AMA Expo East
 

I wonder how it will compare with the Convention on the west coast.....I also noticed some major players are missing on the exhibit list.

Word was the west coast one was lightly attended. I can't imagine that with fewer vendors the east coast one will draw more people. I got a personal email invite from my regional VP (3). I can't help but think that's because presale of tickets is lagging.

I'm not going because there's too few sponsors, plus it means two tanks of gas, at least one night in a hotel, and of course meals - ON TOP of a fee to attend. For that much money, I could buy a nice plane or something.

I think one AMA EXPO is plenty.

Mike

This is not a new event that the AMA decide do create. This the WRAM show that has been an annual event for close to 50 years. I guess the AMA decided to buy the event from the Westchester club. It is very well attended every year. I'll be going again this year, it is about an hour north of where I live.

In support of my comment that the west coast one was lightly attended, here's the district 3 VP's own words from the most recent district 3 newsletter ...

"I would like to share some observations from the show. First, consumer attendance was down considerably from previous years. Also, vendor booths were down, most noticeably with Hobbico not in attendance. (emphasis added)"

Correct but it is a new AMA Sponsered event. Which I still have my doubts about and worry about the cost to the organization. Apparently the WRAM event attendance ( both spectator and vendor) just wasn't there to continue on and I'm not sure what made the AMA think that they could do any better with it.
Mike

And this is yet another victim of the internet , the "trade show bargain" that in recent years has proven to really end up being not much of a bargain at all . Like Franklin said , total up the cost to attend the event and then factor that against the (supposed) savings of whatever it is you purchased there and I'll bet that there is a better deal to be had on line for the very same item . And it's not just model airplanes , all kinds of trade shows have lost a bit of their shine in the face of the unbeatable internet deal , so now it's no longer a must attend for the bargain hunters .

I don't know what the AMA thought was gonna bring em in in droves when the real bargains are to be had elsewhere :(

I guess I'm looking at it from my "old school" perspective. I forget that others don't always share my enthusiasm for going out to see the products in person. Since the show has been located in Jersey for about the last 4 or 5 years, I've attended every year, even though I'm not that active in the hobby. I'll continue to go to this and also the Lebanon, PA swap shop.

I think it's great for those who can and want to attend. Some will spend thousands to attend these regardless of whether then save any money. I think our point is that AMA needs to seriously evaluate the money (of ours) that they're spending to sponsor these events for what they get. Unless these are bringing in new members by the truckload, and by all indications they're not (largely members you already "have" attending), the economics of it are in question.

My "retirement part time get out of the house job" is at the LHS so I completely understand your desire to handle new items in person but with vendor participation dropping at these of events along with lack of coverage ( Toledo still gets some though) by the hobby media these shows days are numbered. Things are changing in the hobby and not for the better IMO. Time will tell how all this pans out.

Mike

Spot on. When something isn't working, doing more of the same is generally a poor strategy. But hey, what do we know? We're just part of the "unwashed masses" - not members of the exclusive round table in Muncie.

Gentlemen,
I normally do not participate in the discussions here in the AMA forums, and you all know why. However, since I have direct knowledge to contribute to this one post right here I do want to weigh in and post something that will add into your discussion.

Back "in the day" of print these conventions were "THE PLACE" for everybody to go to announce their new products. The big guys like Hobbico and Horizon would wait for Toledo to roll out new products and would do so in the magazines. And the "little guys" would sell their grandmother to get a booth at the convention and then they would beg, kick, and steal to get a magazine in front of their booth to interview (good) or take a picture (golden). The write-ups in these magazines were what all of us waited for so that we could read about all the new stuff coming out. Then along came the internet and in the infancy of the internet RCU and RC Groups would send teams to the shows and we basically replaced the magazines. The best part was that we were no longer limited by the constraints of print and we could do as many videos of big and little guys as we wanted to, it didn't matter. So we had coverage of lots of everything. And this went on for quite a few years. But then the vendors at these shows started figuring out that they didn't need the magazines, RCU, or RC Groups to announce their products, they could do their own product announcements using the internet. So the importance of these shows started to become less and less. They didn't need to come to the show to in order to find a vehicle to get the word about their product out. They could do it themselves just as well, and they could do it on their own timeline and not have to wait for a scheduled convention.

