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I dont want to come across harsh, but I feel like I might be able to provide some insight.
As a reptile vendor, there were a few reasons why I chose not to do this show.
For one, location. Pleasonton isnt exactly centrally located. I dont drive a car, and something that is near public transportation just seems more convenient, and I make the assumption that there are alot of people who feel the same way.
Even the San Jose show in years past has had very poor attendance, which makes it not financially worth it for vendors, and a 1 day event vs. a 2 day is going to discourage anyone to come long-distance for the show. Driving 12 hours from socal is not an option with a show like that. Upscale Reptiles even decided against putting on a San Jose show this year because of such poor attendance.
Secondly, Pricing and target group. Its a BIRD [and reptile] show, mostly attended by bird enthusiasts. The price for the smallest booth size is roughly half of what they charge for a 2 day event at Sac, even tho I assume that it includes electricity. For that price, I would expect a sac size attendance of buyers who are looking for what I am selling. Even if 1/2 the people there were there for reptiles, thats still cutting my target group down, and with booth cost, gas, lodging, that makes the amount I have to make to CUT EVEN in ONE DAY, about $500. Thats not including what I spend on displays and everything, OR how much work you have to do, cupping and preping animals, packing displays, driving there, unpacking, labling everything, setting up the displays, for... a few hours? then you disassemble everything, pack it up, put the animals away, drive back, unpack the animals. Its just alot of work, and stress for animals, for a one day show.
And what kind of services are you offering? What kind of advertizing are you doing? Radio commercials? billboards? Forums and craigslist arent going to cut it if you are trying to reach a large group of individuals. Not everyone has computers, and even a lot of old-school reptile people dont do business on the internet at all.
If you are having issues because the date of your show is conflicting with the Sacramento show, then I would suggest you change your date. Sacramento is the largest show in northern California, both with number of vendors and the number of attendees. They actually have a limit of how many of each type of vendor there is, so vendors are even turned away. The show is literally packed from open to close both days, I dont have time to walk away from the table I am busy talking to people the whole time, and I prefer not to have the "what is a gecko" conversation.
Everything says bird. Your screen name, the title of your site, the look of your site. you only have pictures of birds, the vendor list only has 1 obvious reptile vendor. I mean, I really love doing shows, but I didnt even really consider this one as being... a reptile show. Like the petaluma show isnt really a reptile show. I would have gone to this show... to look at the birds.
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