Some National Thoughts

[mberkus]

Hello Again,

As time permits, I can check back to review additional comments. Actually, the 2 weeks after the show are the hardest. Both exhausted and have to finish up a ton of details.

NY was one of the funniest experiences ever for trying to set up a National. We went into the Javits Center, since we need a minmum size floor, and met with their space reps. With consideration to booth fees, we actually struck a deal. Then the two guys from the decorator's union came into the meeting. They asked "how much do you charge for a booth to your people?" I told them, at the time, $650. They moved their toothpicks around a bit and came back with "OK, you need 2 tables, 4 chairs, and a small sign in each booth. That will be $2450". I thought they had misunderstood and I repeated we only charge $650 per booth. But they replied " That's your problem". After working with the hotels, parking, and the Javits, we figured booths would be a reasonable $3500 each, hotel nights $425, and parking $35 per day.

KC was too small a site for us last time we check, nice city though!

Booth prices are based on competitive collectible shows and what is needed to pay the $400,000.00 facility and decorator fees. Admission price is based on the amount needed for advertising, marketing, promotions. We run an average of 14 newspaper ads, 500 radio spots, and 50 TV ads. We also pay for Cleveland.com, travel mags, online sites, and banners. The average ad we place is $9500.00 per 1/4 page. Once we put this together we count on the previous attendance numbers and come up with as reasonable an amount for per person to attend. We never profit much on attendance, just one of those things since our hobby has decreased a bit.

Finally, the aspect of admission price. Kind of silly to pay to come into a facility to buy stuff? Always bothered me. But, the costs to host the show have to be met somehow and admission fees are one of the streams of income. On a very personal note, certainly not shared by my partners, I figured that if a person could not handle the parking and admission price, then how much does it mean to the dealers who are looking to sell cards? If $18 to get in and $8 to park are a burden, then how do we rationalize the guy who flys in and has to stay in a hotel and rent a car? No easy answer. But, as usual in a free society, those who feel the value pay the way and those that don't, stay home. I remember an individual who told me that if it wasn't worth the price of admission, it probably wasn't worth going to.

Hope to see everyone in Baltimore. Seems like a lot of excitement to hit a brand new territory.

Best regards,

Mike