FEATURE
Equal
footing
The organisers of LAMMA on moving the
agricultural trade show indoors to the NEC and
the event’s bright future in its new home
46
L
AMMA stands for Lincolnshire
Agricultural Machinery
Manufacturers Association and,
while the show no longer takes place
in Lincolnshire and was formed by a
small group of Lincolnshire agricultural
equipment manufacturers rather than official
association, the name has stuck throughout
its decades-long history.
“Two of the people who formed the show,
their companies are still here,” Rupert
Levy – group finance director at organiser
AgriBriefing, tells EN. “For more than 30
years a lot of the same companies have
exhibited. It started as just Lincolnshire
manufacturers, then grew to the UK and
now it's an international show.”
AgriBriefing has owned the agricultural
machinery show since 2012, when it took
place at Newark Showground. The organiser
moved it to the East of England Arena
and Event Centre (EEAEC) in 2014 before
deciding to take the show indoors to the
NEC for its 2019 edition.
At the EEAEC, says group events director
Elisabeth Mork-Eidem, the show was
a mixture of outdoor stands, exhibitor
marquees, marquees built by the organiser
and stands inside the venue’s permanent
exhibition halls.
“One of the problems clearly with an
outdoor show in January is the weather,
which can be a bit interesting,” adds Levy.
“The first time we ever ran it was minus
eight degrees when we got on site.
February 2019 | exhibitionnews.co.uk
“In 2018 we had problems with the wind.
The second day was curtailed because
the wind got up to to such a level that it
was ripping through the marquees. Since
we bought it we've always said it should
be indoors. It never made sense to have
anything that was at risk.
“What you also found is that when it
was nice day everybody was outside and if
it started to r ain everybody went inside,
which causes huge problems in terms of
visitor flow.”
So, the decision was made to move the
show inside for 2019, still in its vital January
slot (in the summer the predominantly
farmer audience would be unlikely to
turn up). The show took up 11 halls at the
NEC, and for Mork-Eidem the move was a
vital opportunity to give the event a more
business-like atmosphere.
“Making it a professional show was very
important to us when we bought it back in
2012,” she tells EN. “It’s hard to do that
when you are knee high in mud. The type of
conversations that stand holders can have
with the visitors are very different in that
kind of environment from when you are in
the NEC and it's nice and dry. We think the
type and the length of conversations people
will have here will be better. Everyone is on
same equal footing, and everyone has the
exact same conditions, which was a struggle
with an outdoor stand compared to an
indoor stand.”
The reception from visitors and exhibitors
to the change has been overwhelmingly
positive, Mork-Eidem continues.
“It's not been without its challenges,” she
adds. “It's a big move for everyone. It's like
we're launching a new show at the NEC
using 11 halls and expecting thousands and
thousands of people. All our exhibitors have
worked very closely with us over this year to
make sure that we were ready for it.”
Moving to the NEC means that the
organisers and exhibitors have had a one-day
build as opposed to the previous set-up at
EEAEC, where exhibitors were able to come
in and starting building for the show over
Christmas.
“It was very lax and very free in terms of
what they could do, because of the nature of
the site,” explains Mork-Eidem. “Here it’s a
very controlled environment.”
Levy adds: “Here you can be a lot more
professional, because the NEC do this every
week of every year, all the time, and they’re
used to doing it. They have a logistics team