What if you only want to attend the show one day, does one have to still
spend 10 bucks? I can't see spending 10 dollars for one day. What can you
possibly see in 3 days that you can't see in one day?
The venders/exhibitors should be the only ones that should pay. Why should
us woodworkers pay - to spend our own money? We seem to be paying for
their advertising/space, not them. To begin with, the vendors already have
there advertising costs already built into the cost of their product before
they ever get to the show/s.
My 2 cents worth.

Bob wrote:
What if you only want to attend the show one day, does one have to still
spend 10 bucks? I can't see spending 10 dollars for one day. What can you
possibly see in 3 days that you can't see in one day?
The venders/exhibitors should be the only ones that should pay. Why should
us woodworkers pay - to spend our own money? We seem to be paying for
their advertising/space, not them. To begin with, the vendors already have
there advertising costs already built into the cost of their product before
they ever get to the show/s.
My 2 cents worth.

Most shows of this nature have an admission fee for the audience.
Without it there is less incentive for the promoters to get as many
people to the show as possible. Without a big audience the vendors would
loose interest. Most shows have free demonstrations going on, and
visitors wouldn't come back year after year if they didn't perceive they
were getting value for money. Its a system that has to work for all
three parties. If too many people decide that $10 is too much, the show
will die if the promoter doesn't reduce the price or add more value to
the show. If the promoter doesn't turn a profit they are less likely to
run the show next year. If the vendors don't make enough sales or
publicity, they won't go back.

As for the 3 day thing, it gives local visitors the option to go back
and make a purchase if they need to sleep on it.

--
Derek Andrews, woodturner

http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com
Wedding Favors ~ Artisan Crafted Gifts ~ One-of-a-Kind Woodturning

Considering that most 1 day shows (computer, gem and mineral, etc) in
my area cost $7-$8 for admission with no free demos, etc. $10 is not
bad at all for a 3 day show with demos. And the free 1 day spouse pass
is nice too.

-Keith

On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 16:47:25 GMT, Derek Andrews
wrote:

Bob wrote:
What if you only want to attend the show one day, does one have to still
spend 10 bucks? I can't see spending 10 dollars for one day. What can you
possibly see in 3 days that you can't see in one day?
The venders/exhibitors should be the only ones that should pay. Why should
us woodworkers pay - to spend our own money? We seem to be paying for
their advertising/space, not them. To begin with, the vendors already have
there advertising costs already built into the cost of their product before
they ever get to the show/s.
My 2 cents worth.

Most shows of this nature have an admission fee for the audience.
Without it there is less incentive for the promoters to get as many
people to the show as possible. Without a big audience the vendors would
loose interest. Most shows have free demonstrations going on, and
visitors wouldn't come back year after year if they didn't perceive they
were getting value for money. Its a system that has to work for all
three parties. If too many people decide that $10 is too much, the show
will die if the promoter doesn't reduce the price or add more value to
the show. If the promoter doesn't turn a profit they are less likely to
run the show next year. If the vendors don't make enough sales or
publicity, they won't go back.

As for the 3 day thing, it gives local visitors the option to go back
and make a purchase if they need to sleep on it.

Try to get some word-of-mouth reference on the particular show you plan to
attend. I had been to the show held at Smyrna, TN a couple of times and saw
an ad for a show in Louisville, KY a couple of years ago.

Thinking bigger city, bigger show, I took a day off work and went to
Louisville. Had it not been for the Tormek demo and a side trip to
Woodcraft and Choice Woods, my trip would have been a total waste of my
time. The Louisville Show was actually smaller than the one in Smyrna, TN.

At Smyrna, the Jet/Powermatic booth had a woodturning demo. Tennessee
Association of Woodturners had a demo set up. John Jordan had a Stubby demo
going.

There was practically nothing on woodturning at the Louisville Show. Oops,
there was a couple of Jet mini lathes in the Jet booth. And the guy
demo'ing the Tormek sharpened a bowl gouge. There was plenty of stuff on
other facets of woodworking in Louisville, just precious little on
woodturning.

Talk to some folks who have attended the particular show you plan to attend
and get their opinions. You might just want to take your $10 and go to
Woodcraft.

Barry


"Bob" wrote in message
news:QceCd.322123$HA.120200@attbi_s01...
What if you only want to attend the show one day, does one have to still
spend 10 bucks? I can't see spending 10 dollars for one day. What can you
possibly see in 3 days that you can't see in one day?
The venders/exhibitors should be the only ones that should pay. Why
should
us woodworkers pay - to spend our own money? We seem to be paying for
their advertising/space, not them. To begin with, the vendors already have
there advertising costs already built into the cost of their product
before
they ever get to the show/s.
My 2 cents worth.

