Which 2009 trade show to attend?

[kpolley]

The reason that many of us have said that we need our own show is because the combined show was drain on us for many reasons.

The prices were much higher than they needed to be. With our own show prices for us have come WAY down.

The retail buyers RARELY buy from us. Sure there were a ton of them wandering around looking, but few ever bought. We weren't the reason they were there.

The retail vendors STEAL!!! Every year they come into our side of the show, look things over, and the next year they have a cheap knock-off of our products for sale to retailers.

We had no pull with TW when the shows were combined. The haunt section was peanuts to TW and they never cared about us. They catered to the retailers because they were where the major money was. Now TW listens to us.

In the end this industry may not be able to support a thousand different shows and conventions. TW has alwyas and, I predict, will always be the major buying and selling show for haunters. The split has simply allowed us to take more control over the show and make it better suited to haunters. I think it's going to be a great change.

[spookologist]

We'll try to attend as many as possible, as of right now here's what we are thinking.
1-Transworld St Louis: definitely
2-Eastern Haunters Convention: most likely
3-MHC: probably
4:Transworld Vegas: probably not
5:Hauntcon: possibly

Of course things may change as we get closer.

Wayne
www.trailofterror.com

[Dr. Haunt Chamber of Fear]

Being new in this industry, bring up to speed a little because I am confused by all this.

Larry, are you working for Transworld. You say "we" alot. Do you have a stake in TW.

Who runs the other 2 conventions and do they post here?

If the goal of this site is to promote the industry as a whole, why is there such a push to get everyone to TW and to treat the other's as second class?


Now, which one should I go to. I am 2 years into this, charity haunt, I have maybe $2000 to invest in props and animitronics. I need advice more than anything, good seminars, tours, etc. Vendors selling $15,000 animitronics does me no good. So which event is going to work best for me. I live in N. Indiana, so I'm smack dab in the middle of all three.

Boni,

Each year I have atteneded a different haunt conference. TW, MHC, and HauntCon. With a small budget and new to the game I would recommend MHC. The reason for this is included with your admission you get to attend the most educational sessions for your money as oppose to paying for each class at TW. The classes at MHC have benefited my small haunt the most. As well as the bus tours are great - as they pack in a lot of variety and the price is very affordable. This helps with planning your rooms scenes and props for the next year. Finally, with only $2,000 to spend on supplies you have a small budget so what you need in that price range you will be able to get at MHC.

Having said this, I am coming to TW this year to see the products and go on the haunt tour. I will mostly come in one day and leave the next unless I see a schedule prior to booking airline ticket.

[Grimley]

I will with my team attend all three major shows to see for myself which will survive. But this will be the ONLY year I attend more than one which means that someone will lose out. We sell online, catalog, and next year a retail store. Transworld was great because everyone and everything under one roof. So many vendors you could walk the whole day and not see them all. We spend money on both the haunt sections and costume side.

My main issue is the insistence by some that the haunt industry NEEDS its own show. First off am I the only one who thinks the Halloween vendors and the Haunt Vendors are completely intertwined. Trying to separate the two just seems a little foolish. You had all of the buyers in one place to make orders. Buyers like us that really were not interested in the haunt side but make purchases there year after year just because they were there and we happened to wander in.

My point is I think in the end some of the shows will fail due to lack of buying. Like I said we can only afford to attend one show and chances are it will be the costume side as we are retail. So the people that loose out are the vendors at the other shows trying to establish themselves as haunt only. Doesn't make much business sense to me but maybe I'm just missing something. I will attend all three but the one with the most vendors and highest turnout will in the end win out. This year will be fun going to all three.

[drfrightner]

I must have missed your question Boni...

Let me see if I'm responding to your question correctly this time and if not you just let me know.

Here is what I will say about tradeshows, just coming off the heals of the latest IAAPA show. I was VERY disappointed with the IAAPA show, the attendance must have been down 25% or more and that is on top of it being down the year before and the year before and the year before that.

IAAPA is shooting that show right in the foot because they have launched all of these other shows all around the world, I guess to make more money I don't know but I can say they are NOT needed, and EVERY vendor I talked to hates the fact that IAAPA gives the buyer so many, or should I say way to many options.

They are saying to buyers World wide, specifically buyers out of the US that you don't have to come to their main show because we'll bring a show to you...

