Do they talk?
Last month I was reading about Crufts dog show held at the NEC Birmingham each year. Organised by the Kennel Club, their year 2000 Show also held in March, enjoyed the second ever largest entry of more than 21,600 dogs over three days, the previous second largest being in 1999. Certain parts of the show were sold out well in advance, thousands attended and it received extensive television cover. Next year they can expect even more entries as for the first time, dogs from certain overseas countries are also eligible to enter.
At a recent society meeting, Ghalib Al-Nasser was presenting details about the forthcoming convention. He was telling the assembled group of what good value it is with free trips, free show entries, free lectures etc. etc. In fact it sounded so good I am most surprised to hear that it is not totally sold out. That aside, the intention was for Ghalib and I to have a ‘head to head’ in the remaining 45 minutes of the meeting. My first question was simply, knowing the huge success of the recent Crufts Dog Show and the fact that they can expect a sharp rise in the future, what did he think they were doing right, which the budgerigar hobby was doing wrong?
This led to such a discussion that no further questions were asked. Ghalib suggested the problems lie in perception and public image. It sounds very impressive when you tell colleagues you breed pedigree dogs and the questions which follow are usually associated with showing, size of litters etc. Whereas if you tell a person you breed budgerigars, the first question they ask is, "Do they talk?" The public’s perception of bird breeders is quite frankly, hick.
Promotion
A fancier present made the observation that while giving away all these things at the convention sounds very attractive, surely it would have been better to charge and then use the money to promote the hobby in general as well as the convention? This was evidently something that had not been considered by the organisers.
It was generally agreed the majority of effort in promoting the hobby is carried out within the hobby. In other words, preaching to the converted. What we need to do is be seen at other events. Also, while it is excellent to have sponsorship from seed merchants and other hobby related manufacturers, what is wrong with other companies outside of the hobby? An analogy can be drawn with the sport of Motor Racing – how many non-motor related sponsors are see adorning the sports cars with their logos.
In the UK we are indeed fortunate to have the likes of Geoff Capes, who not only has celebrity status but is also a good marketing man in his own right and Royston Simpson, again a professional PR man. In my view, it will be an achievement if we hold ground in so far as numbers in the hobby are concerned. However, wouldn’t it be great if we could boast similar success to Crufts.
The Worst Is Over
Last month I reported our poor start to the breeding season. Fortunately we have worked our way through this period and things are much improved. A phone call from Geoff Murrells suggested that much of people’s early problems were down to the Millennium celebration and the numerous fireworks over several nights disturbed the birds breeding activities; they were too busy watching the fireworks I suppose! While this may have been the case in some areas of the country, most of the festivities were well away from where we live and so hardly likely to have caused our problems. I think it was Mother Nature showing us firmly, who is in control.
Certainly mixed results are the order of the day around the country but this is no different to other years but it must be difficult for some fanciers to sustain the enthusiasm after several seasons of disappointment.
News of the new Budgerigar Society property is good to hear, having taken possession and moved in at the beginning of this month. A sound investment for the hobby with no further rent to pay, which all said and done is lost money. I am also sure the society staff will benefit from much improved working conditions.
I was discussing the various rules of the hobby with Phil Proctor, who has recently taken over the job of Patronage Secretary of the Clearwing Budgerigar Breeders Association. He gave me the quote of the year so far: "Rules – for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise people." Send in your quotes and how they relate to the hobby and we’ll publish them.