Adventure Overland Show

Thought I'd post here to highight the show

1st - big thanks to Tom for organising this show. It was really good to see a show that was so different, I got bored of Landy shows many years ago. The wide variety of vehicles was great, pinz's , dodges, Ivecos (of course), landys, volvos, dafs and bedfords - and I'm sure I missed some (oh merc and mitsubishi)

The vehicle display area was buzzing on sunday, people everywhere chatting, peering in vehicles, studying maps.

The trade stands were interesting - think they sold me an electric bike after allowing me loose on one around the showground, I never got to one of the game prep demos unfortunatly and we were too big for the little landys. Not too many bolt on bits stands and it was great to see some of the german overland products being shown over here

On to the talks, well Peter & Eileen were great as always. It was good to catch up with chris scott, the photo matching trip was unique and Tuggy did a great job of facilitating a discussion in a chilly marquee on friday night (more siberian nights than sahara)

Would have loved to go to more talks but just ran out of time with catching with friends old and new. The talks really were what made the event unique.

For next year, well like you said maybe a bigger venue will be needed, Use wristbands instead of tickets , easier all round. Try and link with people travelling (africangirlchild, hopefully us etc etc), get people to record vids and email them over

But a great weekend, we got 5 ivecos together (ok one broke down, stuck on rear diff lock) but thats the most we've ever managed

And Lisa asked me to say that she really enjoyed it too, to see how people livedin these vehicles, the decoration, the parrot people and the talks on travel so there was loads of things that interested her too - it wasn't macho male oil and tyres and bolt on goodies orientated

So I raise my glass to you and say thankyou for a unique event and I hope it worked for you too Tom so you'll be inspired to run it again

Rich

Thank you Tom for organising such an amazing event. A couple of friends of mine went and they were amazed.
I am sending you a bottle of your choice to you to say thank you for all you have done.
Well Done.

Jason

Thanks Tom for a refreshing change. Spent most of the time just chatting to folk and peering in various trucks and getting some ideas for some storage ideas for the d2. However now i fear the seed has been sown for something larger and an old lt35 camper we had has gotten me on the look out for a rare lt40 4x4 van to convert into my ultimate offroad camper. If i had any comment i'd say that there needed to be more toilets. Loved the dj on saturday night although i'm not a big madness fan Just an idea but what about a chill out tent with some ambient music showing a collage of peoples travelling videos/pictures on a large screen which people could submit prior and during the show??

Tom

have replied on the event thread, but just wanted to reiterate what a show. We had a good walk around and swooed over the overland vehicles (Rich .. i used to have an Iveco back in he day, and tried to persuade the Mrs thatit was the future but shes having none of it!)

the seminars were absolutly excellent, have made some suggestions on the other thread, but all in all an excellent show.

many thanks for organising, well be back next year!!

By vehicle display, if you mean the vehicles that were opposite the main field.
Well I waleked in there on Sunday morning, There were only a couple of vehicles attended. Of those attended only one crew spoke to me. The others turned away.

mike

just got back and im cream crackerd,,,,,,,,,,,but it was good to see everybody,,,lets hope its on next year,,,,,,

Hi all

Just to re-iterate others' comments - Tom, you did a fabulous job! Very well done.

I never actually had a chance to have a wander around - we had so many people come to see us, ask questions, look at the truck, and just generally chat. So much support - it was overwhelming. It was lovely to meet others from the forum too - put faces to names. Thanks.

I think the talks were really a great idea. We had lots of people coming to find out more about our preparations (and hopefully learn from our mistakes) We definitely need to come up with a solution to submit an update of sorts from the road next year ... but we have a few months to sort the technology out What might be worth considering for next year is having an 'introducer' for the speakers: although most are well known, real novices to the overlanding world may not be familiar with the Big Names, so this would be a nice touch. Also, perhaps an announcer to say "In 15 minutes, Joe Bloggs will be giving a talk in the seminar room, so do make your way over" sort of thing. I have to confess, time completely ran away with me, so I lost track of who was talking when about what, so perhaps others did too?

