Keysdisease
Guru
Anyone going?
Anyone going?
I would not even consider it.
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.
If anyone went to FLIBS, did those of us who didn't go miss anything of significance?
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".
Yes. The pandemic may have finally put the kibosh on a business model that has been unraveling for the last twenty years.
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?