Saturday, April 30, 2001 — We’re headed home from Tulsa today and I just wanted to share a few thoughts on the final big events of the 2011 show season.
I arrived at MHI Congress and Expo at the Caesar’s Palace Convention Center in Las Vegas on Wednesday and immediately noticed the upbeat atmosphere of this year’s show. Our “Dominate Your Local Market” presentation was attended by an enthusiastic group and the response rate (those wanting more information) was very high.
Walking the show floor on Wednesday and Thursday morning, I spoke with exhibitors at almost every booth and all agreed that they were having a good show, even though everyone’s definition of “a good show” can be unique to their business and their visitors.
Keynotes speakers were very good and feedback from those who attended the sessions was generally very positive.
On Thursday morning, we presented “Engaging the Media Successfully – How to Get Good PR for the Industry,” As panelists, myself and Publisher L.A. ‘Tony’ Kovach, MHMSM.com reporter Matthew Silver and last, but certainly not least, Indiana MHA Executive Director Mark Bowersox led a lively discussion on dealing with the media – print, TV and radio and online alike.
One observation I made was that just 17% of attendees were men. Come on, guys! This is some important stuff. Don’t just send the women to do a job that all of us need to be involved in for the betterment of the industry. I hope to see more men next time out.
Leaving Las Vegas on Thursday, we headed for Tulsa, Oklahoma and the Great Southwest Home Show. This show, in a wonderful indoor facility (QuikTrip Center at Expo Square) in a prime location was an even well worth looking forward to.
Despite the recent outbreaks of tragic weather events in the southern U.S., the turnout was reportedly up from last year.
The layout of the show floor was superb and allowed easy access to all of the homes on display. One and a half days of trade show preceded two and a half days of a public show.
While we didn’t stay for the two final public days, we presented both of our workshops again in Tulsa.
Tony And I presented “Dominate Your Local Market” and although Mark Bowersox and Matthew Silver weren’t with us in Tulsa, their places for the “Engaging the Media Successfully – How to Get Good PR for the Industry,” panel were filed in with a great, informative fill-in by Don Miner of Abernathy Agency. Thanks, Don and great work.
Turnout for the workshops was about the same as when we presented them in Tunica in March and attendees displayed the same high level of enthusiasm as in Louisville, Tunica and Las Vegas.
There are a lot of ways to gauge the success of a workshop at a live show, but by any measure we choose to use, I’d say both Congress and the Great Southwest Home Show were a rousing success for us.