American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 176 March 2014 | Page 15

“

Where have all my
Catalogs gone?

”

Robin Bradley reviews this year’s 13th annual V-Twin Expo at Cincinnati,
February 8-9, 2014 - a year in which quality of attendance, timing and
economy of duration made the event a winner

C

ONGRATULATIONS
to
everybody
involved
at
Easyriders Events
and
Reaction
Management (their show
contractor) for delivering
this year’s 13th annual V-Twin
Expo at Cincinnati, Ohio, on
February 8th and 9th.9th.
"I ran out of catalogs!" If I
heard that from one exhibitor,
then I must have heard it from
a dozen - and before the end
of the first day too. As
bellwethers for how an expo
has gone, that is a good one!
Trying to generalize about the
outcome of any industry expo
is also an invidious task, but
based on a balanced
assessment of the several
dozen exhibitor perspectives
that we here at AMD Magazine
garnered, the consensus view
is that the show worked,
worked well, and that it is now
(again!) blindingly apparent to
most people that there is no
reason why it cannot continue
to work well in the future.
As has been the case
throughout the downturn,
there has been, and was at the
weekend, the continued
gossiping and rumourmongering about the viability

www.AMDchampionship.com

of the V-Twin Expo project, on
any number and manner of
grounds – from date, to
duration, to venue, to concept
as a trade-only nexus at a time
when the trend is undoubtedly
moving towards combined
trade and consumer
attendance at such shows,
and when electronic and
social media are
challenging the channels.
However, while it was very
difficult to gauge overall
numbers relative to last
year (due in large part to
the continuing evolution
of the geometry and real
estate count of the show
layout), it did appear that
there were sufficient
visitors in the aisles to
feed most of the booths
with a reasonably steady
flow of visitors at most
times of the day on the
Saturday.
Those familiar with the
V-Twin Expo, indeed, most any
other trade expo, will realize
that attendance will inevitably
pulse up and down the aisles
in waves, so there will always
be quieter hours, and busier
hours.
This year though, whilst the
one hour earlier opening has

yet to translate into an earlier
visitor habit, the hall did stay
reasonably busy longer into
the afternoon than has been
the case, with the majority of
the exhibitors that we spoke
with reporting good numbers,

and above all good quality
meetings with dealers who are
genuinely in a position to
make buying decisions.
One big concern had been
what would happen on the
Sunday. The experience last
Continued on page 16 >>>

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Class of 2014
AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - MARCH 2014

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