As the year marches on we continue our series An Eye on the Calendar and for July we are talking to Dan Leyland of MAD Events, organiser of the largest vetted fair outside London, one of the cornerstones of the antiques trade calender, held 3 times a year - Art & Antiques for Everyone

Dan is a popular and well known figure in the antiques trade having worked for Clarion Events for a number of years and, with his business partner Marisa Beckman, took the opportunity to acquire the venerable 'NEC' as it is known in the trade, in 2019.  An avid art collector and experienced front of house man across the hospitality trade globally, Dan was recently interviewed by the new tech company Ronati currently making waves in the antiques trade by launching exciting tech products which save antiques dealers time and money. Watch the video here: Dan Leyland - Ronati

Dan Leyland - An Eye on the Calendar

ANF:  Tell us when you started in the business? 

DL: I started working with the Olympia fairs in 2010.

ANF:Was this your first job or did you come from another industry?

DL: I was always in the events industry apart from early on in the 90’s when I ran pubs. I also had a pizza restaurant for 5 years in South London. I ran events all over the world including, Sweden, Ukraine, Russia and India.

ANF:What was the journey to your current role?

DL: Having run the NEC triennial shows for Clarion before, when they came up for sale in 2019 I thought I’d give it another go.

ANF: There is no denying or escaping the fact that fair organisers and the dealers who exhibit, particularly those on the circuit, have been hit very hard in the current crisis.  What are your thoughts and plans for when we come out the other side? Do you have anything special planned to celebrate your return?

DL: We have launched an online fair to open at the time we would’ve opened our door to the summer edition of A&AFE. Our November fair we are hoping, will be very much business as usual and we have a long waiting list of eager exhibitors keen to get back in the thick of it.

ANF:Is there anything you will do differently in your business in general when we get through this crisis?

DL: Luckily, our venue allows us the luxury of really being able to spread out so we are looking at widening aisles and blank panels between stands. The benefit of using a world class venue like the NEC is that their protocol and safety standards will be second to none with hand santisers etc everywhere. We will also hopefully be able to guarantee the car park next to the hall for extra convenience for our vistors.

ANF:How are you keeping in contact with your exhibitor client base during lockdown?  Have you been able to offer any exposure via your social media platforms?

DL: The Online Showcase which will open on the website 16 - 19 July, when the Summer Fair would have opened, has given us plenty of engagement with our large exhibitor data base.  We have made the platform easy to use and it offers scope for all participating exhibitors to have their own landing page which is more or less a mini website for them to showcase some stock they would have brought to the real life fair and promote and drive traffic to their own websites which of course be in tip top order after all the spring cleaning that dealers will have done during lockdown.  We have invested in some serious software and office hours because we will keep the option to use the section as part of the Art & Antiques for Everyone website so we can be use it for special exhibitions and promotions going forward!

Working with amazing dealers like Mark Hill and celebrity designer Kelli Ellis, who is now part of the UK EU Ronati team, offers us that much needed boost with a heavy social media following which makes all the difference in bringing an event like this to high visibility.

ANF: How are you running your business from home? Do you have any tips for colleagues?

DL: Cocktail hour always helps just as long as it doesn’t get earlier and earlier every day! Don’t push yourself too hard but try and get a slot twice a day where you dedicate an hour each time to focus on what you always wanted to achieve but never had the time when you were previously packing for a fair, unpacking from a fair, on a buying trip or delivering stock.

ANF: What feedback are you getting from your exhibitor clients during the Covid pandemic?  How are they surviving without the fairs taking place?

DL: Many have had the opportunity to have a look at what they’ve got in their showrooms and see how they are going to market themselves when we re-emerge. Online business is going to be the future for the next 2 months and with it being so easy to build a simple website, using a few images and some contact details, now is the obvious time.

ANF: From the feedback we have from dealers there is a reasonable amount of business happening in the domestic market where delivery or storage is an option but export sales are less easy.  Would you agree from your conversations with clients? 

DL: Yes. The export market will be very tough for the next few months I would imagine. 

ANF:We usually ask our correspondents what they do to relax from their busy schedule but maybe we can ask how you spend your time during lockdown? 

DL: There’s only a certain amount of time you can clean out the shed! The garden has never looked so good as I’ve had time to tend to it. Luckily my kids are grown up so I’ve not had to home school anyone.