An Idea To Improve The National; An Open Letter To The Board

[edhans]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

One of the continual complaints about the show is that it is tremendously fatiguing for collectors, especially older ones, to cover an aircraft hangar-sized facility. I am 50 now and definitely not feeling as good about the show as I was when I was in my 30s. Plus, given what I collect, there are always many tables of 'shiny crap' and manufactured memorabilia that I bypass. Logging the miles between vintage outposts is simply getting old. Not to mention the corporate booths in the middle of the floor that have zero attraction for me and that now seem to host ever noisier events that make dealing with customers next to them very unpleasant. The Topps booth was especially obnoxious this year. So, with that in mind, I have a modest proposal for the show's organizers:

1. Relocate the corporate booths to a corner of the room rather than the middle: It would make a tremendous difference to attendees to have this sort of stuff off to the side. People who want to access the corporate offerings could do so but those of us with no interest in it could avoid having to cut across a football field of junk, or trying to hear a seller or customer over the shouts of the pack breakers.

An emphatic +1. We were further away then you, but the noise was still really annoying. Give them a separate section of the hall and erect noise baffles. Better yet, put them in another building entirely

2. Place dealers by specialties: Many trade shows with disparate subject matter group their vendors. It would be very helpful to attendees to have dealers who specialize in modern at one end of the room, and dealers who specialize in vintage at the other.

+1 also. Would save an enormous amount of walking for everyone.

3. Place the manufactured memorabilia, framing, holders, etc., dealers over by the autograph area: These are the sorts of things people buy when they are getting stuff signed. How about putting the vendors for these items near the people who need them?

Spot on again.

4. Put the Third Party Graders in one place. It was a real PITA having SGC, BVG, JSA and PSA spread all over the place with no rhyme or reason to it. I didn't even know that PSA was at the far end of the pack break pavilion until Thursday. It's not like they really compete with one another; each has its own niches and devotees.

I didn't find PSA until Sunday.

Your suggestions make too much sense to ever be enacted.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Adam, I couldn't agree more. This was my first National, but even I noticed the Topps folks and believed it to be way over the top. Also, Heritage and the like being plopped right in the middle disrupted the flow for me. I was cruising up and down the aisles trying to map things out and then BAM! there are these giant corporate museums with price tags and security guards right in the middle. It just didn't flow and was intrusive. As someone else pointed out, I am sure they get the middle for bankrolling the operation. On the whole, I appreciate your ideas for carving up and organizing. It could also be organized by sport, prewar, postwar, etc. There would be some overlap anyway you slice it, but just about any attempt would be welcomed. Maybe Heritage, Topps, SGC, PSA, etc. could have a "corporate sponsor space" of their own or something.