Thoughts on 2025 National Experience?

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

at times it felt like I was at the airport...people were carting actual luggage around with presumably cards inside.

These are the food trucks of the hobby, selling without having to pay for space. But, as with the trucks, enough people must be OK with it that it's not become much of an issue, if at all.

[sb1]

Hank, apparently you have not witnessed a trade night, where anyone and everyone suddenly appears and goes into business. They bring their cards, tables, food and drink and set up. Locally many don't even bother to go to the show they just set up at trade night. Good for the overall hobby I suppose but impacts the dealers on the floor, both buying and selling.

[Jewish-collector]

Maybe they could have the show as usual during the day and the trade nights on the 2nd floor in the evenings. Strict rule of no loitering anywhere in the convention center until a certain time (ie 6 pm, 7 pm, etc,...)

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by sb1

Hank, apparently you have not witnessed a trade night, where anyone and everyone suddenly appears and goes into business. They bring their cards, tables, food and drink and set up. Locally many don't even bother to go to the show they just set up at trade night. Good for the overall hobby I suppose but impacts the dealers on the floor, both buying and selling.

I can see it now, a hotel that turns an entire floor or floors into a "trade night" or nights, with suitcase dealers hawking their wares from their rooms and buyers and sellers never needing to actually attend the convention!

[sb1]

Bingo!

[Schlesinj]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

I can see it now, a hotel that turns an entire floor or floors into a "trade night" or nights, with suitcase dealers hawking their wares from their rooms and buyers and sellers never needing to actually attend the convention!

I had heard some hotels did the opposite. The removed people from gathering.

[sb1]

Hank, DCS the Dallas Card Show.

And, yes some hotels at the National posted signs in their lobby's and everywhere else to fend of trade night happenings, while other hotels had their lobby's, bars, hallways, and other nooks and cranny's overflowing with people plying their wares.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by sb1

Hank, DCS the Dallas Card Show. And, yes some hotels at the National posted signs in their lobby's and everywhere else to fend of trade night happenings, while other hotels had their lobby's, bars, hallways, and other nooks and cranny's overflowing with people plying their wares.

Thanks, and interesting. Of course, there has always been some hotel room action ancillary to the main event, but it sounds like maybe even Rosemont can no longer accommodate the demand for space to wheel and deal. If they can put up these data centers the size of the Pentagon seemingly overnight, seems like there might be money to made building a mega-convention center somewhere on the order of twice the size of the big ones now to handle this and other conventions that have outgrown the current generation of trade shows. Certainly seems like ours is busting at the seams, with wait lists for expensive tables, the proliferation of suitcase dealers, etc.

[Exhibitman]

All this stuff is a product of the sold-out showroom. I saw the overflow upstairs; there is plenty of space to expand the show in Rosemont. Maybe break the logjam on dealers and the bigger informal stuff gets folded back into the main show.

FWIW, I have called for trade nights to be age-gated for quite some time now. Keep the adults from commercializing a fun kids' event. The VIP lounge had people set up selling even before the show opened on Wednesday. There was even a bit of a scrum in the morning when the lounge opened. Bunches of dealers lurching into the space to open up shop. I even saw vintage there.

There have been ancillary events for specialized collectors that have parasitically run with the NSCC for some time. In Cleveland, there was a postcard show. This year in CHi there was the soccer show; that would be fun to hit next year, maybe if it happens again.

Informal selling has always been a feature of memorabilia conventions; it is relatively new to this thing of ours because tables at the National used to be available.I have a fun story on parasite shows and informal sales events, gonna run it in my column next week.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by sb1

And, yes some hotels at the National posted signs in their lobby's and everywhere else to fend of trade night happenings, while other hotels had their lobby's, bars, hallways, and other nooks and cranny's overflowing with people plying their wares.

Fascinating.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by sb1

Hank, DCS the Dallas Card Show.

And, yes some hotels at the National posted signs in their lobby's and everywhere else to fend of trade night happenings, while other hotels had their lobby's, bars, hallways, and other nooks and cranny's overflowing with people plying their wares.

It was unbearable.

[ullmandds]

The hyatt lobby was overrun with "traders" everyday. You couldn't get decent food at all at the hyatt...due to the crowds of traders everywhere.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by calvindog

It was unbearable.

Seriously, Jeff, or are you being facetious?

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by sb1

Hank, apparently you have not witnessed a trade night, where anyone and everyone suddenly appears and goes into business. They bring their cards, tables, food and drink and set up. Locally many don't even bother to go to the show they just set up at trade night. Good for the overall hobby I suppose but impacts the dealers on the floor, both buying and selling.

The Dallas Card Show (DCS) is a perfect example of this. There are a decent amount of vendors in the room Scott is in who sell from their tables on Trade Night, but many people just show up for that and not for the show.

And here are the trade-offs

1) You pay for parking for the DCS but not for Trade Night (I think Kyle or the Hotel is throwing away $$$ by not charging for that)

2) You get to see a limited amount of tables from the DCS but most of the rest of the show is not available to the trade night people.

3) I saw this with what I've heard in the people who come to Trade Night are not as "well-mannered" as the ones who come to the show. (I think that might be part of the trade-off of not paying to get in the door so to speak)

These are all things Dr. Beckett and I discussed on one of his podcasts, so this is not something new for me to say.

https://beckettinsights.podbean.com/...th-rich-klein/

Regards
Rich

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

The DCS is a perfect example of this.

What's the DCS?