And the Earls Court Boat Show (ECBS) is leading by a country mile.

We have a good idea of what they want to do and how they are going to do it.

We have rather less from National Boat Shows (NBS).

But is the ECBS PR machine all smoke and mirrors, I have to ask?

After all, the most powerful argument to prospective exhibitors is to see who else has booked space.

Despite repeated requests, I have only seen the few names in the most recent list of ‘flagship’ and ‘host’ exhibitors. That’s Edmiston, J-UK, Key Yachting, Murphy & Nye, Aladdin’s Cave and the UKSA.

So far, we have an impressive list of show content. But I don’t see too many signs of revenue generation in the few names we have so far. Six companies don’t make a boat show.

Then again, the incumbent not reacting fast enough to the threat of competition doesn’t make a boat show either.

National Boat Shows was slow out of the blocks and seems stuck in 2nd gear.

Maybe I got the wrong end of the stick, but I thought the Road Shows were going to tell us what was going to happen at ExCeL.

So after I sat through the presentation in Southampton, I left with a feeling of – well, disappointment.

OK, so they gave us a great presentation with some good research and some interesting statistics and some good detail on Mayflower Park and ticketing and so on.

But I don’t think that’s enough. I suspect we want to know what’s going to pull the crowds into ExCeL in January; what’s going to create the consumer interest in the most important boat show this industry and the federation has ever run?