I spent fifty five minutes on the phone to Glee show director, Daniel Thurlow yesterday in a conversation about the show's future.
Dan was refreshingly frank about its [Glee] perceived failings, put his side of the story and listened to what I had to say.
The conversation started with an apology. Glee say that they have rather neglected the blogging corner of journalism and it is something they now intend to address.
Indeed, do a Google search on 'Glee review 2009', it is not Hort Week, Garden Forum or Landscaper that returns the results - chances are, Landscape Juice will be at the top.
I explained that Landscape Juice aggregates opinions and links to information around the web. In previous years, two weeks after any event, newspaper and magazine coverage was lost and because magazines - especially those who had a financial stake - rarely reported any negatives, it took years for a real curve to emerge.
Daniel Thurlow says that Glee is actually one umbrella of separate trade shows and he feels they can serve landscaping rather well - my view is that Glee has an enormous identity crisis and the show appears to be one large 'blob'.
It does feel rather surreal - I now have an involvement of a kind with three of the main shows for 2010 and with it, a responsibility to my horticulture peers.
I want to make it clear, just in case there is a feeling that I might be compromised and have a conflict of interest - my ambition, right from the start of Landscape Juice back in 2006, has been to raise the profile of landscaping and gardening and I will do anything that I feel is right for the industry.
Glee are promising changes - indeed they have to - but I have to agree with Daniel when he says that Glee are not going please all of the people, all of the time.
With the Hard Landscaping Show and Garden Expo looking to attract visitors, something has to give - after all, there is a recession and landscaping and gardening are not an infinite market.
I think the main message to all event organisers - as far as horticulture and landscaping is concerned - is, put your own financial aspirations to one side, make landscapers and gardeners feel 'special' and the centre of attention and you are on the road to success.
Put landscapers and gardeners in a corner behind the pet food and you are on the road to ruin.
What are your views - are you an exhibitor, organiser or attendee - what do you want to see and how should a show be run - is it time to break Glee up into its specific modules?
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