Cutting Edge 2010 Diary

We have been so busy since the Cutting Edge Exhibition that we are only now able to report back on our experiences at the event.

Friday 24th September

Well, that’s all the machinery on the lorry.  Dozens of pieces of equipment ripped from their warm, comfy home in our showroom and loaded onto a cold lorry for a “trip out” to Doncaster.

Saturday 25th September

On the Saturday both Dennis and myself were given the task of assembling all of our equipment in the main hall at Doncaster Racecourse.  Everyone there couldn’t believe that such a large task had been left to just two people!  Other stands offering small trinkets had several people buzzing around, whereas we real men weren’t afraid of a little hard work!

A few hours of grunting and shunting, and our new machinery gleams under the bright lights of the large hall.

As is the case every year, our Sales Director Keith Malyon manages to turn up at the exact moment we have finished all the hard work.  In this way he is rather like the shopkeeper in the old TV show “Mr Ben”, who suddenly appears in the corner of the room at the end of every episode.  Whilst Keith presses the flesh with the good and the great of the repair supply trade, Dennis and I clear up and make ready to depart.

The plan for the rest of the evening is a couple or relaxing pints at the Hotel before a meal back at the Race course.  All pretty simple.  What could possibly go wrong?  Well, the Hotel losing our bookings for one!  A few terse words with the unhelpful staff and a couple of hectic phone calls later and we are ensconced elsewhere and supping the first, welcome half glass of orange juice.

The suppliers’ meal back at the racecourse would have been a most convivial and civilised affair were we not sharing a table with the bubbly, and frankly insane females from Shoestrings.  Still, a few more “halves of orange juice” helped steady the nerves…..

Sunday 26th September

By the time we arrived back at the exhibition hall our gang had been joined by Service Manager Nick and Engineer Steve.  The machinery was all switched on, the laptop booted up and videos run and powerpoint presentations prepared.

All we need now are the customers!

As with all exhibitions the day starts of slowly and you feel you have too many colleagues milling around on the exhibition stand, looking scary.  Then, suddenly you are inundated with people wanting to try the machinery, or see how the new Air-Flo pressbench works, or order a service call.  We all rush around like headless chickens for a couple of hours.  Then, just as suddenly it’s lunchtime and it all goes quiet again.

As the afternoon progresses the enquiries don’t come in so thick and fast, but they tend to be more serious.  A bit of lunch and a couple of pints is usually enough to flush out those people looking to do some business.  The rest of the afternoon is spent in long, involved deal making and us making some amazing machinery offers (well, I would say that wouldn’t I?)

By the time my feet are starting to go numb we call it a day and start breaking sown the machinery into pieces for loading back onto the lorry.  Keith thanks us for our time and then, like Keyser Soze in “The Usual Suspects” he disappears.

With our lorry backed up to the rear entrance of the hall it doesn’t take us long to have the machinery ready for loading.  There is a small, nervy delay when the lorry we have rented for the day (our own isn’t quite large enough for the enormous amount of kit we have brought) exhibits all the signs of a flat battery.  A bit of TLC from the driver and we are soon up and running again.  Speaking of running, I jump into Nick’s car at about this time and we are halfway back down the M1 before you can say, “Where have Nick and Gary gone?”

Monday 27th September

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