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Posted by Steve on February 20, 2002 at 00:07:09:
In Reply to: BACKK OFF!!! posted by Zac on February 19, 2002 at 10:20:27:
Zac! How ya been? I wish you would have stopped over to say hi, I don't think I've seen you since the night you did the talk.
Okay, I think things are kind of calming down here, at least I hope so. Most of this has been talked through, but I do want to simply make a few points. First off, Zac, you made some excellent points. But as I believe you now realize, your initial approach was a bit provocational. And as I am involved in much of the organizational aspects of the show, I want to mention a few aspects, in reqards to a few of your comments, that you may not have thought of.
As to the number of vendors. Trust me, we were more than aware that we didn't have as many vendors as we would have liked, but what were we to do? These shows are planned many months ahead but many of the vendors don't book untill that month. Then, in addition, there are always vendors who don't show.
This month, one of our regular vendors was out of the country, another, who is based in Florida, attended an Alabama show instead. Yet another, from Virginia, had already booked a show in Maryland before talking to me, and then we had a vendor who had reserved six tables not show up.
Now we do our best to avoid competing with other shows within a 200 mile area, as well as some of the really big shows which are farther. However, sometimes it can't be helped, or sometimes the dates of some of these shows aren't available to us at the time when we are scheduling ours.
As to the entrance fee. Well as several people already mentioned, the Monroeville show has gone up, and I think, although I am not certain, that Columbus may have increased as well. In addition, you look through the show ads in Reptiles, and you will see shows with fees of $5-$7.
Like Kathy mentioned, our show is young, and we need to be sure that we can at least cover our expenditures. I was shocked when I discovered how much it cost to advertize for each show. Then this year our rent doubled, as did our insurance. As I said, there are lots of expenses that people don't always think about.
Okay, you mentioned emaciated snakes and snakes with mites. As Todd, and I believe Lisa said, you should have pointed that out to one of us. I can't say for sure we would have done anything, it would have been a judgement call, but we would like to know. Even at a small show, there are a lot of animals and we don't always see them all. I would also like to say that I have seen those same conditions, at one time or another, at almost every other reptile show I have been to. Unfortunatley it happens. Hell, at one show I attended, there was one vendor, that once we got within a few feet of his tables we were hit with the unmistakable smell of death and decomposition. Don't know what it was or where it was, but it was obviously somewhere in that guys area.
You mentioned your educational programs that you do. Would you be interested in presenting a short program at any of our shows? One of the aspects I had originally invisioned for our shows was to have a much greater educational aspect than what is seen at most shows. However, initially we met with some resistance, and now there is a fairly small number of us doing the shows, and we haven't had time to do that as well. But that IS going to change.
In conclusion, I want to thank you for your input. I am going to print the information out and we will discuss it at the next meeting. If I was to mail you flyers, would you be willing to post them down your way? If so, we would appriciate it. And I also thank you for sending people up our way.
Steve