All round, a fab show! While we hope to attend in spirit (and video!) next year, we look forward to 2014!

kind regards
African GirlChild & Viking Explorer

Took a few pics


https://s1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa375/maadmaan10/Overland%20show%20Oct%202012/

just to repeat whats allready been said an excellent event,we unfortunately could only attend for 1 day but next year would definately come for the weekend if possible

just one point of interest the wife mentioned she had not seen many kids at the show are there any figures has to how many families turned up as opposed to individuals and couples and does this reflect the amount of families interested in/involved in overland travel



kevin

gemini wrote:

By vehicle display, if you mean the vehicles that were opposite the main field.
Well I waleked in there on Sunday morning, There were only a couple of vehicles attended. Of those attended only one crew spoke to me. The others turned away.

mike

Mike

the display vehicles was split into 2 lots, one in the campground the other to the left of the main entrance

We would talk to anyone who approached us as did many others, I had a nose in quite a few of the vehicles there and everyone was really friendly

Maybe you hit a bad time , we went wandering on sunday morning to see the stands but several vehicles had phone numbers (ours included) if you wanted to get in touch to ask questions or take a look.

Rich

PS If you want to know more about the mitsubishi in the corner and its travels we spent quite a bit of time with Julian and Ali , website is www.epicycles.com

Sounds like a fantastic sad I missed it Well Done Tom

Well I'm back. Like Tuggy said, thoroughly cream-crackered!!!

Thanks to one and all for the kind words. I think that overall it was a great show, although me being me, I know there is so much more that can be done to make it into something really special.

Yes, on the face of it all seemed well, but at times I knew it was chaotic and unstructured. For instance, to have me as Event Director cleaning Whilton Mill's toilets and filling the toilet rolls/hand-towels on Sunday morning just wasn't on – it was their job after all. I even found myself parking up the numpty's attending the karting Sunday morning as they were taking up 2 or even 3 spaces before I arrived. Why? Well, we simply would have run out of space – another job that should have been handled by a third party. Don't get me wrong, it's not that those jobs are beneath me, but as you can imagine, I had more important things to do than to spend my time shepherding boy racers into parking bays for over an hour!

You're right about so many things - wristbands, having just one Display Vehicle Area (although the area I had to work with, plus the amount of Display vehicles that turned up made this impossible), PA announcements about the Seminars, some sort of M.C. to introduce the speakers, a 'chill out' marquee (great idea!!!) and so it goes on. Rest assured I'm listening and taking on board all your suggestions, so keep ’em coming.

Never mind about me, thanks to you lot, for without your support the event would, nay, could never have taken place. An official 'pat on the back' to everyone who displayed vehicles, helped out on the gates, parked the vehicles, spoke at the Seminars, set out the Trade Stands, etc.

Last but not least, an especially big THANK YOU to Yoda (Roamingman on this forum) who travelled down from Aberdeenshire up in that there Scotland pre-event on Monday, stayed overnight in the Midlands so was there bright and early Tuesday morning ... then worked his nuts off for the rest of the week setting up ... then dashed about all weekend to keep me from going under ... then stayed until Tuesday to help clear up ... then still had a 464 mile journey back home! Basically he was the first in, last out. Not bad for someone 70+ years old; I doff my hat to you Sir.

Across the board, the support of this inaugural show was amazing, so much so that planning for ADVENTURE OVERLAND 2013 has already begun. “Watch this space” as they say, there are BIG plans in the pipeline for AO`13.

Well what can I say, what a brilliant weekend, the show what a pleasant surprise a much better format than the normal shows which used to be the place to get show discounts and see new and exciting products and services.

I would like to thank Tom for the experience, I met some really helpful people and the friday night talk by Tuggy was inspirational and the comment by the others, Rich in particular in the tent gave me the confidence to go and try myself and go further afield.

On the Saturday a walk round the vehicles was met by friendly owners giving advice and showing pictures of there previous trips.

I also met and chatted with Lois Pryce what an insperational person Been there and done it and she signed my book what an honour to be in the company of travelling greats.

Also a big thank you to the unsung heroes, Roamingman for one and the local 4x4 club who's common sense approach to security was such a breath of fresh air.

On the negative side the only criticism I have was the toilets and showers were quite a long way away from the camp site especially with my 54 year old bladder first thing in the morning but that's just being picky.

Can't wait for 2013 onward and upward

Tom thank you for them words of thanks, actually I felt and maybe looked at least 80
clad people enjoyed the show.

