We could find other ways to honor vendors like Seachem that want to go aboveand beyond base prices, while still not making it cost-prohibitive for the very interesting "little guys".
Interestingly, it wasn't the cost of the table that was an issue. Most of the folks who could afford it had already scheduled their reps to be at a trade show elsewhere that weekend. The folks who weren't able to afford the table (I assume) also couldn't afford the ticket out there. Table cost wasn't really an issue from what I gathered talking with the folks. Overall, it was the late notice that most got. There were some companies, like Hellolights.com that needed more advance warning to be able to plan for the cost of the event. Had they the time it is likely they would have come.
The biggest issue I came across was the late notice. The biggest issue was representative scheduling although some of it is also budgetary in nature. We need to be getting in touch with the companies as far in advance as possible to get a rep scheduled. Eight months isn't too early in my opinion. Also, companies like Eheim have a marketing/donation budget that is already used up by this time of the year so we need to get on their books before that happens. Once we get that it's just a matter of
How viable is it to schedule the weekend of the conference in advance, even before a host is found? If we can get on the companies' calendars in advance I'll estimate a 2-300% increase in attendance from vendors.
Best, Phil _______________________________________________ AGA-mcm mailing list AGA-mcm@thekrib.com http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/aga-mcm