More Thoughts on Dayton ‘08
It’s wonderfully yummy to be lounging in my own home, with no particular place to go for a change. The kitten is trying my patience by getting into all manner of mischief but after so many weeks on the road even that seems like a refreshing return to normalcy.
I’ve spent a good portion of the day perusing the many comments, reviews, pictures and videos from a fairly large number of attendees of the just concluded Dayton Hamvention. I got an assist in that effort from the pages of K9JY who has assembled a large collection of such links.
Having had some time for physical recovery from the ordeal and a chance for a little introspection, I wanted to put into words a few additional thoughts on the big show.
My early review seems to have come off a bit too negative with regards to attendance and the overall size of the show. The space used inside and out at Hara Arena area is simply too spread out to make an accurate accounting of the attendees (without a ticket count).
It’s not like a rock concert where you can look around and see the entire crowd at a glance. Even so, with a few exceptions I’ve been attending Hamvention since 1977. In the early 1990s the attendance topped out at over 30,000. That was a painful experience with the crowds so large that movement through the arena was all but impossible and having lived through that one gains some perspective on the size of the crowd.
We will have to wait a few months for the official numbers to be released, but I’m guessing it will be something less than 20,000. Perhaps considerably less. While the attendance and number of vendors was down this year, that doesn’t mean the show was any less successful than previous years.
Scott, W4PA wrote that TenTec enjoyed it’s best Hamvention sales ever — which was an especially good trick since they had nothing for sale at the show itself — it was all just orders taken at the TenTec booth, to be shipped later.
Ditto for Elecraft and the K3 — you still can’t buy one and take it home. A year after it was first announced, you’ll still wait in queue five to six months to get your mitts on one. But the folks from Aptos say they took more orders for the K3 this year than last.
I asked vendors in every booth I visited how they were doing and all said without hesitation that business had been brisk. Perhaps fewer folks made the trip to Dayton but those who did came flush with cash and ready to part with it. I’d guess that the economic stimulus tax rebate checks played some role in keeping the cash registers ringing this year…
Perhaps more importantly, there’s so much going on in Dayton over Hamvention weekend that the show itself is being upstaged a bit. The uninitiated may not know that beginning on Wednesday evening and running through Sunday night there is a multitude of extracurricular activities in play. The DX banquet, award dinners, contest dinner, contest seminars, QRP seminars, late night talks with cream of the crop operators in the hotel bar — a cornucopia of ham radio goodness that one can be totally immersed in for days on end if you have ample free time, money and the will to prepare and plan for it.
I’ve no interest in predicting the demise of my favorite ham radio convention — but Hara Arena is falling apart and if the attendance continues to trend down then there’s really no reason why the Hamvention couldn’t thrive in a new, smaller (better) environment. All that future organizers need is a location with a big airport and an abundance of hotel and meeting rooms with access to high quality exhibit halls capable of accommodating 15,000 visitors.
Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Columbus, Louisville — any of these locations could fill that bill nicely.
One thing is for certain, those who make the trek to Dayton are changed. Their zeal and enthusiasm for the hobby and hopes for its continuation are magnified. It’s like getting a B-12 shot of a high grade hobby affliction. That’s probably why so many of us go year after year despite the many valid reasons to gripe and complain about one aspect or another of the big show — or the weather!
Like moths to a bright light few of us can resist being drawn again and again to Dayton.
If you made the pilgrimage this year I hope you enjoyed it and found a good deal or two. I’d love to hear about what you brought home — feel free to use the comments below and let us know what you bought, or what you thought was the coolest thing at the show.
I’ll be telling you about my cache of goodies over the next few days.
73 de Jeff
May 19th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
It was fun trying to use the web to track all the goings on at the Hamvention. Plus, my buddy Eric, K9GY, was there and sent some pictures and insights into the event. He, too, mentioned the empty spaces in the flea market, but commented on sales outside of the flea market.
If the sales by the vendors are true, I would attribute it to the ability of people to actually talk to the vendors about the products. When I have been to Dayton — on both sides of the booth — it has been tough to actually talk to people about their needs and the products. Getting a little space allows you to see the product and ask the productive questions. You come with doubts or a few last minute questions and get the answers — and that translates to sales.
I also think the impact of the outside “non-Hamvention” activities makes a huge impact on the number of people in the arena. The Contest University, QRP meetings, DX Dinner and others all are events that happen because of the Hamvention but are not sponsored by the Hamvention (no revenue).
In the spirit that Dayton is about people and products, these outside events are in many ways more important than what is on the sales floor. In a choice of seeing a crappy building that makes not much sense in terms of layout or seeing your buddies once a year, seeing your buddies will win out most of the time.
Ohio is a great place to have the Hamvention. It is within a 12-hour drive of much of the populated country (not the West Coast). Much as Memphis is within two days of 2/3 of the country, Ohio is similar with the ham population.
If the Hamvention moved, it would not have the impact on a town, such as Columbus, as it does on a smaller town such as Dayton, but the facilities for all things Hamvention — the vendor areas, the flea market, the off-site events, and the availability of services such as restaurants would be much better. More tricky to help maintain the “pedestrian” all events in a circle attitude, but better.
I’m looking forward to reading your impressions. And great pics!
Scot, K9JY
May 20th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Interesting report Jeff.
I’m highly skeptical of the “business is brisk” claim by vendors. That’s what vendors have to say at an event like this. To do other wise is just not in their interest. To my knowledge there are no verifiable metrics to quantify such a claim. I wish there were. They’d be interesting numbers to see.
It sounds to me like it was more manageable for the casual browser this year. Frankly, I think you should get a hero badge for even going with such a late start.
mew
May 21st, 2008 at 5:37 am
Several small vendors who I have come to know were saying their sales were very good & that they had their best “one day” sales of any Dayton on one fo the days this year.
One commented that people seem to come to his booth “pre-sold” knowing what they were going to buy.
Firms like Palstar sold all the units they had one hand of some models, including their reserve stock held in Dayton but not at the Hara.
73
Steve
K9ZW
May 21st, 2008 at 8:34 am
Ok Steve I hear you. Yet PalStar really isn’t an average vendor. They are a top tier vendor making a highly sought after product. Palstar would be on anyone’s Top 10 of “Ham Stuff I’d like to Have” list.
A posting on eham seconded Jeff’s comment, that fewer people were at Dayton yet those that came, spent more. Ok, so there’s another…….still it’s hard for me to connect the dots between attendance levels and spending.
Anyway I enjoyed attending Dayton this year. It was peaceful, and I did it at my leisure. You didn’t see me? Oh I came via the “k9Zw’s Twitter tour!”
Cheers,
mike