No one could be better prepared for an adventure than a visitor to the National Outdoor Expo!
Our bright green stand and our new team of Ambassadors made a unique draw for outdoor lovers to venture into Birmingham NEC. The best maps, guides, groups, outdoor ambassadors and brands were right there -even if you only came to stand D66!
Our Adventure Ambassadors
Our Adventure Ambassadors loved meeting everyone, sharing their unique perspectives on maps and the future of wayfinding and proving that Adventure is for Anyone Anywhere.
SplashMaps Labs
On hand and (now) fully qualified with jobs in blue-chip companies, our Southampton graduate electrical engineers were on hand to demo SplashMaps Labs’ eTextile map prototypes. Here Ben and Mario are on the case with a revitalised eSplashMap adapted for Birmingham conditions!
We’ve had some insightful feedback on the future of maps from great outdoors folk.
Anyone completing the future of maps questionnaire gets £5 off their next SplashMap! Great to see our Twitter buddy Paul take advantage when he visited on Sunday.
The Longest Journey Adventure
World record holders Matt and Reece, the sidecar guys, joined us Saturday. They shared experiences of making friends over the Harper Collins world SplashMap as they circumnavigated the globe.
Hiking Adventures in Northern Ireland
Expanding horizons, Petra and Cathy are truly part of the family. The Success of their SplashMaps eco-system in the Mourne Mountains is inspirational to any group hiking and mountain leading company.
The team offered a FREE 2 day hike in the Mourne Mountains for 2 in a draw from any of our customers during the National Outdoor Expo. Lucky ones will be informed…
With awesome branding, the Wild Mountain NI Mourne Mountain SplashMap has proved a boon for the pair who have set their sights on Everest! More maps to come…
Bushcraft Adventurer – Nick Goldsmith
It was almost as if he were there! Bushcraft Adventurer Nick Goldsmith is SplashMaps’ Bushcraft and Wild Camping ambassador. His video, posted a week ahead of the show, was perfectly timed. Wide-eyed and (mostly) bearded, his subscribers made a bee-line to stand D66 to feel what Nick’s been enthusing about in his recent adventures.
Battle Maps
Our collaborative cross-channel SmartT project supports our advances with battle maps too! We work closely with the best battlefield tour guides to make the most insightful and engaging maps of the world’s historic battles, testing styles and content upon the way.
The Western Front
Our efforts to keep these important moments in history alive have not gone unnoticed and it was great to discuss the Western Front Way (1000km of well staked walking trails commemorating WW1 trench warfare) with some star trustees.
The Stickland Way
Our own battle Ambassador, Don Stickland, is the creator of the Stickland way. It commemorates the heroic push by Tank divisions from Normandy Landing beaches to Montormel where German troops were finally forced into retreat. See the Normandy Overview Map here.
The greatest Inspiration at the National Outdoor Expo
But the greatest inspiration on the stand was Brynn Hauxwell. The wheelchair bound teen approached us for a map that would survive his challenge. The whole of Hadrian’s Wall via wheelchair! We were honoured to help out this extraordinary man and his team.
There’s always offers at the SplashMaps stand!
As well as the joy of meeting the guys behind the maps, we always had a lot of unique offers for you, so if you came…
- We sold vouchers for personalised maps, £5 less than online prices including delivery!
- We provided experts to demonstrate eSplashMapsTM prototypes from our SmartT collaboration – There is still a £5 coupon for anyone completing the survey!
- We announced our work with Ramblers to support their leaders – watch this space if you’re a member/ leader!
- You’d have me inspirational ambassadors, experts in hiking, guiding, travelling and designing
- Long distance of local, our destination or challenge SplashMap were all reduced by a fiver too!
Family & friends keep the show on the road
Ceaseless support from family and friends is the only way to make a SplashMaps stand work! Ian and I are knock-out grateful to Claire and Mario for going beyond the brief, building a ‘stand-out’ stand and making things work!
Thanks Sister Claire, ex-OS Boss, Ed and Shareholder, Mike for stepping-in as stand friends – most at the last moment – when Covid hit stand favourite & pilates fanatic John.
If you weren’t lucky enough to meet any of these lovely people, you’ll just have to put up with me until the next show. More to come…
