+1
If the price isn't posted I tend to pass on by. Not just the expo, but LFS too and really anything I buy. I like to judge if it's worth the cost to me before I start talking about care and feeding. It's just the way I am.
What's Your Experience at the Expo and What Did You Score?
- Thread starter hzheng33
- Start date
+1
If the price isn't posted I tend to pass on by. Not just the expo, but LFS too and really anything I buy. I like to judge if it's worth the cost to me before I start talking about care and feeding. It's just the way I am.
Lots of great constructive criticism here. Some of the items mentioned were actually attempted but some we never even thought of to be truthful. So, if I may, let me try to address some of them.
1. Directions to the site. You can point the finger at me for that one all day long. While we did post numerous times that it would be in Event Hall C, it never occurred to me that it would be hard to find or that we should have put out sign. Total brain fart on my part.
2. Number of vendors. This has multiple contributing factors. The biggest one is Atlanta's reputation. I am not pointing fingers or laying blame but only relaying what I heard from many that we reached out to. "People in Atlanta don't show up and the ones that do don't spend any money". Some of the ones I spoke to at the end of the day though said it isn't just Atlanta. The market is saturated and reefers know they can get most of this stuff from other reefers.
3. Timing. With our current by-laws we are kind of up a creek with no paddle. What do by-laws have to do with it? Well, each year we have a new crop of Board members start on Jan 1. My first contact to possible venues started before I even took office. Sure I found some reasonably priced locations but they were book for the weekends that didn't conflict with other nearby competing swaps. If we have a reputation of not spending money, they will go to the other swaps over ours if it is the same weekend. In addition, we need to provide more than just coral vendors. Or at least I thought we did. Our attempt to boost attendance was to offer two of the biggest names in the hobby as our speakers. We hoped it would pull in people who otherwise would have stayed home. Considering only about 15 people showed up to listen to the two of them I guess we were wrong. Wish we had put the costs associated with speakers to better use in hindsight.
4. What and how vendors sell. That is out of our control. These folks rent a booth for a fee. We can't dictate what, how or when they sell other than the doors open at Noon and close at 6:00. The fact is, three vendors actually wanted money back from there rent because sales were so low.
5. Which vendors should we have. I made my first contact seeking vendors before I even took office. I worked for a solid 5+ months rounding them up. 2 weeks before the event only half the booths were rented. I was panicking as I was supposed to have a final list to the venue the next day. Prior to that, Fransisco would drop everything and redo the flyer every time a single new vendor signed on. I worked a deal with one of the largest national forums for a banner ads posted on that forum and continually posted in a thread I created. Fortunately, the last 2 weeks people jumped on board and we were able to fill all but a couple booths. The venue bent the rules to accommodate us.
6. Local vendor participation. Starting in Feb I reached out to every one of our local sponsors multiple times. One of them was the first booth we rented. The other was one of the last because I kept working on him until he agreed. He broke even. Other local sponsor said no and some not only said no but offered up some of their biggest sales of the year and offered food and prizes to those who came to shop. While I love to see our sponsor do well, and I will always do my best to promote them, I was a little tough to see them trying to draw our attendance base away from us. We have one day a year that we, as a club, compete with them. The remainder of the year we encourage our members to support them.
So where do we go from here? Well in my mind one of the best things we could do is start planning next year now. But, my term in office ends December 31st. Our by-laws will not allow me to seek re-election. So if I plan the whole event and the incoming BoD doesn't like what I did, we have a problem. Therefore, a new BoD will have a very tough time moving the date forward and finding a venue. A tougher time still getting quality vendors and speakers in that short of time frame.
In closing, I will say this, for the remainder of the year I will do my best to come up with answers to these problems.
Thanks for listening.
Rich
1. Directions to the site. You can point the finger at me for that one all day long. While we did post numerous times that it would be in Event Hall C, it never occurred to me that it would be hard to find or that we should have put out sign. Total brain fart on my part.
2. Number of vendors. This has multiple contributing factors. The biggest one is Atlanta's reputation. I am not pointing fingers or laying blame but only relaying what I heard from many that we reached out to. "People in Atlanta don't show up and the ones that do don't spend any money". Some of the ones I spoke to at the end of the day though said it isn't just Atlanta. The market is saturated and reefers know they can get most of this stuff from other reefers.
3. Timing. With our current by-laws we are kind of up a creek with no paddle. What do by-laws have to do with it? Well, each year we have a new crop of Board members start on Jan 1. My first contact to possible venues started before I even took office. Sure I found some reasonably priced locations but they were book for the weekends that didn't conflict with other nearby competing swaps. If we have a reputation of not spending money, they will go to the other swaps over ours if it is the same weekend. In addition, we need to provide more than just coral vendors. Or at least I thought we did. Our attempt to boost attendance was to offer two of the biggest names in the hobby as our speakers. We hoped it would pull in people who otherwise would have stayed home. Considering only about 15 people showed up to listen to the two of them I guess we were wrong. Wish we had put the costs associated with speakers to better use in hindsight.
