An Idea To Improve The National; An Open Letter To The Board

[Exhibitman]

One of the continual complaints about the show is that it is tremendously fatiguing for collectors, especially older ones, to cover an aircraft hangar-sized facility. I am 50 now and definitely not feeling as good about the show as I was when I was in my 30s. Plus, given what I collect, there are always many tables of 'shiny crap' and manufactured memorabilia that I bypass. Logging the miles between vintage outposts is simply getting old. Not to mention the corporate booths in the middle of the floor that have zero attraction for me and that now seem to host ever noisier events that make dealing with customers next to them very unpleasant. The Topps booth was especially obnoxious this year. So, with that in mind, I have a modest proposal for the show's organizers:

1. Relocate the corporate booths to a corner of the room rather than the middle: It would make a tremendous difference to attendees to have this sort of stuff off to the side. People who want to access the corporate offerings could do so but those of us with no interest in it could avoid having to cut across a football field of junk, or trying to hear a seller or customer over the shouts of the pack breakers.

2. Place dealers by specialties: Many trade shows with disparate subject matter group their vendors. It would be very helpful to attendees to have dealers who specialize in modern at one end of the room, and dealers who specialize in vintage at the other.

3. Place the manufactured memorabilia, framing, holders, etc., dealers over by the autograph area: These are the sorts of things people buy when they are getting stuff signed. How about putting the vendors for these items near the people who need them?

4. Put the Third Party Graders in one place. It was a real PITA having SGC, BVG, JSA and PSA spread all over the place with no rhyme or reason to it. I didn't even know that PSA was at the far end of the pack break pavilion until Thursday. It's not like they really compete with one another; each has its own niches and devotees.

[mrvster]

I have never been to a national, yet, but great ideas! the card shows I have been to I feel the same way......vintage one area......autos the next....ect.......

really great idea! I would love the idea of just walking over to the "vintage area"

[Cozumeleno]

I've never been to a National so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. But as someone who has managed attending corporate trade shows for a living before, the prime space is almost always right up front or in the middle. My guess is that those corporate guys are spending big money to be in that space and would balk at paying the same price to be sent to the outer edge. So it becomes a matter of finding other dealers to pay that much to be in that spot.

Again, no idea how it works at the National, but that's the way it is at other types of trade shows.

I think the idea of grouping dealers by vintage/modern is a great idea, BTW. Not sure what you do with the folks that do both, but maybe that'd be a separate area.

[glchen]

Right, I think the big corporate guys pay more money to be at those locations because there would likely be more traffic there, so they wouldn't want to be moved to an edge.

Another idea to perhaps persuade dealers to voluntarily move would be to designate certain areas as prewar, vintage, nonsports, etc, and then see if dealers would want to move to that area. Then collectors who are interested in those things could go to that location first. Not sure how it would work because some dealers would have all eras so may not want to be pigeonholed in certain locations.

[ullmandds]

excellent idea to group dealers by subject matter imo. I'd love to see that...that way I could skip all the shiny crap I have no interest in seeing.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Have the booth numbers displayed would be nice..but I think paying for where your table is will take precedent that giving random spaces based on the subject matter of the sales..

there were 4 days to look around so you can scout the area and figure where you want to go first and do 1/4 each day ...

[4815162342]

Great suggestions, Adam. You've said what we've all been thinking.

[the-illini]

If none of that is doable, would it be so hard to put some empty tables and chairs throughout the convention center so you could sit down?

I know a lot of people didn't like the Cleveland facility, but I loved that I could walk down any aisle and when I got to the end there was a huge group of tables and chairs (and beer vendors) nearby.

[Exhibitman]

I'm not sure the logic of having corporate booths in the center really holds for this sort of show. People who want new cards and boxes to break will seek them out. Same with people looking for the graders. Most collectors I know just consider the center of the show to be an area to avoid.

The more serious concern is the noise that booths like the Topps booth are generating. If redemption contests and pack wars are to be part of the landscape then something has to be done to deal with the noise. I was sitting at tables near the Topps pavilion and it got so loud during those events that it was impossible to talk over it. If that is going to be part of the show then those booths have to move to a separate area. It is not fair to the surrounding dealers.

[bravesfan22]

I'm 26 and in fairly good health and feel the same way you do haha. I wouldn't have logged nearly as many miles on the shoe soles if stuff was divided up into said categories. I know many dealers carry both modern and vintage or carry both cards and memorbilia but I'm sure there's a creative way to fit them in a category as well. At minimum I'd like to see the floor divided up into 3 basic categories of : 1. Dealers 2. Auction companies 3. Card manufactured and their dealers (topps, panini, Blowout cards, da card world etc.) and then maybe a 4th category of miscellaneous like the jerseys and poster guys and what not. But even just the 3 categories split up into sections would save a lot of time and walking.

