We felt our UK business was not what it should be, so for the past two
years, I shipped a pallet of hardware to England for the "National Hamfest"
in Lincoln. It's the country's largest Hamfest. I had a modest booth and
did a bit of sales.
Last time, I met a bunch of hams from Northern Ireland who happened to be
staying in the same hotel as I was. Big Mistake!
In trying to keep pace with them both evenings in the hotel's pub, I spent
more money on beer than we made in profit from the booth sales. Of course
the beers were out of my pocket, not the company's, but I just want to put
things in perspective.
Expenses were a train ticket to the airport in Frankfurt, a flight to
Birmingham, and a rental car for 4 days. Plus hotel, plus food, then the
booth rental, cost of shipping the hardware 2-ways... and the pallet of
hardware I shipped home looked bigger than what we shipped over - because I
can't pack as well as the boys in the factory.
There was indeed a peak in UK sales for about 2 weeks after the event.
But total "REVENUE" (not profit) from all UK sales in that time period was
less than my total expenses for the trip.
I hope I get to go to the National Hamfest again this year (and I hope the
Irish boys don't), but if I owned our business, which I don't, I would not
spend my money on the event. Period.
For me, the UK event equates to the Orlando event.
I'm not speculating. I've been to both.
I had a booth at the Orlando event two years ago.
When you're trying to run a business and stay profitable, you have to make
tough decisions.
If my boss asks me my opinion, I'll tell him we should not go to the UK.
(I hope he doesn't ask - hi.)
I had a lot of fun. Met Steve (G3TXQ) the first year, saw him again the
second year, met some of the guys we've been sponsoring on many
DX-peditions, and learned not to drink with the Irish. Loads of fun.
That's what hamfests are for.
73
Rick, DJ0IP
-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim Lowman
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 6:40 PM
To: tentec@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Hamfests in general
Not 100% accurate, but I would think that a spike in orders following a
hamfest or convention might be an indicator of success.
Of course, that could be only a small blip in the bigger picture.
Not that many vendors of major equipment sell anything at these events.
Some take orders, but one could accomplish the same thing by visiting the
vendor's website.
HRO would be an exception.
Of those who do take orders, sometimes a discount is offered.
73 de Jim - AD6CW
On 2/19/2013 11:15 AM, Jim Brown wrote:
> On 2/19/2013 10:20 AM, Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP wrote:
>> Hamfest we have ever been to has been, at least from an event
>> standpoint, a big loss.
>
> That assumes that the only measure of hamfest "success" is orders
> written in the booth. Many folks like to ponder their purchase for a
> while, and most of us have to save up for a while.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
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