That on top of the fact that the amusement industry has consolidated so much there are few unique buyers. Tons of FEC have been bought up by a few companies, there is now only a handful of amusement park owners, so they don't go to these shows like they use to.

Tradeshows are and have been affected drastically across the board in all industries from consumer electronics to even Halloween. Look at Halloween retail now, you only have a handful of buyers now dominated by people like Spirits, Halloween Express to Target or Walmart. 10 years ago and back it was a bunch of Ma and Pa stores and now its not.

What else happened... hmmm the WEB!

I get almost ALL and I mean ALMOST ALL of my business from the internet people searching me out on a search engine. I don't even need tradeshows anymore to find new business because I have a GREAT website for the business I'm trying to attract.

Take Rubies for example do you really think they need to go to tradeshows at this point... they know their buyers and they hold private showings for most of these buyers. For some tradeshows are still very valuable but more and more I talk to vendors they tell me they rely less and less on tradeshows and more on direct marketing with buyers.

Now moving onto this Hauntshow in St. Louis or any of these other tradeshows or events for the Haunt industry things are a bit different...

WHY?

Because THERE WILL NEVER be one or two or three companies buying up all the haunted houses nationwide like say Walmart who knocked out tons and tons of business or say how a handful of amusement companies now own almost every amusement park in America.

Haunted Houses will almost ALWAYS be independent owners and operators, so tradeshows and events for our industry will always have a higher response than some of these other industries where say a Best Buy and or Circuit City dominate the electronic market. Best Buy or a Six Flags for example doesn't need to attend a tradeshow, if you have something you'll bring it to them right to their door step!!! LOL It doesn't mean they won't go to a tradeshow, it just means they don't rely on them the way they use to in the past. Things have changed.

See what I'm saying?

Now as for our industry it does seem now we have too many all of a sudden...

We have this EHC, MHC, Hauntcon, Transworld, and other smaller regional shows on top of Transworld Vegas and Houston's new show.

I know for the haunt vendor they can NOT and WILL NOT attend all of these shows because they don't have the TIME or MONEY to attend them all... vendors will have to choose what works best for them and go from there.

It costs money to attend these shows, and time out of the shop which is the same as money down the drain for a vendor.

I suspect that ANY of these shows that rely on vendors to buy booths to support the show or to keep it financially stable will stop producing the shows or adapt them into something else.

I think vendors will support ONE of these shows, maybe TWO, but it will drop off little by little after one or two or three. Lets not forget IAAPA, which even though their attendance has fallen year after year is still the biggest show out there with attendance well over 20,000.

If I'm a vendor, I'm think my first show would be something directed DIRECTLY at my CORE clients, like for example Transworld St. Louis, then my second choice is IAAPA, past that you have a ton of others from MHC, Hauntcon and the new EHC trying to be a serious player.

I do NOT believe all will make it long term, because vendors will fizzle out from supporting this many shows.

I think some of these shows should consider a change from trying to put a bunch of weight into vendors and more into seminars, events, tours, education, networking and I think they would make more money and have less burden with return on investment.

Who knows what will happen.

Despite what some say I do hope that Hauntcon thrives and survives because it makes people happy and some people look forward to it very much same goes for all of these shows.

As a website and magazine that is and should always report news fairly and not show favoritism we shouldn't even take sides.

MHC is ON THE BALL I know this much, probably more so than ALL of the tradeshows out there. They send me press releases, they send me banners, they send me information, they give all you people tons of updates, and make posts, stay connected to the people, and are so friendly with everyone its hard to say a bad thing about them.

Hauntcon on the other does NOT send me press releases, they do not post on these board to promote the events, therefore hardly anything is ever said about the event. I have reached out to them many times and asked for information but I never get any. We have taken it upon ourselves to put information about this event on our blogs, and have created a message board for this event and at one point one of the organizers made some posts about it. I invite Leonard and Hauntcon to join these boards and promote Hauntcon the same way MHC does.

We welcome the information!

Right now it looks pretty clear that MHC will continue to thrive, and the people behind have fallen in love with the industry and have a real passion for it so passion usually keeps all things successful.

We will do ANYTHING for MHC, EHC, or Hauntcon, or Ironstock or any of these shows if they ASK US!

That is a promise!

As a buyer and strictly as a buyer I think that St. Louis show will attract the most vendors booths and buyers with checkbooks. But beyond this show which shows should you attend... I will say the same thing I always say ALL OF THEM!