[edhans]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

One of the continual complaints about the show is that it is tremendously fatiguing for collectors, especially older ones, to cover an aircraft hangar-sized facility. I am 50 now and definitely not feeling as good about the show as I was when I was in my 30s. Plus, given what I collect, there are always many tables of 'shiny crap' and manufactured memorabilia that I bypass. Logging the miles between vintage outposts is simply getting old. Not to mention the corporate booths in the middle of the floor that have zero attraction for me and that now seem to host ever noisier events that make dealing with customers next to them very unpleasant. The Topps booth was especially obnoxious this year. So, with that in mind, I have a modest proposal for the show's organizers:

1. Relocate the corporate booths to a corner of the room rather than the middle: It would make a tremendous difference to attendees to have this sort of stuff off to the side. People who want to access the corporate offerings could do so but those of us with no interest in it could avoid having to cut across a football field of junk, or trying to hear a seller or customer over the shouts of the pack breakers.

An emphatic +1. We were further away then you, but the noise was still really annoying. Give them a separate section of the hall and erect noise baffles. Better yet, put them in another building entirely

2. Place dealers by specialties: Many trade shows with disparate subject matter group their vendors. It would be very helpful to attendees to have dealers who specialize in modern at one end of the room, and dealers who specialize in vintage at the other.

+1 also. Would save an enormous amount of walking for everyone.

3. Place the manufactured memorabilia, framing, holders, etc., dealers over by the autograph area: These are the sorts of things people buy when they are getting stuff signed. How about putting the vendors for these items near the people who need them?

Spot on again.

4. Put the Third Party Graders in one place. It was a real PITA having SGC, BVG, JSA and PSA spread all over the place with no rhyme or reason to it. I didn't even know that PSA was at the far end of the pack break pavilion until Thursday. It's not like they really compete with one another; each has its own niches and devotees.

I didn't find PSA until Sunday.

Your suggestions make too much sense to ever be enacted.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Adam, I couldn't agree more. This was my first National, but even I noticed the Topps folks and believed it to be way over the top. Also, Heritage and the like being plopped right in the middle disrupted the flow for me. I was cruising up and down the aisles trying to map things out and then BAM! there are these giant corporate museums with price tags and security guards right in the middle. It just didn't flow and was intrusive. As someone else pointed out, I am sure they get the middle for bankrolling the operation. On the whole, I appreciate your ideas for carving up and organizing. It could also be organized by sport, prewar, postwar, etc. There would be some overlap anyway you slice it, but just about any attempt would be welcomed. Maybe Heritage, Topps, SGC, PSA, etc. could have a "corporate sponsor space" of their own or something.

[tbob]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

One of the continual complaints about the show is that it is tremendously fatiguing for collectors, especially older ones, to cover an aircraft hangar-sized facility. I am 50 now and definitely not feeling as good about the show as I was when I was in my 30s. Plus, given what I collect, there are always many tables of 'shiny crap' and manufactured memorabilia that I bypass. Logging the miles between vintage outposts is simply getting old. Not to mention the corporate booths in the middle of the floor that have zero attraction for me and that now seem to host ever noisier events that make dealing with customers next to them very unpleasant. The Topps booth was especially obnoxious this year. So, with that in mind, I have a modest proposal for the show's organizers:

1. Relocate the corporate booths to a corner of the room rather than the middle: It would make a tremendous difference to attendees to have this sort of stuff off to the side. People who want to access the corporate offerings could do so but those of us with no interest in it could avoid having to cut across a football field of junk, or trying to hear a seller or customer over the shouts of the pack breakers.

2. Place dealers by specialties: Many trade shows with disparate subject matter group their vendors. It would be very helpful to attendees to have dealers who specialize in modern at one end of the room, and dealers who specialize in vintage at the other.

3. Place the manufactured memorabilia, framing, holders, etc., dealers over by the autograph area: These are the sorts of things people buy when they are getting stuff signed. How about putting the vendors for these items near the people who need them?

4. Put the Third Party Graders in one place. It was a real PITA having SGC, BVG, JSA and PSA spread all over the place with no rhyme or reason to it. I didn't even know that PSA was at the far end of the pack break pavilion until Thursday. It's not like they really compete with one another; each has its own niches and devotees.

+1. Amen, Adam. I wish they would try this for Atlantic City.