What would you like in a show?

I would like to see more people coming in the door. This means more people are getting into reptiles and I would like to see more captive bred vendors. Neither of these were on the list..

I agree with Lynn.

How about free tables for vendors? Free up front that is. It might be hard to keep track of if you have some shady vendors but what about charging the vendors based on a rate of what their sales are?

For example:

$0-500 = 25
501-1000 = 50
1000+ = 75

Or something similiar. I could see a problem about tracking what is getting sold etc but in principle if I was a vendor this would be a great thing.

The reimbursable admission for buyers is good but I would add in a $25 minimum or so to it.

I agree about getting more people involved in reptiles. Maybe more advertizing? This is going to sound very dorky, but with our gerbil shows we get ad space on local radio stations (college and family AM stations) as well as local newspaper space. It's a way to get families involved. Since a lot of kids get in to reptiles, getting their parents aware of shows gets the whole family involved.

I also love when the vendors are all in a good mood and will spend time with any of their buyers, from people buying $10,000 snakes to $10 snakes. You can tell a show where they vendors are happy to be there, showing off breeding projects they worked so hard on, and are proud of their animals. It makes the whole day fun.

There are gerbil shows?

Some big shows like the NARBC are advertised ob radio, in newspaper and on televison. You just have to realize that most herp shows could not do that as the cost is tremendous for this biz. The promoters for the shows I mentioned above spend a tremendous amount of money on a public relations firm that runs all the advertising for them in all media in the 3 different parts of the country they do their shows in (LA, Chicago and Phily).

No, really.... gerbil shows?

I probably should have put this question up as a new thread but it ties in with this one so well!

What do you think of having a show outdoors? Have it more of a "festival" type scenario with Ez-Up tents for vendors and a couple larger tents for activities, contests, and food? Some opinions would be greatly appreciated!