AVEX 2015 – Day Two
Ok, so I’m a bit late with reporting on day two of AVEX. And our Day two breakfast briefing was a tad sparse. All I can say is, sorry… but we were on the move and gathering content and news, and attending The Vendies (were you there too?), oh… and sleeping.
By the time we retired to our lofty abode 13 floors up, with views to die for over Manchester, for the night, we were not safe to be let loose on our keyboards. (Recommend Sainsbury’s Vintage Cava – very quaffable!) We decided therefore, unlike the previous evening when we burned the midnight oil, we should just let discretion be the better part of valour, and just wait awhile.
Our co-director, designer, website guru, chief product taster (crisps and chocolate are his speciality) was on the early shift on day two. You may have seen him around, he was the one carrying bags of Ten Acre crisps and popcorn, Seabrooks bags, Burts bags and other assorted products ready for his next ‘taste review’. Whilst the editor gravitates towards coffee machines, this fella goes for food… every time. A good combination in a business don’t you think?
The Ed. and I turned up about lunchtime after a busy morning finalising a few stories and dealing with business and it was straight into meetings, after our usual brew from the Karisma on the N&W stand.
There were meetings with the PV photographer, who could be seen at the Parcel Holders stand taking PR shots, and also at N&W. (We’ll have him with us at Vendex if you too would like to contribute towards his day. He’s very good, quick, and it will be a very inexpensive way to grab a top class photographer and update your PR shots)
Once again, the show on day two seemed a little quiet in terms of footfall which was a great shame considering the efforts that the organisers and the exhibitors put into the event. Many of the exhibitors had their own theories about why the visitors didn’t come so we think that we should open this up for debate. It’s easy to criticise after the event, so how about we get your ideas and views? Planet Vending will happily set the questions and collate the responses and submit to the AVA. There will be a new CEO in place before too long, how good would it be to let him/her know your feedback before next AVEX? Watch this space while we put this together.
So, to the Vendies. I wouldn’t be doing my job very well if I said nothing about the stuff that didn’t work for me, so I will mention a few of them. I’ll also talk about what DID work though.
First of all, it had been a hot hot day and a hot and sticky evening. DJs came off very quickly as the reception rooms weren’t well air conditioned but there was some relief when we entered the main ballroom. This time we had table plans which aided finding our seats. PV was hosted by N&W this year, thanks Dave, Louise and the team. Great table!
I’m not going to review every last moment however I’ll briefly comment on the main aspects of the evening. These are personal opinions and I know that there will be other views and opinions that I respect. Overall it was a great evening. It was a chance for everyone to celebrate vending and the organisers should be applauded for the immense effort they all made.
Food: For me, overall unexciting and not exceptional – but it isn’t often that banquet food will hit the spot 100%
Ambience of the Room: Red… and purple, according to the photos anyway!
Entertainment: Ah, here we can only comment on Paul Sinha as PV departed not long after the final awards were announced. Overall we liked him, but not everyone on our table agreed, there were one or two jokes that were possibly insensitive. He did handle the awards well though, laughing through the awkward bits!
(Really? I thought he was great and told him so – Ed)
The Awards: As many will know, I was one of the judges deciding the short lists from the applications and voting on the individual awards. There had been some criticism over a) the available categories, b) the short lists, c) impartiality issues, and possibly others! I can only comment that the judges judged on those applications placed in front of us, we looked at each applicant, each category and voted based on the laid down criteria and the submission details. Of course we had opinions and knowledge of the applicants but judging, in my opinion, was fair and honest. Wherever there could have been some conflict of interest the judges, including myself, would abstain from the vote or leave the room. In the end, where there was a public vote, the public vote mattered as I had no idea who was going to win any of the categories!
Where I take a bit of issue though is on the night, when faced with only two finalists, the decision was made to announce the highly commended, and then the ‘surprise surprise’ winner. Better surely to have made the announcement of just the winner in those circumstances whilst still acknowledging the brilliance of the runners up?
Also, if we are going to continue with dividing the operators into turnover categories (a good thing from my point of view) then the AVA should perhaps appoint someone to draw up a list of potential operators and contact them direct by phone, or better still, to visit them personally, canvassing them to enter so that you are better represented. We know that some operators didn’t see the point in applying as it was felt that the same companies would win anyway. This is not, necessarily, true! We at PV know of many top quality operators who would have more than a great chance of winning… had they put themselves forward.
And, winning is not the main reason for entering. Have a look at the pages of Planet Vending. Who do you see mentioned time after time after time? You see the same names cropping up because they send us their news, their charity events, their views and blogs. They keep their profiles high in the vending press not just to show off to the rest of vending but to raise their on-line profile and have a platform where their clients and prospects can find out who they are and what they’re about. If they also win awards, who will get first options when there is a new piece of business to be won? So, if you are an operator, or a brand, or anyone looking to raise your profile, communicate with us, apply for the awards, join twitter, facebook, linkedIn and be noticed. Use us! (But don’t abuse us!)
We have already posted the list of winners. They should all be very proud of themselves. They entered, they won, it could have been you perhaps? As for those who didn’t get the top spot, they won too. Their names were up on the screen, they were all over the vending press and who knows, they may win the trophy next time!
AVEX 2015 is over now, the dust is beginning to settle, holidays are coming, and we’ll have a bit of a lull for a while. Next we start talking about Vendex North. Are you exhibiting? No? If you can, do it. Visiting? No? ohhh you should. It’ll be great. You’ll hear more about it on PV coming up.
