G'day all,
Well done on another fantastic expo. I really enjoyed it and will be back next year.
I will preface this by saying I do not have any idea of what went in to organising this day, I don't know who was asked to attend or anything. I appreciate the outcome and thank all involved and hope you do it again...
i'm glad you enjoyed it
This was the second year I have attended, again without a Landy
There was a great turn out of 110s and 130s! Seemed like more vehicles than last year too. I was a little surprised to see fewer Series vehicles than last year, though that may be because the khaki crew were waaay down the back. I also expected a few more Rangies, being the 40th birthday of the model. The Expo could have learnt from this years' All British Day's excellent Rangie chronological lineup I felt.
we have thought of this and it has been talked about nearly every year, but unfortunately it's all about available volunteers,(the ones that are there are already stretched to the limit without putting cars in chronological order and are reluctant to avail themselves to pre-event briefings to nut all this out - and i don't blame them for that, it's just the way things are) the time people turn up (if they turn up) versus the continuity of the display - if someone doesn't turn up as expected, there's a big hole in the display, and it would require pre-registering which would not work on the whole as apart from the die-hards, most have a "wait and see" attitude when it comes to committing to the expo.
Having the 'action area' up one end and the general throng in straight rows to the far end may be easy to organise and map out, but would it make it a little more interesting to have the action area (incl all sponsors stands) the focus of horseshoe shaped rows of vehicles? Having more rows and less columns as it had today, meant some models/themes were hidden waay to the back, less rows more columns (horseshoe) means everything is closer to the action area and thus less lost in the boonies. Still have to walk as far to see everything, the change is psychological
yes it does make it easy to map out. again - volunteers and time. the rows were supposed to be evenly loaded from the middle lane. last year we had about 280 cars on the field, this year we registered 494 cars which is why we had full rows. we are exploring other options already and will have to work out the logistics of them through the year.
LROCS already has a good relationship with Ray's Outdoors as far as I know, I would have enjoyed browsing a stall of theres had they had one, particularly with show specials. I hope they were asked. That other big orange camping store+Boots Great Outdoors or similar would have been alright too. As long as having that sort of sponsor/vendor doesn't tread on the 4x4 associations show a few weeks back of course.
we do have a good relationship with rays, but often it's a matter of availability and overall cost (moving gear to and from, set up and staff) that is the killer in these situations. we contacted all of the camping outlets - Rays, Kangaroo, Anaconda- the orange one! and boots don't exist anymore - they are Rays now. the 4x4 association's show actually stepped on our toes by bringing their show in a year early and planting it a month out from ours when it was originally planned for the first half of the year, and despite our sites being only 10% of what they were asking, we still lost some business
The Powerhouse Museum is just down the road, do they have any Landies they could have brought down? I'll bet they have info on the application of early Landies such as the Snowy Mountains Scheme. When the Powerhouse does displays, they do them well, with interpretational material enhancing their display. But I don't even know if they do outside displays. Might be worth a phone call, never know.
we will chase that up, that's not a bad idea, and hopefully we will get some special military vehicles again next year from Land Rover's Military support group.
Much better choice of guest commentator this time. Needs to be briefed not to give the mic to Ralph at the flex ramp
it was the same as last year! Warren Brown ex top gear aus and telegraph cartoonist
I missed the arch of insanity/doom/Gastek. It was a dominating structure. It was exciting and sphincter clenching to watch. This year, the most dominating structures were a tent and Mulgo's pop tops. Need something BIG and exciting. Winch a series up a tree maybe (The Gods must be crazy style, and no, not mine)
we missed it too, we tried very hard to convince them to bring it down ,but they couldn't do it. we are always looking for exciting eye-catchers for the expo.
The markets last year were a good lunchtime distraction and probably brought a fair bit more custom from people who aren't dyed in the wool Roverphiles. Combining the event with something else nearby always brings bigger crowds to impress the Landy way upon.
the markets were run privately by one person and the hills council took it off them and put it out to tender. it created more problems for us than ones it solved. as a sole event, it was much better for the show but lacked the passing traffic of the market. and would you believe that we lost almost 1/3 of our land rovers for the display because entry to the markets was free and some were too lousy to pay $5? our main consideration for a sole event at this venue was the food. i thought the choices were good, the Nandos was a nice change from the usual junk at such events and the lion's club did very well out of it.
The club mags always have fantastic photos in them. The little club stall didn't have much in that regard. Howzabout a tent with some notice boards and a Landy themed photo competition/display? They do that at a model railway convention I go to, its very popular and takes a good 20 minutes to enjoy. Adventure shots are awesome! Some easy guidelines such as: maximum size A4, maximum two entries per photographer, must contain a Landy in the photo, if you want the photo back, put your name on it and collect it from the club meeting after. Doesn't even need to be a competition. Not so easy if its windy I suppose.
again - the V word. it takes time and a bit of artistic flare to set up a good photo display. we also have the problems with wind and the budget to get a decent display board, the ones we have are three foot high and you have to bend down to look at them, frankly they look tacky. we had the roll up banners done a few years ago (they were on the outsides of the yellow tent) with select aspects of the club's activities. you have to understand that these are to show to potential members, not for members to see if they can see their car in the photos.
Finally, would you please consider also supporting The Cancer Council, as same as last year, I forgot sunscreen and my cooked lobster neck won't stop reminding me
part of the income from the expo is usually split off to go to a charity and we have always donated to the RFDS. I would support a donation to the cancer council.
That all seems negative, so please go back and read my first two sentences again to clarify my position:
Thats my thoughts, anyone else have any feedback? If you don't speak up, your idea won't be considered, and the Expo may be poorer because of it. Write while its still fresh in your mind!
EDIT: Hey moderators, this might be better in members only chat, if you think so, please do shift it.
Originally Posted by p38arover
Bookmarks