A Beginner's Guide to EICMA

A Lesson's Learned review of my first trip to the world's largest motorcycle show.

All the EICMA old-hands are telling me that this first show since the Corona pandemic is smaller than a “proper” EICMA; but I can tell you, it seemed pretty big to me!

It being my first experience, I thought I would make a blog about the whole visitor experience, before I delve deep into reviews of the bikes and tech on display itself in a subsequent blog.

This was my first experience of EICMA, the world’s largest motorcycle show. It surprises me how a visit has eluded me so far, since I have worked in the motorcycle industry all my career! However, having spent the last 20 years being based in the UK or India, Milan was never on my doorstep. Triumph kindly always gave us free passes to Motorcycle live in Birmingham, for our annual show fix, but only the Chief Engineers got the pleasure of a trip to Italy. We had to make do with the PPT of essential benchmarking.

In fact, I loved going to motorcycle live in the UK. When we’d launched a new product, the design team were offered the chance to work on the show stand, answering customer queries and giving customers more info and insight than the sales team could / or would. It was our only chance after working on the product?for 3 years in secrecy to be face-to-face with the passionate customers who would been eagerly waiting the launches to see and touch the bikes for the first time.?It was a good reminder that the bikes we had become so familiar, even bored with over the past years, was in fact new and unseen to rest of the world! Focusing only on tolerance stacks, drawings and CAD, it is easy for the more junior engineers to lose sight that the product they are making is someone’s pride and joy.?It makes such a difference to your own motivation to experience this. Also, as my sons grew up, it was the only real chance to show them what Daddy did at work all day, I have loads of pictures on my mantle piece of my cute little lads clambering on top of the latest superbikes.

Anyway, I digress with this nostalgia. After 2 decades in the industry, this was my first taste of THE motorcycle show. Yes, the pandemic and difficulties of travel had diminished the offering, but at least it was back on. ?Having moved back to Europe in the summer I was not going to miss it. It was notable that large brands such as BMW, Harley, and Ducati were absent. None of the Indian contingent were there other than Royal Enfield. No Ola, despite being the newest India player on the scene. Perhaps even more surprising; No Norton! despite their recent relaunch. I guess time will tell if corona has hastened the demise of the traditional show format, or if this is just a temporary corona related blip.

The depleted offering still managed to fill 5 large halls and a large outdoor demonstration area. I found that the 2 days I had planned were not enough to get around it all.

First of my lessons learned is don’t underestimate the time it takes to get there! It took near about 10 hours to get from my home in the UK to the show. In my head Italy is only 2 hours away! Perhaps I should have splashed out on a taxi from Bergamo, but it pains me to pay upwards of 75 euro on ride that costs 12 euro on public transport. But this did enforce a lengthy detour via Milano Centrale and an extra hour onto my journey time. On any other day I would have been happy to have spent the time to see this impressive building, but this time I was keen to get to the show. After a 4am start, a drive, flight, bus ride and 2 metro trains, I finally arrived at Rho Fiera Milano and crossed the turnstiles at 3pm Italian time and my feet were already complaining! That’s got to be lesson 2, forget those smart shoes, go comfy, you’ll be clocking up mileage!

Third lesson, pick up the show guide, or take a compass! It was so disorientating in the halls. Once in and amongst the stands, it was hard to find the exit and doors between halls. ?Halls 13/15 and 22/24 were also in pairs it was sometimes hard to know which hall you were in; the signs were not always obvious. I was happy to wander around a little aimlessly the first day, and take it all in, after all, I only really had a couple of hours. I got a lot more out of the second day when I took a show guide back to the hotel and plotted a route though all the Vendors and brands I wanted to see. With the guide in hand, it became apparent that the avenues between the stalls were in alphabetical order, it became much easier to figure where the front of the hall was and therefore for the exits to the central connecting area!

Fourth lesson: Get there early. Yes, the show is open until 1800, but from 1700 the stands were starting to wind down. In the winter it gets dark early, so if you want to take in the outside action arenas, you need to do that early afternoon at the latest.

Fifth Lesson: If you are there for business, try to get in on the trade days. By Thursday a lot of the R&D guys were leaving / had left, and the focus of the show was turning away from B2B to B2C sales. It was still worth coming to see my contacts face-to-face (albeit behind a facemask). Fist bumps instead of handshakes. But on public days you are fighting your way through dense crowds, who were often too busy trying to take a selfie with the latest models (not always 2 wheeled models I should add) to look where they’re going! The same goes if you’re there for Networking, which is the fancy way of saying meeting up with ex colleagues for a beer after the show. All the “Networking Action” was to be had on the trade and press days.

Sixth Lesson:?Thankfully I have a colleague to thank for learning this the hard way, don’t stay in line for 90 minutes in the rain to get a prime spot for meeting your hero Valentino Rossi. Despite the dedication, you’ll still be some way back in the crowd as the “privileged” people rock up just at the start, ushered into a specially cordoned off area directly in front of ‘The Doctor’. So a distance glimpse of the man, is probably not worth the risk of pneumonia!

In summary I felt it was definitely a worthwhile visit to the show.?Even at this smaller than usual scale, it was the biggest motorcycle show I had been to. I saw new brands, new products, and new ideas; despite thinking myself “up to date” with the industry, there was a lot I was made aware of, only at the show.?I saw some contacts for the first time in person and made a bunch more new ones.?I can’t imagine that a barrage of emails to new prospects can be anywhere near as affective as giving a pitch honestly and enthusiastically face to face.

I really hope that post Corona the show will bounce back. I don’t like the idea of a world with virtual shows only; zoom calls being the only face to face interaction we can have. Judging by the crowds and queues for food, queues to get on stands, packed metro to the venue etc, there seems to be strong?public demand too. Maybe it was the fact the show was across less halls, that the crowds were concentrated, and artificially appeared large. However, I expect Covid also caused a reduction in numbers of overseas visitors. I know of some regular attendees amongst my friends in the UK who were skipping the show, due to lack of vaccine passes, PCR requirements ,and/or all the faff that goes with travel in the post Corona world.

The final comment must be regarding the infamous EICMA girls.?I’m not sure that the show is representative of the culture of Italy or the world of motorcycling, but it did seem a bit “last century” in this regard. These days, with the demise of F1 grid girls, Pirelli calendars etc. and the rise in political correctness, it seems a little dated to have scantily clad ladies adorning the bikes. But here in Milan they were in full force. The larger manufacturers are certainly minding the times, and whilst the girls are there on their stands, they are at least dressed! Although few in number, there are also some fine young men on the stands too.?But the old adage is true, the more boring the company or product, the more surgically enhanced?and less dressed the model is.?Whilst putting your brand name on a Lycra clad silicone chest is clearly affective in getting your company logo onto a million camera-phones, I’m not sure it really sells a product. Even if it does bring familiarity to a brand, is it portraying a positive image? It doesn’t offend me, but I know it will some of my friends. I guess it’s a part of the show, and maybe some people come just for that, but I’m not sure it’s a good thing. It’s not how I would want to sell my brand anyway. Maybe it’s a British thing, to not appreciate this approach; it was notable how Royal Enfield and Triumph did not go in for such antics, or maybe it’s just that their products speak for themselves.

Overall, a great experience. EICMA is an event that I think every motorcycle design engineer should plan to visit, and soon in case it does get diminished in size in the same ways as other automotive industry shows have in recent years. Myself, I’ll definitely be back next year, but hopefully on trade day, and with much more comfortable shoes on!