Know have 1 year to recharge batteries, hope to see and talk to more people next year.

Thanks for that wideformat4x4, although my 59 year old bladder coped very well thank you. Colostomy bag for your next birthday methinks!

Some piccies of the proceedings [you'll find BTW that when the options appear in the drop-down box, 640px (for websites) is plenty big enough for posting photos]:-

Sheelah Turner (South African) & Oyvind Helgerud (Norwegian), who in their Toyota Land Cruiser set off on their dream journey entitled "Kapp 2 Cape" – an epic 2-year trip from the most northerly point on the European mainland - Nordkapp in Norway - all the way down to Cape Agulhas in South Africa, the southern-most tip of Africa. Starting from ADVENTURE OVERLAND made so much sense. They are a lovely couple, really pleased to have met them and provide a platform for their little excursion.

When I explained what they were up to, my mate Wayne came out with the classic line ... "So basically it's a visit to the relatives then?"



Oyvind's pathetic attempt of a Grand Prix style photo opportunity. Yep, that's me on the left giving advice on how to waste bubbly.



Not sure if I'm a useless teacher or he's a rubbish pupil? Whatever, I just had to step in.



Opps! Got a little over-excited, story of my life!



Don't look a gift horse ...



Sheelah proving there's an even better way with far less waste.



They seem happy enough, now for the off!



Time to bid farewell. Well done you lot - a great send off by one and all, Yoda even had to hold back the crowds!



After this I led them through the lanes of traders, like-minded souls who knew exactly what a fantastic adventure they were about to undertake.

Bon voyage as the Germans say ['Del Boy' Trotter 1983]

roamingman wrote:

Tom thank you for them words of thanks, actually I felt and maybe looked at least 80
clad people enjoyed the show.

Know have 1 year to recharge batteries, hope to see and talk to more people next year.

Add another 10 years and you're about there mate!

More random photos:-

So gutted I had to miss this......

Well done Tom Mc & Forum Crew

Hee Hee you can see my Iveco sporting its new snorkel (well new to me) fitted a whole 3 days before the event - now thats forward planning !

Tom Mc wrote:

When I explained what they were up to, my mate Wayne came out with the classic line ... "So basically it's a visit to the relatives then?"

Your mate Wayne is a comedian ...

Tom Mc wrote:

Bon voyage as the Germans say ['Del Boy' Trotter 1983]

Thanks for a great way to start the adventure! I'll nick these photos another night (all credit to photographer, so do let me know) - they are fab!

Need a good one to pop on our website as the first Milestone!

rgds
African GirlChild

Tom Mc wrote:

Last but not least, an especially big THANK YOU to Yoda (Roamingman on this forum) who travelled down from Aberdeenshire up in that there Scotland pre-event on Monday, stayed overnight in the Midlands so was there bright and early Tuesday morning ... then worked his nuts off for the rest of the week setting up ... then dashed about all weekend to keep me from going under ... then stayed until Tuesday to help clear up ... then still had a 464 mile journey back home! Basically he was the first in, last out. Not bad for someone 70+ years old; I doff my hat to you Sir.

rgds
African GirlChild

African girlchild

Good to meet you at the weekend - sorry we didn't chat more but a busy time catching up with friends old and new

Look out for these folks on the road - leaving the uk in around 10 days heading towards capetown in a white Iveco 4x4 van

http://pingandnoelsblog.blogspot.co.uk/

iveco4x4 wrote:

Hee Hee you can see my Iveco sporting its new snorkel (well new to me) fitted a whole 3 days before the event - now thats forward planning !

Why? Anybody would think you were ready for flooding. Okay, we had a deluge Friday night, only to be expected as after all it is still British Summertime, but the two consecutive days of glorious sunshine were extremely welcome. One redundant snorkel ... I'm very glad to say!

Sheelah - I simply asked the audience if anyone could snap off a few shots of the 'bubbly-spraying' with my camera. Clearly the man behind the lens got it spot on! This being the case, use whatever piccies you like as they were all taken on my camera. If you want the originals, simply email me.

Tom, please accept our apologies for not getting to the show, Kin work called me into work for the weekend and things being as they are couldnt not go in. But rest assured we will be there next year.

Looks like we missed a fab inaugural event..

I shall Return!!!!