4. What and how vendors sell. That is out of our control. These folks rent a booth for a fee. We can't dictate what, how or when they sell other than the doors open at Noon and close at 6:00. The fact is, three vendors actually wanted money back from there rent because sales were so low.
5. Which vendors should we have. I made my first contact seeking vendors before I even took office. I worked for a solid 5+ months rounding them up. 2 weeks before the event only half the booths were rented. I was panicking as I was supposed to have a final list to the venue the next day. Prior to that, Fransisco would drop everything and redo the flyer every time a single new vendor signed on. I worked a deal with one of the largest national forums for a banner ads posted on that forum and continually posted in a thread I created. Fortunately, the last 2 weeks people jumped on board and we were able to fill all but a couple booths. The venue bent the rules to accommodate us.
6. Local vendor participation. Starting in Feb I reached out to every one of our local sponsors multiple times. One of them was the first booth we rented. The other was one of the last because I kept working on him until he agreed. He broke even. Other local sponsor said no and some not only said no but offered up some of their biggest sales of the year and offered food and prizes to those who came to shop. While I love to see our sponsor do well, and I will always do my best to promote them, I was a little tough to see them trying to draw our attendance base away from us. We have one day a year that we, as a club, compete with them. The remainder of the year we encourage our members to support them.
So where do we go from here? Well in my mind one of the best things we could do is start planning next year now. But, my term in office ends December 31st. Our by-laws will not allow me to seek re-election. So if I plan the whole event and the incoming BoD doesn't like what I did, we have a problem. Therefore, a new BoD will have a very tough time moving the date forward and finding a venue. A tougher time still getting quality vendors and speakers in that short of time frame.
In closing, I will say this, for the remainder of the year I will do my best to come up with answers to these problems.
Thanks for listening.
Rich
In regards to your number 3, maybe the fall would work to give that new board more time to get ready while still avoiding some of the busier times.
In addition, many groups will make an event committee which could include board and other members so that you could begin earlier and have some carry over from year to year and be able to start even before your new board is elected each time. Just an idea based on other groups and annual events.
In addition, many groups will make an event committee which could include board and other members so that you could begin earlier and have some carry over from year to year and be able to start even before your new board is elected each time. Just an idea based on other groups and annual events.
+1
I agree
this...
Also... the only reason i went to the expo, spent the $$$ i did was because Rit told me OF THE EXPO.
So lets not finger point. I believe if the expo was before the spring when things arent warming up and needing care (kids, lawn, home renovations, etc) you would have had a better turn out.
You were also competing with the gwinnett fair that day (which my kids went to).
Rit is an outstanding store owner and a fellow hobbyist. he's helped me out multiple times and I do not believe the intention of his sales was to "draw away the crowd".
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Guys, the point was that he had one of, if not the busiest, booths at the expo last year. It would have been nice to see him there as a vendor again this year to support "The Atlanta Reef Club Expo". If Rit can bring the people out to his store, then he can bring them out to the expo. This, along with other sponsors doing the same, could have greatly helped with the attendance issue.
For example, I have heard great things about Reef Shac but have kept putting off a trip out to check out his store. It was great seeing him there interacting with club members and other fellow Georgia reefers. I spent just as much money there as I did at any of the other "big" out of state vendors.
as opposed to telling his customers at the store of the expo and where/when it was?
I had no idea until he mentioned it to me. I registered as an ARC member and went there that day with my wife.
I find it incredibly difficult to put this on a sponsor. Even if you did. Lets play devil's advocate. How many did he "steal"? You see where i am coming from?
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<span style="font-size: 16px">STOP!</span>
BOTH SIDES HAVE GREAT POINTS!
Rit, everyone knows you and you know ARC! You know every year is a different leadership, so I hate it that you got burned last year and have some well deserved "salt in the mouth", you also know it's a new ARC! Don't hold grudges!
it's all good! :shades:
Also, you are all screwing up my sale of giant colonies posted here:
http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1033589#post1033589">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1033589#post1033589</a>
so, take a deep breath and check it out! lol
BOTH SIDES HAVE GREAT POINTS!
Rit, everyone knows you and you know ARC! You know every year is a different leadership, so I hate it that you got burned last year and have some well deserved "salt in the mouth", you also know it's a new ARC! Don't hold grudges!
it's all good! :shades:
Also, you are all screwing up my sale of giant colonies posted here:
http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1033589#post1033589">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1033589#post1033589</a>
so, take a deep breath and check it out! lol
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Dude, chill out, this doesn't need to be a drama thread. I'm sorry but I don't see where you are coming from. Since you quoted me, please show me exactly where I said that he was "stealing" business from the expo, show me....
My whole point, if i must state it again, was that he, along with many other sponsors, could have come out to promote the club's event. You all do realize that we had 2 sponsors there that were not even selling anything!
Lol, yes Ralph, I am done now. I will now resume my awe over that beast of a duncan you have for sale.:up:
Rit is the owner of his store and how he runs the store is his business. if I recall, Premier Aquatics also had a sale for their Facebook followers. dos that mean they also tried to pull the crowd from the expo? I really hope there's no bad blood in this thread
Holley?