I completely lost track of how many times I have been to Toledo covering that show. But I can tell you this much. The last time that RCU was there at the show, neither Hobbico nor Horizon had any new products to announce at that show. That's how big a part the internet played for both of them. They had already announced all of their own products. Also, the show attendance continued to drop every year. The first time I went to Toledo on Saturday afternoon you could not move on the floor it was so crowded, we had to plan our movements very carefully. The last year we were there moving around on Saturday afternoon was done with ease. We finally pulled the plug on doing coverage of the show simply because of what has been said above, cost. The cost to send a team to Toledo, feed them, and put them up in a hotel compared viewerships on the videos that result from the show just wasn't worth it any more. And it all boiled down to their wasn't anything new from a lot of the vendors. If we were able to go and bring back lots of video that people can see stuff that is brand new then that would be a different story, but unfortunately that is not the case. So that's why we pulled the plug on covering Toledo.

Now, this is simply Ken's crystal ball. This isn't anything official from on high. But my prediction is that the Toledo show is a dying breed. I watched it decline in the over 10 years that I attended and I see how other shows are declining around the country. People are getting like you say above. What's it worth to spend all the money to attend when I can get a better bargain buying online. I'm not seeing anything new at the show now because I can see that online as well. So why spend all the money to go to the show. I don't know how long it's going to take for them to die, but I predict that we are going to see these conventions go away over the years.

Ok. Now I will get off my soapbox. Like I said. This does not mean I will start participating in the AMA forum. I only posted here because of the first hand knowledge of what we did covering The Toledo Show and how it related to the subject being discussed.

Ken

It worked for the Northrups, they sold their left coast show to AMA.
It worked for the Westchester club, they sold the WRAM show to AMA.
It worked for the owner of the drone STEM program, he sold it to AMA.

All good business for somebody.

Thanks for you input on this.
Mike

Yep, the Northrups, the Westchester club, and the owner of the drone STEM program! They sold while the selling was good and before attendance fell off the table.

I wonder how much of our money AMA spent to buy the controlling interest in those shows.

Thanks for the explanation.

Did anyone go to the event?
I heard rumors it continued its downward slide with lack of vendor and public attendance.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...s-com-Coverage

Some stuff here but I haven't read it for content though. I'm sure some will chime in as far as attendance.

Mike

Looking at those pics and reading those posts seem to confirm a light turnout.

Maybe the AMA can turn it around next year but is it the best use of money ? Trade shows/conventions are not cheap to host.

Yes, I did end up going. I also noticed a much lighter turnout of atendees. There were fewer vendor booths there, with plenty of space to walk around in. I went Saturday morning, and I was expecting far more people to be there. I didn't see anything new, although I do not have an interest in every category, I didn't really take a look at the vendors that I don't have an interest in.
...Steve

I suspected as much. I saw photos on another site and noticed that they were all taken from a very low angle, making it tough to see the big open areas where nobody was standing. But if you looked carefully, you could see obvious big open areas.

I went Sunday and for me the highlight was that the food stand had good coffee.There were some nice models in the static display but overall I would say the show was a dud.

But R2-D2 was there !

And there was an RC shark fin. I live 5 blocks from the ocean, I was looking at that one!!

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2203392 I was at the expo all 3 days as a vendor. As I saw it, Friday was a bit slow , however the people that were there did show lots of interest. We went home Friday night nervous that Saturday would be a repeat- that was not the case- The expo was packed. At the BOB DIVELY booth, were slammed all day. You could not get through the isles. We had a fantastic day that was well worth attending. OK, for Sunday , yes it thinned out but we were able to make some great sales and gave out some advise to what was left of the builders in the hobby. Keep in mind that Sunday the DAYTONA 500 was on, so I think that kept the crowd lite as well. The AMA did a fantastic job with this event and the layout was very refreshing. I hear a lot of people *****ing on how " the show is a dud" -well perhaps if more hobby shops would get involved with this event and stop complaining about the hobby "that its dying" perhaps it could be saved by inspiring not just the young crowd but there whole families. I'm not sure what everybody wants to see at this event ? Unless the AMA is giving away free flights up to space nobody will be happy- then again I'm sure you guys would complain about that too. I'm looking forward to next year.