Call Centre Expo 2011

Hi All

Just wanted to ask what people think about Call Centre Expo being in London this year

For me the NEC has always been the home of expo , feels kinda wierd

Regards

John

When I was at the Birmingham show a couple of years ago I could not help but notice there was a huge amount of space at the back of the exhibition and the toilets.

Also it was like the same people who came to previous shows were back looking at the same solutions as the year before that meant the follow up calls on the phone afterwards seemed to lead to less opportunites as companies where generally using the same products being exhibited at the show

The only new trend I saw were people who were starting the long process of looking at speech analytics and having hosted solutions

Maybe like the Telephone Managers Association exhibitions of years ago the CC EXPO shows have had their day.

Seriously though I will miss my 2 days stand duty there and seeing all the familiar faces and the general CC EXPO vibe and that dash back to the airport for my trip home to Edinburgh.

I wont miss the aching joints afterwards

Be interesting to see the comments from people after the London CC EXPO

Regards

John

If your products are new and unique you may stand a chance, for me it was many years ago that I got some business that was atributed to the expo.

As the years have gone by I have seen zero real business come from the show.

Great show for networking and bumping into old colleagues and for telling the market you are still around , just a very expensive way of doing it.

I hope you have a good show, will keep my fingers crossed that you get some genuine leads

Let's hope your right Jonty and it's not a wash out!
I'll be there with my team from monday so it should be an experience at least.

Is anyone attending the awards on the 11th? We're nominated for Best Product so we'll be wining and dining for the night :)

Hi John, I was up at Call Centre Expo yesterday as a visitor and there did seem to be a good stream of visitors while I was there. As a consultant I find the Expo works for me. I can get to see new products and technologies and get some detail. All this knowledge goes into my kit bag so I can find the right solutions for my Clients.

Sometimes just chatting to the company representatives on the stands sparks business development ideas for me and for them. My head is full of stuff today which I am trying to organise and catalogue for later use.

As you said, it's a great place to meet up with contacts, friends and old colleagues. I had the delight of bumping into someone I haven't seen for 11 years. It also gave me a chance to see great products I heard of in the development stages which are now out on the market and becoming main stream which is always exciting.

The Olympia Venue was good for me as it cost me £6.50 to get there and took less than an hour to make the journey. From a personal point of view that's a real bonus. I can however, sympathise with people travelling down from the North, after spending several years trogging up the M25, M40 and M42 and having to drive back the same day to keep expenses down.

In my view there are a few improvements that could be made by the organisers which would support the companies who have paid to have stands at the Expo.

1) The registration staff could smile at visitors when they register and actually looked pleased that they have made the effort to attend.

2) Quite a few of the people I spoke to weren't sure where they could go to have a coffee and chat. There were two roped off areas for Networking and Coffee but in previous years access has been by invitation only so there was confusion as to whether you could just wander in and sit down. The area for refreshments that wasn't roped off felt and looked like an afterthought, had about 3 seats and made you feel like a 2nd class citizen.

3) And the business of charging visitors £30 to get in, if they hadn't registered on-line in advance - what's that all about? I saw at least 3 people who decided not to bother going in because they hadn't pre-registered and didn't have back up they could contact to register them while they waited outside. It was possible to register on-line if you had a BB or Iphone but strangely it was difficult to get internet access via BB outside the building. Mmm I am sure the Companies who paid for their stands and for extras like wifi access were pleased that potential buyers were turned off.

I went on Tuesday to expo. Being based in the Midlands, the NEC was always really convenient just to pop in to see what's going on and catch up with old faces. I may be biased but the NEC is a much better venue, Olympia was really closed in and pokey!!

I heard it was at Olympia as all the "decision makers" are in London. Is it just me or is the CC industry based in North West, North East, South Wales, Scotland, i.e. anywhere away from costly London town?

Not sure I will bother with the 5 hours in a car and tube etc next year...

@ Coops , I agree I thought the majority of contact centres were based anywhere other than London, being in Scotland we have some huge ones up here

Must have been a mare for those travelling from the north

@voiceage congrats on your award shame about the lack of press time, thought speeches were FOC , in my time at the show I never heard of them being chargeable

A useful excercise is for all of those who had stands at the expo this year to see how much extra new ( real ) business was achieved by having a stand there.

Think this is behind the reason why the show has shrunk over the years.