BETT 2022 was great. Despite interminable Covid and controversy over the Russian business of owner Hyve, I think exhibitors and attendees were overjoyed to feel life was returning to normal.
It was the feeling I saw in Feb 2021 when a virtual attendee at the Sydney Morning Herald Schools Summit, watching people in a normal in-person conference session while the UK was in strict lockdown.
What does the future hold for BETT and was it a success? From my perspective, looking at new ideas and meeting founders, it was so-so, with only one standout in the Futures Zone was s[AI]naptic (who recently raised £500k led by Brighteye Ventures).
Numbers were down and the absence of teachers was particularly noticeable. No doubt this was partly Covid-related as schools are still being hard hit, but is it a harbinger of BETT’s relevance to educators? When I first went to BETT twenty years ago, it was a smaller dynamic trade show, focused on the needs of educators and showcasing edtech. BETT 2022 was vast in comparison, with ten Zones, eight key Themes and multiple sessions over three days. Yes, there is more thought leadership, more talks and mini-events, but BETT’s mission creep has made it an almost unmanageable behemoth for visitors as well as unaffordable and increasingly irrelevant to many exhibitors. What overwhelms is the choice paradox. While there is a good website, a decent guide and an app, it seems that few people use these effectively, making their BETT visits less focused and less relevant.
As a trade show, BETT works fine for larger companies who meet with partners and vendors, but for educators and others interested in edtech (BETT is ‘the British Educational Training and Technology’ show) it is less relevant as it now includes thought leadership (LearnIT), a schools event (the old Education Show) and a quasi HE/FE gig (Ahead).
Add to this Hyve’s global aspirations, with events in Asia (Thailand) and Brazil this year, and you have a brand pushing past the bounds of relevance. Taking a successful show and making it ever bigger may be the business model for listed event companies like Hyve, whose share prices have been crushed by Covid, but I’m not sure it’s either smart or sustainable. If I were Hyve’s directors I’d be paying close attention to Australian company Terrapin, who have two mid-sized physical edtech shows this year (Australia and Netherlands) along with eight virtual ones. Terrapin learned an expensive lesson when they launched a BETT competitor several years ago; it failed dismally, in part due to the conference organiser deciding a £50k fee to Sir Ken Robinson for a self-aggrandizing keynote was better than supporting the real stars of the event, like Rachel Whitfield. Her packed (unpaid) session about practical gamification in the classroom ended with a standing ovation. This put Terrapin off the edu sector for several years, but they are back with a growing portfolio of events, mainly online. I attended one last year and it was free, with excellent speakers and panels, and you could dip in and out of the sessions, all of which were recorded.
So, BETT 2023 will go ahead, but if it keeps bloating then it will become even more irrelevant and vulnerable to competitors. I think they should dump LearnIT (and the new hybrid BETT/LearnIT online event in June ConnectED); I have serious concerns about giving teachers a ‘free’ £1k ticket and expenses in return for eight mandatory meetings with sponsors and have the same for (it’s a similar, but slightly differently pitched quid pro quo to attend ConnectED).
The BETT Futures was terrible. A major sponsor like AWS may pay the bills but it’s a pyrrhic victory if you end up with lots of woeful stands, almost none of which said succinctly, ‘here is what we do and these are the problems we solve’. The original Futures Zone, created by Ty Goddard and Ian Fordham, was a huge success but since their departure I could never recommend it as a worthwhile investment (in money or time) to any early-stage edtech company. (Aside: AWS giving ten year-old companies a free stand in this zone is a bad joke.)
The best thing BETT could do is provide low-cost concierge service using real people. I’d pay £20 to have my visit curated and so I suspect would many others, even schools. BETT’s owners won’t ditch their international plans and prices will no doubt jump at least 10% in 2023. That ‘s not a sustainable model for an event intended to connect educators with edtech.
As for BETT 2023, my guess is that the smartest companies will follow the growing trend of not taking expensive exhibition space and instead booking hotel suites throughout Excel to meet customers and clients. Will you be at BETT 2023?
