Some years ago I bumped into an ex-colleague on one of those buses that whisk you from the NEC halls out to the car park – a real Godsend when you’ve spent the day racing around in high heels. It was standing room only and I had to giggle because he had so many brochures and press packs in his arms that he could hardly stand up – let alone grab hold of a handrail when we lurched around the many roundabouts!

I remarked that he must have had a really busy day, having managed to collect so many brochures, and been incredibly well organised to get around so many stands.

“I’ve not been to any stands,” he retorted. "I arrived late so I’ve been in the press office for a pastry and a coffee and gathered all these brochures to take home to look at, so I can beat the traffic travelling south.”

As someone who can never quite get around to see everyone I want to at these shows, and could happily spend an extra couple of days trying, I was incredulous that a fellow journalist could travel all the way up from London and not actually go into the exhibition!

Of course it wasn’t a KBB show, so won’t have been nearly as much fun, but to drive all that way only to pass up on the opportunity to go and examine the things you’ve been writing about for months, well – it seems such a waste! Where’s the passion?

So – the much anticipated KBB Birmingham exhibition opens its doors on Sunday. And while attending on the opening day would make a good Mother’s Day present for me, that’s not something I dare tell my family, so I’ll have to wait an extra day to be able to see first hand all the wonderful new furniture, appliances and equipment I’ve been receiving press releases about.

I hope that if you’re a trade visitor, you find everything you’re looking for, and that if you’re exhibiting, your stand enjoys a steady stream of potential buyers throughout the event. Let’s all hope that visitors like the one I’ve described here, are few and far between, and that we can all come away at the end of the week feeling that everything’s been a great success and worth being away from home for.

See you there!

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Yours,

Jan Hobbs