £30 entrance and that is massively popular.

Overall I don't think the situation with the shows could of got much worse than it was so hopefully it will get back to as good as it was when it used to be held at Olympia.

 

[PinkPotions]

Going back yonks ago to a thread Collin posted about insurance companies giving out card badges showing what you are trained in etc & that you are insured.

Maybe rather than charging therapists we should be pushing this great idea of ID cards and then non professionals won't get in because you need your cards

 

[The Geek]

Well, I support charging for show entrance as they do in the US as it does keep out the general public. I would just question where the circa £500,000 in ticket sales will go to. I know it will not be going to reduce costs to distributors for stand space as I already had to have a triple bypass after they quoted us for exhibiting at Excel.

So... lets see if I can sum this one up:

• The attendance at 2007 Excel (which was free) was down 30%
• IIRC, First year students will now no longer be able to attend (I could be wrong, going off the top of my head here) which will result in fewer attendees
• Charging attendees an entrance fee will further reduce attendees
• Based on the above, I am forecasting that Professional Beauty Excel 2009 will be the slowest and lowest attended professional beauty exhibition ever, yet stand space rental will be at a new record high.

If I am correct about the above, I cannot envision Sweet Squared and CND exhibiting at Professional Beauty Excel 2009. I would rather focus those resources on something meaningful for our customers instead of the the show owners.

Here is to hoping for a positive outcome!