The show my club puts on in Saratoga, NY every March/April is in 25,000 sf
of space, and has probably 80 vendors. Even with a modest admission fee,
you cannot MOVE in there unless you show up really early or really late.
Too many people. Imagine if there were no admission prices, and you wound
up with another thousand or so rubberneckers, gawkers and marginally
interested wanderers who were only there to clog the aisles and steal
things.

No thanks. I'll pay my admission price. Look at it this way. Do you want
to spend ten bucks for a bad movie and a small popcorn and stick to the
seats in the local theater, or spend all day enjoying the smell of sawdust,
drooling over the latest and greatest machines and hand tools, and seeing
the gallery work? I look at it as a form of cheap entertainment.

Jon Endres


"Bob" wrote in message
news:QceCd.322123$HA.120200@attbi_s01...
What if you only want to attend the show one day, does one have to still
spend 10 bucks? I can't see spending 10 dollars for one day. What can you
possibly see in 3 days that you can't see in one day?
The venders/exhibitors should be the only ones that should pay. Why
should
us woodworkers pay - to spend our own money? We seem to be paying for
their advertising/space, not them. To begin with, the vendors already have
there advertising costs already built into the cost of their product
before
they ever get to the show/s.
My 2 cents worth.

In article ,
"Jon Endres, PE" t
wrote:

The show my club puts on in Saratoga, NY every March/April is in 25,000 sf
of space, and has probably 80 vendors. Even with a modest admission fee,
you cannot MOVE in there unless you show up really early or really late.
Too many people. Imagine if there were no admission prices, and you wound
up with another thousand or so rubberneckers, gawkers and marginally
interested wanderers who were only there to clog the aisles and steal
things.

No thanks. I'll pay my admission price. Look at it this way. Do you want
to spend ten bucks for a bad movie and a small popcorn and stick to the
seats in the local theater, or spend all day enjoying the smell of sawdust,
drooling over the latest and greatest machines and hand tools, and seeing
the gallery work? I look at it as a form of cheap entertainment.

How does that (the NWA show, which I've gone to) compare to the rather
obviously for-profit travelling shows, such as the one coming up at the
Big E (which I've never cared to spend the hour and a bit each way
driving to enough to go check out)? Since it's not a club show I don't
expect to see a lot of exhibits of work by "real people", which is one
of the best aspects of the NWA show. I guess they are trying to attract
some of that with a contest this year - never been obvious in prior
years.

If you're buying stuff, supposedly you can recoup admission in show
discounts, and the price of admission is really not an issue anyway - If
I lived closer or loved the dreary drag down south more, I'd happily pay
$10 to attend all the demos I could fit in and hang out. It costs me
more in gasoline to get there than it does to get in the door.

--
Cats, Coffee, Chocolate...vices to live by

I had many of the same questions and haven't bothered to go to the show at
the Big E before, but this year I decided to take a seminar from Frank
Klausz (it's a "woodworking essentials" class, so I'm mainly going to get a
chance to listen to a master in person before I don't have the opportunity)
and plan to give it a once over. I'm not getting my expectations too high
(for the show, not the seminar), so I'll probably be reasonably happy.
We'll see.

"Ecnerwal" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Jon Endres, PE" t
wrote:

How does that (the NWA show, which I've gone to) compare to the rather
obviously for-profit travelling shows, such as the one coming up at the
Big E (which I've never cared to spend the hour and a bit each way
driving to enough to go check out)?

Wish I knew. This will be my first time going to the Big E show. I'll
report on it once I have returned. I wouldn't go except that I have at
least one other person who wants to go, so it won't be a total wazte of day.

Interesting to note that Ernie Conover specifically mentions two shows on
his website as being worth the price of admission - the NWA show in
Saratoga, and the Long Island Woodworkers show. He does not comment on any
of the big traveling shows.

Jon E

Well, I spent a few hours at the Big-E (Eastern States Exposition,
Springfield, MA) woodworking show today. This is one of the woodworks
marketplace for-profit woodworking shows. I expected it to be worse than
the non-profit club show put on by the NWA in Saratoga Springs, NY.

My expectations were met, and then some.

I spent 8 bucks to get in (having remembered my $2 off coupon), found no
deals worth mentioning (didn't buy anything), and was ready to go in
less than 2-1/2 hours. I doubt I'll ever darken their doors again. The
NWA show is vastly better.

--
Cats, Coffee, Chocolate...vices to live by