So nobody has a shopping list?
I have a wish list depending on who is there and who they are selling through or who they are interested in. Benro didn't seem that bothered about wanting to check for availability of a £300 tripod I showed an interest in, Sirui were selling through Camera World who said any items not at the show might take a month to arrive.
I generally look for manufacturers who have a small market presence in the UK and niche advertising channels like Holdfast, Platypod, HPRC.IT who have some novel products and are hard to get hold of in the UK outside the show. Others who are easily accessible and have expansive stock available through retail outlets like WEX, Amazon Park etc I tend to look at the range they have for hands on experience however often show prices
However there is a game to play (especially on the consumer Saturday)which is count the number of people walking around with their cameras round their necks with 70-200 mm lenses on, as well as spot the person with the longest lens on their camera.
Some of the lighting tutorials are quite good to watch but seem to be geared more towards the use of the studio lighting setups whereby you need two or three lights to replicate which , with modifiers, backgrounds etc is a £5000 setup. ok if you're in that market but few will do an equivalent with speedlights.
The talks on the big manufactures stands Nikon, Canon etc are often good but you need to be there on the right day generally.
Some of the Big Stage talks that are about the working life of a world reknown photographers like Joe McNally / Scott Kelby are often good but that disconnect between speaker and viewer often occurs when they base talks around their experience spending 4 months in Mongolia documenting the migration of the indigenous x/y/z tribes, when its something the audience is ever likely to experience themselves.
The galleries of prints that are displayed in the entrance hall and often at the back of the hall behind where Canon park themselves are often worth a look at they show the equipment and the settings used.
There seems to be a plethora of 20% off codes going around at the moment with every exhibitor sharing theirs (I suspect there might be some reward for the most used code).I am hoping that as the show gets closer these might become 30% and 50%'s.
Thats my 2peneth on the show offerings that generally engage my interest. Its a good day out in general and you can spend the whole day around the hall if there are a couple of speakers session that can break up the wandering