ESTESS2016 REVIEW | 21
NOG highlights benefits of exhibiting The National Operational Guidance Programme (NOG) tells Emergency Services Times what the team gets out of two days at the NEC as part of The Emergency Services Show. Words: Catherine Levin, National Operational Guidance Programme Team We are running a nationally funded programme to update operational guidance for the fire and rescue service across the UK. We’ve been able to get funding from every fire and rescue service as well as Government so we have to be particularly careful about how we spend our money. For us, engagement is critical to our success. We need all fire and rescue services to be aware of what we are doing and to understand how operational guidance that is produced collaboratively and based on the very best practice from the service can help them. So we look for the best ways to do that and The Emergency Services Show provides us with a great opportunity to engage with a lot of people in a short space of time.
Strong statistics We did some analysis of our visitor statistics from the show and the data showed us that we had nearly 300 visitors over the two days. While the overall show gets more than 6000 visitors over the same period, we were pleased to have around five percent of them visit us. We were delighted to see representatives from 27 out of the 45 fire and rescue services in England as well as colleagues from Scotland and Wales. Some of our visitors are already cheerleaders for our work and had stopped by to say hi but they don’t need convincing about what we’re doing. However, many were not and we made a lot of new friends. In fact we had visitors from fire and rescue services in Jersey, Ireland and Gibraltar.
Our engagement is primarily with fire and rescue services but not exclusively. It was interesting to see that representatives from seven of the 11 ambulance trusts in England came to see us, along with some visitors from NHS Foundation Trusts. We also had some police colleagues stop by. Collaboration between emergency services is critical to improved firefighter and public safety, so we were really pleased to chat with colleagues from the other blue light services.
“The Emergency Services Show provides us with a great opportunity to engage with a lot of people in a short space of time.” We had some great discussion with academics from UCLAN. Our work on National Operational Learning needs to draw on academic research, so this was one way to make connections with this sector.
Benefits of exhibiting These are just some examples of the benefits of exhibiting at the show. The engagement piece was wider than just relying on people to come to see us. We extensively advertised our presence at the show and used our co-curation of the Learning Zone to remind our networks about our work. We also used Eventbrite to schedule meetings with our engagement lead and our Hazmat lead, both of whom really valued the opportunity to meet subject matter specialists at the show. It’s so efficient and time saving to meet lots of people in one place, as we spend a lot of time travelling around the country.
Focused on collaboration Clearly there is quite a large financial cost to get a good quality presence at any trade show and we made the decision to invest in a great stand. This year we were positioned on a corner, which meant we were really visible to passing visitors – another great benefit. We also liked being positioned closely to our friends in JESIP, in a wider area focused on collaboration. It made sense to us and to our visitors. We will definitely be at The Emergency Services Show again next year.
www.ukfrs.com
Continued support from Openhouse Openhouse Products has supported The Emergency Services Show since its inception as a multi agency forum for services, end users and companies alike to come together to share ideas and technological advances. The company has benefited from having a large percentage of its customers being able to visit one location in order to maintain close working partnerships and ongoing developmental relationships. Openhouse Products always prides itself in supplying outstanding quality products, designed to a high standard, using unique materials and high manufacturing specifications to achieve the best outcome for all of its clients. Over the last few years the company has invested heavily in new materials, new methods of manufacturing, automation, design and IT systems to support its growing company, and as part
of this development, Openhouse Products has maintained the long standing belief in creating a tailored bespoke approach to each individual need, and The Emergency Services Show allows the company to be able to do that. In the company’s 25th Anniversary year, it pays to look back at the amazing results Openhouse Products has achieved, all the while never losing sight of where it strives to be in the future. The Emergency Services Show is the perfect platform for showcasing the company’s products and its services. Working with the show’s organisers produces outstanding results and as Openhouse moves into its next five-year expansion programme, The Emergency Services Show will be Openhouse Products’ main platform to showcase its skills.
www.openhouseproducts.com
Openhouse is probably best known as a preferred supplier of its bespoke bags and medical supplies.
www.emergencyservicestimes.com
December2016