Having canceled this year’s exhibition, can SED ever come back?
From an exhibitor’s point of view, SED was the perfect construction equipment exhibition. It was supported by a pair of popular and widely-read trade magazines (Contract Journal and PMJ), was extensively (and expensively) promoted on and offline, and provided a unique opportunity to show machines doing what they do best – move dirt.
But all of that is in the past. Neither of those magazines exist any longer, so the usual previews to attract and the reviews to remind visitors what’s on display have gone the way of the Dodo. Without an offline magazine presence, there can be little question that the promotion will have been impacted. And let’s face it, how many of the machine operators and fleet owners that made up the lion’s share of the exhibition’s attendees are spending their every waking hour on the Internet?
And what of the exhibitors? In years gone by, the exhibition largely sold itself – Names like Caterpillar, Komatsu, JCB, Volvo and Case clamored to be part of what was billed as the “biggest show in Earth”. And the attraction of these industry-leading names allowed smaller, less well-known manufacturers and dealers to benefit from the crumbs that fell from the table of the majors.
Not surprisingly (and somewhat belatedly), the organisers of SED followed of the previously postponed Hillhead quarry exhibition put this year’s show on ice. But can it really bounce back?
Admittedly, the next show is still a year off but a browse through the exhibitors signed up shows a dearth of big names. Indeed, the only company on the list that would be considered a premier league OEM is Hyundai, and even they are more Bolton Wanderers than Manchester United. The rest of the list currently comprises a variety of lesser suppliers and manufacturers of clothing, cab seating and security equipment; all fine in their place but hardly the backbone of a construction equipment show or a reason to trek halfway across the country.
I come not to bury SED but to praise it. I am a career-long fan of the show. I haven’t missed a single SED in the past 25 years. In fact, much to my wife’s annoyance (then and now), I left her with newborn twins and 10 newborn Boxer puppies to attend SED ’93, such was the draw of the show.
But I am not alone in fearing that the demise of Contract Journal and Plant Managers Journal, the downturn in the UK construction industry, and an enforced 12-month hiatus might prove to be the perfect storm that washes the once great SED away for good.
