Michael Bolton
I agree that EM is the way forward, it has been for me since the days of helping Roy Jackson with Gainsborough Central, and with EMGS exhibitions I do agree that the majority of layouts should be EM. However, the EMGS does provide stores for P4 and additional resources so there should be some P4 layouts but certainly not the majority though that is not to diminish the excellent P4 layouts which have been on display but the showcase should be for EM layouts. Variety is also shown with the guest layouts which have been excellent.
The recent ExpoEM in Wakefield had only 2 S4 layout against 7 in EM which was fine by me, with the wonderful Blakey Rigg by Paul Greene in S as the guest layout so the mix was pretty much spot on. I understand that there were also more non members than members through the door but maybe the reasons for that, obviously the excellent layouts but also the wide variety of specialist traders which are not found at many of the exhibitions nowadays and the quality of the demonstrators could be a significant draws.
What might encourage more of the non member visitors to model in EM are relatively small/compact layouts that look achievable relatively easily, there were several at Wakefield and while I was there they had people viewing almost continuously.
Overall my experience has been great and congratulations to the organisers.