Ft Lauderdale Boat Show

Anyone going?

Keysdisease said:

Anyone going?

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Not us. Can't believe they are still running it!

I would not even consider it.

Comodave said:

I would not even consider it.

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Ditto.

It is just too dangerous to be in crowds like a boat show now. If you could go back after you caught the virus and change your behavior 2 weeks ago then maybe I would go to a gathering like a show, BUT you can’t go back in time 2 weeks and not do something risky. If it were the flu, maybe, but this stuff may kill you. My wife and I are both 68 and my mom lives with us and is 100. No we aren’t going to risk anything now.

I got a notice about it today. Hard pass.

I love to go to boat shows, dearly. Love to see what new products that I absolutely have to have. But not now...

Agreed, we usually do the Newport RI show. Followed by overpriced drinks and apps at Inn at Castle Hill so we can experience how the .1% live.

Lollygag1 said:

Agreed, we usually do the Newport RI show. Followed by overpriced drinks and apps at Inn at Castle Hill so we can experience how the .1% live.

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Or even the .001%.

I must say though that sipping a fresh blueberry martini while sitting in an Adirondack chair overlooking the harbor is quite appealing.

The problem there is with my bad back it is sometimes very difficult to get up out of Adirondack chairs...

We've thought about going -- we live in South Dakota where we've joined Sweden in the tough-it-out approach, but even here, if we're going to do something family-related for Thanksgiving as it is, and because passenger planes are disgusting petri dishes even in normal circumstances, I figure we have to limit our exposure and be selective.

But then I'm really surprised they're still doing "Boot Dusseldorf" in January. We've wanted to go for years but I've done a lot of digging on that show for 2021 and I'm deeply skeptical. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like you can call yourself a vendor and get past Germany's travel restrictions as a trade show business participant with a "good cause" reason to enter Germany, but you also have to set up at least one specific appointment with a registered vendor while you're there -- and the show even offers a matching service now -- but visitor tickets aren't available at the moment, etc., etc. And if I'm not a citizen of an EU country or a Schengen Area country, I'm still not at all sure we'd be allowed in anyway, especially from the US, which is currently on just about every other country's ban list. I have visions of my family landing in Germany and a hazmat team blasts us with a firehose full of Lysol and sends us back to Sioux Falls in a stainless steel cannister. Who in the world wants to roll those dice with international travel, and I'm really surprised the show wants to go forward with what has to be a tiny fraction of the usual international attendees.

Most countries don’t want Americans visiting now. I hope next year we will have our sh*t together enough that we can take our boat into Canada. Who knows.

Well, they haven't canceled but I see they did postpone Boot Dusseldorf until April 17-25. Even being being very optimistic it's hard for me to imagine travel will be reopened by then, but okay, we'll see. Cunard still says they're sailing in April ($995!) too so maybe taking the boys on a transatlantic to Southampton then Hamburg then the Dusseldorf show will happen. Or not. I think they're dreaming, but okay.

If anyone went to FLIBS, did those of us who didn't go miss anything of significance?

stubones99 said:

If anyone went to FLIBS, did those of us who didn't go miss anything of significance?

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Take out FLIBS and replace with ANY boat show and answer is......not really.

There is nothing at any boat show that hasn't made the marketing between web sites, forums and trade magazines.

The news cycle is minutes, not months. There are no "World's Fair" expositions debuting industry revelations any more. There is only "Here is what we're doing, come to the show and see it for yourself".

Shrew said:

Take out FLIBS and replace with ANY boat show and answer is......not really.

There is nothing at any boat show that hasn't made the marketing between web sites, forums and trade magazines.

The news cycle is minutes, not months. There are no "World's Fair" expositions debuting industry revelations any more. There is only "Here is what we're doing, come to the show and see it for yourself".

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Yes. The pandemic may have finally put the kibosh on a business model that has been unraveling for the last twenty years.

Blissboat said:

Yes. The pandemic may have finally put the kibosh on a business model that has been unraveling for the last twenty years.

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I'm very active in my national professional association and we do an annual conference every year. Around 700-1000 attend the conferences in normal times. Every year we still do a vendor show, dozens of vendors stream in with their truckloads of display equipment and fill a hotel ballroom, like roadies at a rock concert. I often think it's very similar to a boat show (although a completely different topic). I stroll around and wonder how all that expense can be worth it -- I'm in gov't and it's not like we all walk around with piles of cash in our wallets, writing checks to vendors on the spot. But every year they keep coming, and we charge them significant fees just to participate. It might be a well-worn habit, but they must make money, at least long term somewhere, somehow, or why would they continue to do it?

They do itI just to keep their face in front of you. It's a "Hi, yes we are still here, we are still putting out our product, we didn't fall off the map during the last year."

As one of those Boat Show "roadies" I can tell you we consider it: Missionary work.

While all previous comments are correct, I can point to several transactions and relationships that would not have occurred had we not been exhibiting at a Boat Show. Some of those transactions and relationships have paid the expense of exhibiting many times over.

Every once in a while a missionary make a convert

kthoennes said:

I'm very active in my national professional association and we do an annual conference every year. Around 700-1000 attend the conferences in normal times. Every year we still do a vendor show, dozens of vendors stream in with their truckloads of display equipment and fill a hotel ballroom, like roadies at a rock concert. I often think it's very similar to a boat show (although a completely different topic). I stroll around and wonder how all that expense can be worth it -- I'm in gov't and it's not like we all walk around with piles of cash in our wallets, writing checks to vendors on the spot. But every year they keep coming, and we charge them significant fees just to participate. It might be a well-worn habit, but they must make money, at least long term somewhere, somehow, or why would they continue to do it?

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