Upcoming Locations For The National

[Exhibitman]

Having been involved with a few small shows here in LA, I can safely say that the idea of a second major show is a great one but the financial and time commitments are such that you would basically need to have no other job for a year and six figure financing to even attempt it. Even doing a local show is a $hit-ton of work, several hours for each hour of the show itself. You have to:

-Find a venue and lock it down
-Chase sponsors and lock down their commitments
-Procure insurance
-Establish the business entity and local licensure
-Create documentation (dealer contracts, etc.): if you aren't a lawyer with a good grasp of transactional needs, you will probably have to retain one.
-Arrange hotels and related amenities for traveling attendees
-Find dealers
-Get dealers commitments and $ and signed contracts
-Develop social media and other e-marketing
-Develop advertising and procure ads
-Arrange for whatever amenities are needed that the venue won't provide: we had to rent tables and travel across the county to get showcases for rental to out of town dealers
-Arrange for guest signers (if any) which also requires
--Payment of fee
--Preparation of tickets
--Arrangement for merch to sell for signatures
--Book a photographer for VIP meet and greet/photo ops
--Procure merch you want the guest to sign for you to sell later
-Arrange to attend every day of the show from doors open to the final booth is broken down

And then there are the inevitable unanticipated BS things you have to deal with. My group's last show nearly got shut down before it started because we rented a facility from a local school and some yo-yo with an overactive imagination showed up with guns: guns are illegal at schools for anyone other than a peace officer.