The PPS Show goes off with a bang!

This week saw the PPS Show at Olympia. With over 4,500 visitors, it was a pretty successful affair.

On the ground floor were the Landlord section and also a first in that they hosted a live auction. On the first floor as you went up the escalators you were greeted by a huge stand for both Zoopla and Vebra/CFP/CORE. The whole floor was spilt into the EPC / Energy Assessor village as well as the Estate and Letting Agent show.

It was a great opportunity to catch up with old friend and colleagues and all of the major suppliers to the industry.

Estate Agent Today and Taybroke were sponsors of the bar area (naturally) where we got to catch up with many agents over a coffee (or something stronger). A number of exhibitors I spoke to said they had made some really great contacts and prospects in fact Eurolink did a great deal at the show and are busy working through over  160 new contacts and nearly 40 sales leads following the Property Professional Show at London’s Olympia.

Iceberg Digital said that they had enough leads on day one to make the whole two days worthwhile. To top it all Mark Burgess MD of Iceberg won an award on the evening of the first night for best use of technology, for his innovative agent branded magazine.

Moving around the exhibition, I met up with Photoplan  and SO.MM Box who were both exhibiting there socialising media product for Estate Agents –something that all agents need to embrace.

Real property tours had some fantastic 3D and HD gadgetry on offer, I could have sat there all day watching the promo videos.

Clear Group were out in force with Ed, Brad and Lisa looking fantastic. little did they know at the time they would become award winners on the night.

I met up with the lovely Isobel from NALS who is keen to promote becoming a licensed firm a head of their conference in October.

Other software firms including Estates IT and Agent Pro and as well as Key Agent  who also won a gong on the night!

The NAEA and ARLA had a presence there too with Peter Bolton King doing a presentation to a packed house on the first day. And it was great to see the guys from Rightmove there too.

One noticeable stand was from Midwest Displays who practically set up a shop front at the show (so big that the ceiling had to be lifted).

Dave Hunt from Live Letting Exchange was looking dapper alongside the fantastic Kate Maddison.

The guys from Tax Doctor were really on form and were ready for a big night at The Gorsvenor at the end of day one.

Having spoken to Home Move Box at length, Jonathan (pictured) told me they had signed 30 agents by the end of day one.

Finally the lovely ladies from ARPM the outsourced letting solutionscompany were inundated with enquiries from agents looking for a one stop shop for their letting needs.

The PPS Awards

The PPS Awards held at The Gorsvenor House Hotel on Park Lane at the end of day one was a fusion of Dragons Den meets X-Factor. All of the award nominees had previously been filmed pitching their product or service to a panel of real life dragons. We had to critique each pitch and winners were announced on the evening.

Jamie Lester star of the apprentice did a fantastic job of hosting the show, supported by his 8 month pregnant wife in the wings. 

Singers from the X-Factor, Tracy Cohen and Katie Waissel opened and closed the show. The innovative format of dragons den meets x-factor was a refreshing change to the normal, tedious awards ceremonies. 

The estate agent and Letting Agent Today team were out in full force with glad rags and glitter, high heels and handbags and that was just Paul (Peter Andre look alike standing next to Shane Ward look alike Jamie Lester!)

The guys from Clear and Zoopla joined the Angels team for a photo opportunity on the steps at the Grosvenor

A great night had by all.

And finally it wouldn’t be complete without a mention and thank you to the main man Alex Taylor!

...and the winner is

Estate Agent Today would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of our winners and finalists and thank everyone who took part in this year's PPS Show.