Robin Bradley reviews this year’s 13th Annual V-Twin Expo at Cincinnati
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| ‘Class of 2014’ – this year saw the 9th annual AMD industry photo at the V-Twin Expo in a year which may well prove to be a turning point in the fortunes of this important feature of our industry. |
Congratulations to everybody at Easyriders Events and Reaction Management (their show contractor) for delivery of this year’s 13th annual V-Twin Expo at Cincinnati, Ohio, on February 8th and 9th.
Trying to generalize about the outcomes of any industry expo is also an invidious task, but based on a balanced assessment of the several dozen exhibitor perspectives that we here at AMD Magazine garnered, the consensus view is that the show worked, worked well, and that there’s no reason why it cannot continue to do so in the future.
As has been the case throughout the downturn, there has been, and was at the weekend, the continued gossiping and rumour-mongering about the viability of the V-Twin Expo project on any number and manner of grounds – from date, to duration, to venue, to concept as a trade-only nexus at a time when the trend is undoubtedly moving towards combined trade and consumer attendance at such shows.
However, while it was very difficult to gauge overall numbers relative to last year (due in large part to the continuing evolution of the geometry of the show layout) it did appear that there were sufficient visitors to feed most of the booths with a reasonably steady flow of visitors at most times of the day on the Saturday.
Those familiar with the V-Twin Expo, indeed, most any other trade expo will realize that attendance will inevitably pulse up and down the aisles in waves, so there will always be quieter hours and busier hours.
This year though, whilst the one hour earlier opening has yet to translate into an earlier visitor habit, the hall did stay reasonably busy longer into the afternoon than has been the case, with the majority of the exhibitors that we spoke with reporting good numbers of above all quality meetings with dealers who are genuinely in a position to make buying decisions.
One big concern had been what would happen on the Sunday. The experience last year, which was the first time that the V-Twin Expo had been cut down to two days following the abandonment of the Monday half-day, had vendors and organizers nervous.
A repeat of the ‘tumbleweed’ seen on the Sunday last year would, no question, have cast somewhat of a shadow over what up until that point had been such an encouraging turnout.
Well, the good news is that the second initiative taken by Easyriders Events in recent years, namely to move the show back by a week in order to avoid a clash with the NFL Superbowl, appeared to have worked.
The aisles were noticeably busier, certainly until the early afternoon, than had been the case on the Sunday last year, and there were, no question, some Sunday-specific visitors… it wasn’t only dealers who had stayed over.
So if the timing and duration formula was encouraging, that is nothing compared to the overwhelming consensus that the quality of business opportunities that exhibitors were experiencing was by far the best it has been for many years.
There may or may not still be issues surrounding venue in terms of the age-old and ever-ongoing debate about early spring timing, and the inevitable weather issues in the Midwest of the United States relative to those who advocate a sun-belt location, especially in the context of the apparent (albeit fall) success that the Orlando based AIMExpo is headed for.
Either way, while it was punishingly cold in Cincinnati for the show this year (no surprise there!), the expected snow storms didn’t materialize, and if there is scepticism about the effects of winter in the Midwest on powersports industry shows, then I should imagine that the organization currently hoping to reinvent its failed ‘Indy’ in Chicago in December have way more to worry about than Jim Betlach and his team!
Comparisons with venue decisions made by other show organizers are flawed simply because the specialty focus of the V-Twin Expo and its staging in the statistical heartland of the Harley-Davidson demographic (in sales number and custom shop terms) means that the needs of our sector differ greatly from the sportbike and offroad markets.
Given the consistently poor track record of shows on the West Coast and in the Southwest, then the reality is that our industry is better off sticking with the devil it knows than allowing itself to march blindfold into other potential difficulties – seen and unseen!
The motorcycle industry has been gathering in Cincinnati in February one way or another for way more than 30 years now, and if that is a formula that worked, and worked well, in the late 80s when motorcycle sales, including those being achieved by Harley-Davidson, were a fraction of what they bottomed-out at in the recent recession, then there is no reason to call into question the venue now.
It’s not as if bad weather in Ohio in February is something new.
It will only be in the context of what we see in the next few years that we will know whether or not 2014 has marked a turning point for the show, but given that there were almost as many returnee and first time exhibitors as there were additional absences, then I think the 2014 experience can be regarded as a positive one, and may well now prove to be something that the show, its exhibitors and the dealers that make it all possible can look back on and regard as a genuine turning point.
Watch out for more show news and new product reports in upcoming editions of AMD Magazine – and remember that you can find an archive of all editions at www.amdmag.com