Exhibitions have been great attractions for many years. The Great Exhibition of 1851 for example lasted for 6 months and attracted over 6 million visitors, which equates to a third of the population of Great Britain at that time. Why do people go to exhibitions? Not just the big ones like the Great Exhibition or the Festival of Britain in the 1950's but also to smaller more niche exhibitions like home improvement shows.

Certainly for the big exhibitions with exhibits from around the world there is a sense of wonder and a peek into other civilizations, but with a home improvement exhibition there is a sense of enjoying something that is attainable and something that may enrich our lives. If we go to the Ideal Home Exhibition we may not be able to afford to buy anything, but it can feed our imagination and help make our environment more pleasant.

The tie in with television has become more apparent for home improvement exhibitions with the biggest one being the Grand Designs Exhibition. This programme is part advisory and part aspirational television where, as viewers we observe a building project with its consequent pitfalls, (there are always pitfalls as anyone who has anything to do with builders would know), until its ultimate success. During this experience we are on a journey of discovering the outcome and also I we are gaining knowledge and perhaps some hints and tips about how we may make a difference to our own home.

The home improvement exhibitions sponsored by TV programmes like Grand Designs, have allowed for companies within the industry to display their products to an audience who are interested and collected in one place, which save costs on speculative marketing, and allows them to engage directly with potential customers. Perhaps we can realise for example that there is more choice in door design beyond a plain front or a traditional panel version and with different woods and inlays they can add significantly to a modern or traditional room design. Or that a roof does not have to be tiled but can be made of grass as an insulating material (mowing must be a problem though!).

One thing that comes through in all of these programmes is that although the configuration of the house may be different, we still all live in the same way. When we go to sleep we go to the bedroom, when we cook we do it in the kitchen etc., so these shows and the spin off exhibitions give us ideas that may change our living space, but not that much. It is all great entertainment, however, and informative and perhaps going to an exhibition allows us to see in real life what we have experience on the television, or at least a taste of it.

There are many innovative products and concepts that TV programmes, exhibitions and magazines introduce us to, and going to an exhibition allows us to indulge our fantasy a little!