A NEW LOOK AT BOAT SHOWS
Last month our local little league board meet about the need to raise money to keep kids playing baseball. (my 8 yr old son plays and loves it) They needed to do something big. They came up with a sports memrobelia show. I was put in charge of finding a location. I spoke to a number of convention centers and large hotels. Let me get to the point. Convention center cost extremly high, hotels not that bad. But I started to call retail and commercial dead space (huge empty distribution centers and retail space that have not been rented out) I found a few great locations with easy access and the cost was dirt cheap. I was thinking why not move a boat show to one of these huge commercail/ retail dead space. I'm not talking about a large boat show but one of the smaller ones we all seem to exhibit. In my area the Anaheim Boat show in April. This show is mostly made made up of trailerable boats and is lightly attendened. Most of the dealers I spoke with are not going to do as many shows during the year as expected. We all understand the reasons. The most common reason is cost.
I found a dead space the size of the Anaheim boat show off the freeway in a coastal city that is just a few minuts away from Anaheim. Plenty of parking and a nice building, not a dump. The cost would be less than half the cost of renting out a convention center, parking would be free, no unions to deal with and longer setup time. The producer of the show could redirect some of the savings to marketing/advertising and lower the cost to the dealer. Just think the dealer could save money not only on the cost to exhibit but the savings of not using the convetion center union workers and their union equipment.
The producer could offer free parking and a lower ticket cost.
This is a WIN,WIN formula. I am going to approach the SCMA wis this idea. I will let post the response.
"Your mind works better when it's open".
Chris Lyons
Marine Finance Specialist and marine industry free thinker
949-400-9001
I found a dead space the size of the Anaheim boat show off the freeway in a coastal city that is just a few minuts away from Anaheim. Plenty of parking and a nice building, not a dump. The cost would be less than half the cost of renting out a convention center, parking would be free, no unions to deal with and longer setup time. The producer of the show could redirect some of the savings to marketing/advertising and lower the cost to the dealer. Just think the dealer could save money not only on the cost to exhibit but the savings of not using the convetion center union workers and their union equipment.
The producer could offer free parking and a lower ticket cost.
This is a WIN,WIN formula. I am going to approach the SCMA wis this idea. I will let post the response.
"Your mind works better when it's open".
Chris Lyons
Marine Finance Specialist and marine industry free thinker
949-400-9001
Views: 12
Comment
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Comment by Jeff Tellex on October 13, 2011 at 5:18pm -
Chris,
I am not sure if this is going to reach you, but what the heck. I just joined marineindustry.org almost two years after your post. Look up the Dania Marine Flea Market in south Florida. This show has been a huge success for years and it is in, of all places, the Dania Jai Alai (spelling?) parking lot. It is put on by Al Behrendt Enterprises. It is not, however, your typical Boat Show but it does bring in big crowds looking to spend.
Here's hoping you get this and it helps.
Jeff
Atlantic Aluminum & Marine Products
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Comment by Chris Lyons on November 12, 2009 at 8:24am -
Jim - I can finance RV's, Park Models, Airplanes and boats. Thanks for asking.
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Comment by Jim Sabia on November 12, 2009 at 4:23am -
Chris, Do you finance RV's too?
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Comment by Chris Lyons on November 11, 2009 at 4:48pm
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Way to go Jim. If you need a marine finance booth I'll let me know. I'm sure the cost will be almost nothing and with all that money you are saving you must be able to market the hell out of a show like that. Florida, if you don't hook your wagan up to what Jim is doing then your missing the boat.
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Comment by Jeff Scherer on November 11, 2009 at 2:40pm -
Chris:
Circuit City has a lot of empty locations across the country. Everybody local knows where "that Circuit City" location is. I know a local retailer here rented out the store for a month or so to sell Halloween items. I'm sure that those landlords would LOVE to have a boat sale there. This also might provide some dealers in the northern climates some additional indoor real estate.
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Comment by Tony D'Ippolito on November 11, 2009 at 1:59pm -
Coming from the manufacturing side I am in favor of anything that increases retail sales of new boats. Being a former dealer I appreciate the need to find economical ways to bring marine products to the consumer with the potential for profitability for the dealer. It is always nice to have boat shows in a marine environment. However what the dealers need today is an economical way to bring their products to the attention of retail buyers. There are vast amounts of empty retail space available today for these types of events. I hope the show producers take note and listen to the needs of their clients, the dealers.
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Comment by Tim DeVries on November 11, 2009 at 1:12pm -
At the Newport Boat Show they open the gates at 4pm to help with the flow of traffic. I really commend the folks that ran that show for thinking of the exhibitors. They also had parking away from the show with shuttles at a reasonable price so there was plenty of parking.
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Comment by Jim Sabia on November 11, 2009 at 1:00pm
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Great post fellow free thinker! I just made a deal with a local county to use their entire convention for 4 days for $2500.00. There's no reason we shouldn't have great shows with low exhibitor cost and no admission fee for lookers...
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