With 60 stands compared to last year’s 48 and visitors praising the ‘buzz’ of this year’s event at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, the bar has been set very high for the NPTA’s 30th event in 2023.
The seminar space proved a star attraction as usual, with CPD points aplenty earned.
“It’s been a really fantastic show,” said NPTA chief operating officer Steve Hallam.
“Every stand has been visited and the feedback from all of the exhibitors has been really positive.
“They’ve all spoken about the opportunity to meet people new and and old, the ability to actually talk to people and get really effective feedback about products and new opportunities.
“This year we’ve had 60 stands compared to 48 last year, so we’ve really increased the number and next year we’ll hope to go even better for our 30th anniversary, 30 years of PestTech.”
Steve added:
“The seminars have been absolutely brilliant, all credit to John Hope (NPTA technical manager) and to our seminar speakers. My sincere thanks go to them.
“We’re looking forward to more of the same. The industry is changing rapidly and more of these seminars and training sessions is always needed.
“The information we put out at events like this is to the point and it’s been well received by the delegates.”
Edialux’s Sophie Thorogood kicked the seminars off with ‘Foes Since The Beginning; The Bedbug’ and was followed by Alan Buckle’s CRRU stewardship update.
Matt Davies from Killgerm’s seminar ‘Emerging Insect Species’ was inevitably popular. ‘Pest Risk Mitigation’ by Pestwise’s Oliver Madge and Sharon Hughes from BASF on Rodenticide Baits, Different Baiting Regimes and Label Directions were very well attended, as was Bayer’s Tim Peeling’s talk on digital pest management.
Star of the show was undoubtedly Benji the detection dog, who performed a practical demonstration with handler Brian Leith as part of Richard Naylor’s presentation for the Bed Bug Foundation.
The event was made possible thanks to our key supporters Killgerm, BASF, Syngenta and LodiUK, whose own stands were key attractions throughout the day.
Lodi’s national business development manager for pest control, Matt Towler, said:
“In terms of events, this is one of the best events of the year. We always have a very good turn-out.
“The buzz here is very, very good. I don’t want to slate any other events but this, to me, is probably one of the biggest events of the year and probably one of the best. We get a constant flow of people.
“I’ve had a lot of positive feedback for our products, for the stand, but also for the event itself, for the venue and for what’s going on with the NPTA.”
The BASF stand was popular with discussions both about their product Selontra but also the future of the pest control industry.
“We’ve had a good amount of traffic to the stand and had some great discussions,” said BASF’s Jen Heppenstall.
“It’s been brilliant to talk about how people have been getting on with Selontra and we’ve had some really positive chats.
“We’ve been talking to pest technicians, pest controllers, about what they see as the key challenges in 2023 and it’s been really good to get their different perspectives.”
Sean Loakes, Syngenta’s technical manager for the UK and Ireland, said: “It’s been a really, really amazing show.
“It’s such a good show to come to and speak to the people who are actually using the products, and getting a feel for how everything is going.
“We’ve really enjoyed it. The stand has been really busy, it’s been great. There’s a really good vibe and really good connections that people are making here.”
Killgerm’s midlands technical manager Avril Turner echoed those sentiments.
“It’s been really good, really busy and it’s nice to see everybody,” she said.
“It definitely feels relaxed and it’s good to hear of people being really busy, but taking the time out to come to the show as well is really nice.
“It’s good to hear that people are doing really well. I haven’t heard of anybody saying ‘it’s slow, trade isn’t good’. Everybody’s having good trade and that’s obviously good for Killgerm as well.”
Visitors also provided very positive feedback as the sun set in Milton Keynes.
“It’s been very good,” said Darren McArthur from BioPest.
“I come every year and it’s very educational. Being at home, learning on Skype, it’s not very good. Just interacting with people again is very good.
“I’ve been to all of the seminars; that’s mainly why I come, for the education.
“Understanding new, up-to-date legislation with CRRU and stuff like that, finding out what’s going on with it.”
James Shaw from Instant Pest Solutions said:
“It’s my first time and I enjoyed myself, it’s been really good and I’m glad I came.
“I read a lot of magazines about the new equipment that’s out and stuff like that, but it’s nice to see a lot of it first-hand as well.”
After a fantastic day and with huge thanks to Steve, John, Donna, Maxine and our team of volunteers, the daunting task of delivering an even better event for our 30th PestTech starts now!
