Hi Dave,
feedback on the show:
1. Overwhelmingly positive, it was a great day out. Most of the vendors also seemed to be doing good business.
On a 'constructive criticism view' -
1. Better signposting of the actual halls ? I kept feeling like I might have spent the whole day there and completely overlooked one hall.
2. The fleamarket format was ok, but I kept feeling like I needed to duck back every hour to see if I was missing anything. It's possibly the best format, but it still has drawbacks. Not sure there is anything you could change here though.
3. Stewards? - I've seen other shows use 'hi-viz' vests to easily let people spot helpers/stewards.
4. Could the painting exhibits be in a better lit location?
5. Finally, not sure about having the games in the entry hall, it seemed to create a lot of congestion. (But also, not sure there was an alternative location.)
My final observations - my impression was this year there were marginally fewer games at the very top level of spectacular (three or four I think) compared to previous years, and it looked to me like there were fewer people actually playing participation games.
As I said on my blog, I was pleased to see more women there, but I didn't think I saw as many kids as usual, although I wasn't able to get there till midday.