I say buy all videos, magazines, and attend all the haunted houses you can get your body to, and all of these tradeshows have something different, something unique to offer and if you can go GO!

I have said this before and I will say it again...one of these days I will attend MHC, Hauntcon, and all the rest!

I want to go!

Larry

[Boni]

Larry, seeking your opinion

Larry, I had some questions about what conference fits certain situations a few post back. You replied to the we part but not the other questions.

I'm interested in what you have to say about all the different options.

To grow the Haunt industry as a whole like you say, one of the biggest gains you could make is helping those like me that are just getting started but need some help moving up the learning curve.

I'm curious as to why you only responded to the WE comment?

[kpolley]

Between Vegas and St. Louis there is no debate. If you are a haunter you need to be in St. Louis. Vegas will have very little if any haunt presence. All of the vendors have talked about this at length and all agreed that St. Louis is the show to support. Some may end up in Vegas too when it's all said and done...but they ALL will be in St. Louis. You would be VERY disappointed if you went to Vegas.

[Haunted Illinois]

Oh, don't forget about the Ironstock Haunt Conference in Tell City, IN. ( http://www.ironstock.com ) Their event has been around since the late '90's, I believe.

[Mr Nightmarez]

Don't forget the newest Convention Eastern Haunters Convention
We had a choice to attend Hauntcon, MWHC or Eastern and chose to try something new - plus I wanted to tour Eastern State!
We traversed from Tennessee to Philadelphia and enjoyed the new convention.

So now the industry has HAUNTCON, Midwest Haunters Convention, Eastern Haunters Convention and I do a Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror Convention www.ConNooga.com in the south. Not just for haunters!

Now Transworld is split - So do I do Vegas or St. Louis? And next question WHY ARE THERE 2!?

Maybe I missed that among the other couple of pages as I have not been on in a few weeks... but as a haunter it is rather frustrating. Which event will offer me more for my money? Which events offer more for my staff / team?

I feel Hauntcon, MidWest, and Eastern all offer the fun and interactive aspect that is lacking at Transworld Events. Transworld = Buyers Market to me. The other conventions offer a chance to enjoy and learn.

That's my 2 cents/sense...

But it still leaves me wondering where should I spend my money for this season? St Louis or Vegas?

[Barry]

Mark,

Keep in mind that the seminar list I have on the website is from 2008. I leave it up for reference until I compose the new series. I am in the process of doing that right now and hope to have it posted by the end of January. I am receiving some great class ideas and will have some new speakers too!

Barry

[Boni]

Thanks Mark,

I was reading the seminar list for MW and it looks right up my alley as far as basic marketing, scare tactics, etc.

I did not find a similar list for TW. Anyone know what they plan on doing for seminars?

[MarkSchaefer]

Boni, "I AM" with a charity haunt also having been to TW years a go planning on going this year. Went to MW last year. With that in mind either should do for your situation or even our larger budget.

TW is big with everything included as I remember. "We" at that time probably
got caught up to much in large expensive items. More like day dreaming at the time! It is all there just keep a perspective and on task.

The seminars at MW really helped us this year. There were number of interesting
budget ideas that in end gave us what was needed most, multiple scares. There
were some of the leading industry companies there too.

"We" have already made most of decisions in regards to props and smaller items
all ready. Our goal is to add perhaps one new medium priced item a long with
the idea for that scene. If the price isn't there or if it doesn't strike us that purchase is out. Buy some of smaller items that are in our plans . An, fill in elsewhere with more good small ideas that fit in. Last but not least, get some of our people into various seminars.

In summary, Either has what your looking for. Hope this helps.

[robert]

Brainstorm?!.....Feels like 10 years since they last showed up........... That is a good sign. Can anybody twist the arms of some of the other veteran vendors like EX-Mortis?????

[Boni]

OK Larry, sorry about the WE thing, but can you add some answers or insight into my questions?

[drfrightner]

When the 'WE' thing was posted that was a copy and paste from an email from Transworld. So the 'WE' is FROM TRANSWORLD not me.

I'm just pasting what was in my email box. I never say 'WE' when referring to Transworld. When I do say 'WE' I mean US as an industry. Aren't WE all in this together?

WE want to make OUR industry better don't WE??? Who is with ME on this?

LOL

Larry