Summer and Winter Fair Initiatives

Dear Colleagues
This has been the first year we exhibited in Olympia and we were generally satisfied with the outcome.
Our Gallery deals with Modern Masters and we were part of the small section called “Olympia Contemporary”. I think that it is a great idea to try and bring more Modern and contemporary galleries to Olympia but I’m afraid that it wasn’t enough this year. The mix of new and old is exactly what people are looking for at the moment but the mix needs to be more balanced if the fair wants to attract a younger and newer crowd that don’t usually visits this fair.
In my opinion one of the main reasons for the lack of Modern and Contemporary Galleries is the length of the fair. Most fairs that target this market last for 4 to 5 days only including one weekend. I don’t see any reason why Olympia should be different. We experienced a very strong start of the fair including the preview day and the first weekend. After that, we had very few serious sales including the second weekend. Being away from the gallery for 11 days (plus set up and break down) is a huge disadvantage and I’m sure that many dealers who actually have a gallery will consider exhibiting in Olympia if the fair was shorter.
Best regards,
Ofer Gildor
Gilden’s Arts Gallery

Hello All,
I have recently reviewed some (but not all) of the posts and comments on the Olympia blog so energetically created and nurtured by Elliot Lee – who I congratulate for his efforts on our behalf.
In meandering through the blog, I have made a few ad-hoc and not necessarily connected jottings.
1. Overall. I am a 10yr + exhibitor and missed last year for price (and Lester) reasons so found the ‘back to basics’ very welcome, producing an excellent and, for me, a reasonably well rewarding Fair. There were several points, positive and negative, that I would like to make.
2. Object of Year, Object of day, tours, lectures. Personally I have a somewhat jaundiced view of all these initiatives. Firstly we must remember why people come – it is to see the dealers and to buy our goods. If they come for these reasons then they are probably of limited value compared with the effort in setting them up and servicing them. If you go to the Tower of London it is nice to see the Ravens but that’s not why you’re there. Secondly these initiatives are usually patronised by visitors who are already there. The job of getting them through the door has been done. It seems folly to distract such visitors from the main task of patronising our stands.
3. International Evenings. My personal verdict is a cautious maybe. This years’ efforts seemed a bit ‘off the mark’ so more drawing board work required if they are to make any viable contribution. They should not be sidelined to out of hours and the periphery in the Pillar Room – perhaps they could be a bit more like old fashioned ‘Charity nights’ and included within in the fair.
4. Clarion Staff. A marked improvement in attitude and helpfulness. Gone is the old ‘take it or leave it philosophy’ replaced by a healthy client-customer mutual respect. Young Rupert saved me a sale, taking a great deal of trouble when I arrived in London N10 at the appointed time with no idea of the customers address.
5. Duration/mid Fair lull. Please, please do not shorten the event. I thought the generally quiet middle days (Monday-Thursday) were reasonably attended. Of course a lot were only spectators but we sold most days and there were reports of sales feeding around pretty regularly. The Lull in the past was assisted by the Grosvenor House factor but that is history so our organisers and PR people have a challenge to improve midweek attendance. This could marry up with comments regarding locals not even knowing about the fair. They, by definition are a prime target. More local advertising, more local posters, advertise in the old fashioned way in London papers, leaflets drops, even (don’t knock it, The Metro). In my opinion potentially far more cost effective than any number of ‘international’ jollies.
6. David Lester. Simple. Keep him far away. Clarion please buy him out.
7. Stand Costs. Someone referred to reducing rates this year. I prefer to see it as correcting the nearly fatal intervention of Lester and a return to sanity. The rates are still too high for the bedrock of traditional exhibitors – just look at the rates 5-10 years ago with the rise in CPI. However, the high footfall and thus the corresponding exhibiting costs per visitor compares favourably with other Fairs. The problem is the sheer level of costs, especially for furniture dealers.
8. The Gallery. Visitors were commenting favourably on the absence of the gallery. It made the Fair easier to navigate and the hike up those stairs was a real turn-off for older people (our principal demographic). They appeared to like the more compact Fair. But to any old experienced exhibitors/fair goers it was quite obvious that there were many phantom stands and voids in the layout. If we had 150 exhibitors this time, I think another 30-50 could be fitted in the present perimeter. Expansion into the new West Hall is not necessarily desirable. It could increase the ‘route march’ effect if the Fair is physically larger for no good reason. It could also unintentionally create a Section1-Section2 divide jeopardising the longer term revival of the Fair.
9. Other Fairs. Art London. Obviously some sort of unified ‘London Fairs in June’ campaign should benefit all involved, but it is probably naive to think that the organisers could co-operate to such effect. Things such as discounted joint tickets, or omnibus complimentarys or give aways at one fair to another are unlikely to happen even though it is a win-win situation given the overlap of dates. Masterpiece. The much later date limits the scope for any meaningful co-operation. So lets just wish them all the best, especially those brave dealers who do both – they deserve success.
10. Olympia Station closure. The Olympia Venue, Clarion (and others like them), BADA, LAPADA must use whatever they can muster by way of lobbying power. Compensate with private shuttle buses from Earls Court and Kensington High Street – but must be regular, 10 minutes is a long time in the rain.

So, as you can see, if you’ve got this far, I offer a bunch of random jottings for what its worth.

I’m optimistic and happy to see Olympia returning to centre stage. See you in November.

Ron Hodgson. Ashleigh House Fine Art.