NW FL Outdoor EXPO, first of its kind
- Thread starter FrankT
- Start date
Hello all and my apologies for the late arrival. First of all, Frank, thank you for your posts and support. I am Randy Block and the event manager for the Emerald Coast Outdoors Expo that Frank has spoken of. Yes, putting on an expo is a difficult task, but one that needs to be done. Like Frank mentioned, we are tired of the same old crap revolving overpriced gun shows, and the RV and boat shows have nothing for the outdoorsman. We are trying to promote the sportman, from the mom-n-pop out of the garage business to the bigger stores. This may be our first year but we are not going at it lightly. My next couple posts should answer a lot of questions, but you can go to www.eco-xpo.com and www.emeraldcoastoutdoors.net for more info. If you have any questions, or would like to help by becoming a vendor or referring one, call me direct at 850-218-7394 or shoot me a message at randyblock@cox.net
A lot of effort went into chosing the date of the expo. We found there is no weekWe end without competition of some sort, so we chose the one which best suited our region. We are not going against any local event or festival. We are before school starts and on one of the busiest local weekends. We are before college football, before the Destin Fishing rodeo, and right before everyone is getting geared up for hunting season. It also gave us time to put on the best show possible. We had a demographic study done, figuring most attendees and sponsors will be within a 2 hour drive. With Ft Walton Beach as the center point, that includes Mobile, Montgomery, Dothan, Port St Joe, Pensacola, Navarre, Destin, Panama City, and a few others, with a resident population of over 1.4 million people. Also included are the approximately 13,500-17,000 daily August visitors to Okaloosa and Walton counties that are here to spend money.
Advertising: We are in print, websites, social media, news releases, networking. We are in Destin Magazine and Coastal Angler. We will have 9 full size billboards on every major travel artery coming into the area starting July 4th weekend and running the entire month until the expo. Our idea was so needed, and our plan so professional, "The Ticket Sports Network" offered us, and we accepted, our own 2-hour Saturday morning outdoors radio show to promote the outdoors, the ECO Expo, our sponsors, and our vendors. We are in 3 major cities along the Florida coast; Pensacola, Destin, and Panama City, and we reach from East Mobile to West of Tallahassee. Come help us, join our team, and we will all share in the success. Let me make this clear, I am not a promoter. I've been to too many shows where the vendors were lied to. I am first and foremost a sportsman, and I have integrity. Im taking this on because I absolutely love the outdoors.
Welcome Randy, if you would like to Glenn Guess has offered to talk and help you if he can since he is a paid guest as several shows and is sponsored by some excellent companies. PM him here to make initial contact....Best of luck!
It's good to see something like this being presented in our area. I used to attend most of the shows around here until I realized I was seeing the same over priced items time after time. I quit going to the shows years ago, but I'll attend this one. Hopefully it will be different that the 'cookie cutter" events that we have been seeing for years.
Good luck and know that we appreciate all of the hard work.
Smitty
Good luck and know that we appreciate all of the hard work.
Smitty
Hey everyone, it's been awhile since my last post but very busy with the expo and the launch of the radio show. We are working hard to make this the best show we can. Dick's Sporting Goods just came on as a sponsor, and the radio show is getting great feedback. I'm really enjoying this wild ride!
TEXASLAWMAN
Lone Star Boars Owner
LSB TURKEY BUZZARD PRESERVATION SOCIETY
SUS VENATOR CLUB
LoneStarBoars Supporter
Maybe start over with the new connections?
He has the radio show and maybe when he is personally better known and establishes relationships it will be possible. He was an acquaintance to me and other than posting on forums/FB and getting a couple of gun shops on board I was not willing to stake my reputation on doing more unless I was in more control. There was also a question on the gun shops allowing sales at the show under FL law and letting people walk out of the show w the weapon or having them go to the store after the show to pick up the weapon.