Bringing The Fishing Show to You Online
from The Fishing Wire
If you’re in the outdoor industry, you’ve just about had it with trade and sport shows. From the first week in January through the end of February, it’s an almost constant cycle. Go to a show, set up your booth, “do” two to four days of endless meetings with potential customers then tearing the booth down, repacking and replenishing your once-again depleted inventory and hitting the road – again.
I know, the rest of you are really feeling for us, right? Weeks of seeing, trying and talking about the newest gear in the entire outdoor industry. Many of you are looking at the one or possibly two events you can find time to attend, wondering why you can’t see the latest-and-greatest when they’re announced.
Maybe you can- at least in fishing. There’s a new site up and running on the internet that’s been created specifically to bring a SportShow to you year-round, on demand. It’s called the http://vshow.on24.com/vshow/nasportshow?l=en#home> North American Sportshow , and the goal is simple: bring you the latest news and information on new products, along with the ability to buy them and get them shipped directly to your door.
It’s the brainchild of David Gray, one of those “idea” guys who’s not afraid to put his idea to the test. If you’re familiar with Ardent fishing rods, you’ve seen David’s work. He first told me about his idea at SHOT Show, promising to contact me when it the North American Sportshow was ready to go.
Having spent some time on it over the past few days, I’d say he’s got it coming together. Plenty of “name” companies, state tourism offices and even some media outlets are already in attendance, and he tells me things are moving along steadily.
The first thing you see when you attend is a quick screen test to make certain you have all the plug-ins you’ll need to best experience the show. The second, an uptempo introduction from outdoor communicator Josh Lantz that gives you the rundown on the show and it’s goals.
You can quickly decide what you want to see in the various booths- with no one standing in your way, bumping you with trolleys full of “free stuff” or beeping at you from their own motorized chair. All pluses to us.
From there, you’re in to one of several “areas”. In the Auditorium, for example, you’ll be able to see presentations on the latest-and-greatest products from exhibitors. The Exhibit Hall is exactly what it sounds like, a graphical representation of trade show booths -with a couple of exceptions: no crowds jostling you and the ability to easily navigate in any direction.
When you click on a “booth” you have several options, from watching their product info videos, to going to “learn more” and moving to the Show’s Resource Center where you can browse literature and collect your own digital equivalent of a bulging trade show literature bag.
Sorry, no pens, pencils, stickers, pins or candy. And now ripped plastic bags or “stuff” to clutter up your workspace. But you can enter for a variety of prizes- up to a completely equipped Ranger boat. You can also enter your contact information if you’re interested in learning more and want an exhibiting company to contact you.
Wandering the show floor, I realized there was another advantage to the virtual show- material could be updated and the information wasn’t going out-of-date. In fact, show specials could be managed on-the-fly. If I were a manufacturer, a tourism department, or even an enterprising retailer with enough volume to offer products online and fill orders with affordable shipping, I’d be considering the North American as one of the shows I added to my 2014 planning budget.
One advantage of the digital show is the ability to actually measure attendance and statistical information on your booth. It gives you the ability to tweak offerings, change-up specials and actually see what’s getting the attendees’ attention.
And the show isn’t going to run out of space. Utilizing ON24 Virtual Show as the backbone, the North American Sportshow is “scalable” in computer-speak; with more than 24,000 shows “served up”, ON24 has the ability to expand computer space and bandwidth to accommodate enough visitors to crowd the Las Vegas or Orlando convention venues.
It’s not a free show, but there’s a value in being able to regularly visit a site that’s designed to bring you the latest-and-greatest in the industry.