PAS 2019 Practical Astronomy Show Kettering 9th March 2019

[Adrian Condon]

Hi Folks,

Just to let you know that there is a free (No Charge) Practical Astronomy Show (PAS) at Kettering Conference Centre, NN15 6PB on the 9th March 2019 09:30am to 17:00.

There is an Exhibitors Hall, with a great list of well known companies, including Altair Astro, David Hinds with Celestron, Tring Astronomy Centre and Widescreen Centre, a full list of Vendors is on the PAS website with 30 stands  (to buy the bits and pieces you need!) and free talks (on a first come first served basis).

The speaker list has a number of well known speakers, for instance,  Dr Paul Abel gave a very interesting talk at Astrofest 2019 on "Visual Observations of the planets" will be present addressing "Observing Venus: A Guide for Visual Observer".

If interested you can find the full lowdown at the website......

https://practicalastroshow.com

It will be interesting to compare this Show to Astrofest 2019.

Hope to see some of you there. 

Adrian

[djpaul]

It's on my door step so I'm going. ?

[michaelmorris]

Hi Adrian

Long time no see.  How are you?

There is already a discussion about this event here

 

[Jkulin]

You mean this one: -

 

[Adrian Condon]

Hi Michael,

I am in good health, trust you are too. I am hoping to attend SGL Lucksall when it does not clash with the Galloway Star Party.

I searched the SGL site for PAS 2019 earlier today, I did not see it, so I thought that members would be interested in a "Free" show given some of the comments related to Astrofest 2019.

I plan to go, if you can make it, it would be great to meet up, even if we have to drink cider!

I met some SGL members at Astrofest. 

Anyway, it is great to hear from you.

Clear skies needed.....

Adrian

 

[Adam J]

Ill be attending. :)

[michaelmorris]

Me too.  I have no idea how they are doing it for free. My guess (and it's only a guess) is that this year is a loss leader to gauge interest.

[Anne S]

I'm going to be there, and Jim. We'll be looking at mounts, he's promised me a new one! Probably a CEM60ec.

Hopefully see some people there.

[Adrian Condon]

Hi Anne,

Looking at the list of exhibitors you should be able to make a choice from a good selection of mounts that hopefully they will bring.

The Celestron stand run by Adam Hinds had a great selection of mounts at Astrofest 2019.

Hope to meet some SGL members there.

Adrian

 

 

 

[djpaul]

The practical astronomy show will be my first visit to a show. 

My question is do vendors usually have a discount on the day at most shows?

If so is it on all items or certain items?

 

[michaelmorris]

1 hour ago, djpaul said:

The practical astronomy show will be my first visit to a show. 

My question is do vendors usually have a discount on the day at most shows?

If so is it on all items or certain items?

 

Do vendors usually have a discount on the day at most shows? - Some do, some don't.

If so is it on all items or certain items? - If discounts are offered, nowadays, it's most commonly only on specific lines. 

I suspect that the advert of internet shopping has served to drive down profit margins, meaning that there is less margin for retailers to play than there used to be.

[Guest]

some may do on certain items. You have to remember the margins in the astronomy game are not that high so even 10-15% may be difficult for some, especially at a show where there are other costs to be taken into account..

 

Owen

[heliumstar]

I would think that for some astro equipment the margins are quite high. Expensive eyepieces anyone? Higher priced cameras

[garryblueboy]

I’ll be there 

[michaelmorris]

On 22/02/2019 at 20:51, heliumstar said:

I would think that for some astro equipment the margins are quite high. Expensive eyepieces anyone? Higher priced cameras

Yes, but their volumes will be correspondingly low.  There are two basic retail strategies - Low volume with high margins, or high volume with low margins.  The holy grail is, of course, high volumes and high margins (i.e. Apple).