another manufacturer: k, this seems like a Tiger Woods-late night tv thing. Have fun. AFFTA dropped the ball and now everything is in free-fall.

I’m not sure what you mean, but with so little outside influence affecting the AFFTA Board (which is not in the habit of listening to bloggers), humor is about all we have left.

And let’s face it; the industry isn’t the heart and soul of fly fishing. If AFFTA face plants, the stronger companies will get along just fine, and fly fishing will continue as a sport.

That said, I appreciate your concrete proposals. You’re offering up a specific plan.

Tom: Now Five: http://www.drakemag.com/blog/industry-scuttlebutt/277-lyfishing-trade-show-to-be-held-in-lobby-of-rock-springs-econolodge  

Six, actually. I was going to announce the availability of the Trout Underground/Man Cave two-car garage for the new AFFTA show (Wally the Wonderdog has already signed to be our first celebrity greeter, I’ll be grilling $10 burgers right outside the door, and the hose is out back if you’re thirsty).

Now you’ve stolen our thunder. But it doesn’t matter; Furimsky’s offering free rooms to dealers and exhibitors, and all you’ve got to offer is a half-dozen opened (and stale) cans of cheap beer…

Turns out I was wrong. Now it looks like four.

From an American Sportfishing Association press release:

December 4, 2009 – Alexandria, VA – The American Sportfishing Association (ASA), in response to an announcement made by the American Fly Fishing Trade Association’s (AFFTA) that its Board of Directors is considering multiple options for a 2010 fly fishing industry trade show, invites AFFTA members, fly fishing retailers and the entire fly fishing industry to attend ICAST 2010 (International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades) being held this coming July in Las Vegas.

“This is a challenging time for everyone in the sportfishing industry,” said ASA Board of Directors Chairman Jeff Pontius, president, ZEBCO Brands. “Acknowledging that fly fishing tackle manufacturers have already set their budgets, in 2010, ASA’s Board of Directors is offering to honor AFFTA’s discounted member exhibitor booth fees and membership in either AFFTA or ASA as a way to help manufacturers who have exhibited at the Fly Fishing Retailer show in recent years.” Pontius further said, “ICAST is the world’s largest sportfishing tradeshow where industry members from around the globe meet to see the very latest in sportfishing gear and accessories. This year we invite the entire fly fishing industry be part of the experience.”

…

“ICAST 2010 already offers a large fly casting pond providing exhibitors with a place to demonstrate their rods, reels and lines to potential buyers,” said ASA President and CEO Mike Nussman. “Our Show Committee is also considering creating a special pavilion located adjacent to the casting pond to further assist exhibitors whose focus is fly fishing tackle, gear and accessories.” Nussman further said, “In addition, our ICAST team will make every effort to ensure that fly tackle buyers will be at the show.”

It’s rare that fly fishermen see feeding frenzies of this magnitude…

http://home.earthlink.net/~icrbe/id7.html

How many of you think custom rod building is a big time part of the fishing industry? I do not think that it cannot possibly be very large, but in just a few years the rod building industry has gathered up one of the most impressive shows and venues in the entire outdoor sports industry. And they did it even though the density of rod builders is VERY LOW no matter where you look. They put on a great event and manage to pull in rod builders from all over the world. Sure, they only use 40,000 square feet and get about 2500 people to attend, but they are up against way higher odds than a much larger sport like fly fishing is.

They have done it smart………go to a city that has been tailor made since 1910 to cater to consumer and trade shows. This is where the HUGE International Home Furnishings Market has called home since 1911. Atlanta, Las Vegas, Dallas and Chicago have tried to take that huge event away…….but little old HIGH POINT still reigns supreme in that market. It is a low cost town to put on such a show which vendors like. No unions, no high prices. The city is set up to produce such shows. Everything there is set up to be user friendly to the vendors and they have more event space than any city in the world. Something like 15 million square feet of event space.

My point is that if these rod building people can take an itty bitty hobby like custom rod building and put on something like this, just imagine what they could do with something like a major fly fishing show. Maybe. But their track record is pretty damn good at this point.

http://www.rodexpo.com

1) We want our own show. But no one wants to go to another show. But the industry needs to support it.

No, retailers and manufacturers need to do what’s best for them. They can choose to go, not go, or go to a different show.

Putting on a trade show is a lot like work, and in my experience that work is undervalued. We put on a considerable consumer event (140,000 square feet, 20,000 consumers). It is a lot like work. If AFFTA thinks it can pull a trade show out of its heinie for 2010, they’re deluded. I hope they mean to affiliate with another show…that would make more sense. But which one>

2) It’s __________’s fault our industry is so screwed up (insert manufacturer, Nielsen, whatever).

But it’s never your fault. It’s never anyone’s fault that participation is falling off. It’s an inevitable fact. There’s nothing we can do about it. It’s too bad our demographic is aging (if you think fly fishing is bad — check out canoeing). I guess we’ll just have to watch it die.

3) Oh, and we wish it were like it used to be in the good old days.

There are no good old days. There is only today, and tomorrow.

–

What finally happened in paddlesports is the industry leaders pretty much walked away from the existing, rather ineffective trade organization(s). They were pretty ego-driven and therefore couldn’t move the needle. We formed our own ad-hoc group so we could work with Nielsen and voila’ — ORSM moves and Nielsen gives our industry a whole lot of other value added. All it took was some leadership, and the cojones to buck the status quo.

Did we piss people off? Yeah, a handful of people who really liked things the way they used to be. In the good old days (that weren’t so good). So now we’re moving forward. And it’s rough to change things, but it’s good and frankly, it feels good.

I really do wish fly fishing would come to OR. It may not be a perfect cultural fit, but you know, it has a lot more to do with kayaking than climbing does.

DB

P.S. The editor who didn’t care about the women’s market was the editor of Fly Fisherman Magazine. Fly FisherMAN. Exactly.

P.P.S. I agree that the party atmosphere can get in the way of doing business. Kenji knows how I feel about that.

Huh? Please ’splain. This is completely anathema to the direction of the OIA, the OR show, every business and advocacy group in the building.

***UPDATE: Angling Trade (industry blog) says AFFTA sources have said there will be an “AFFTA-endorsed trade show sometime in 2010.”

That’s not the same as saying it will be standalone fly fishing show, though you’d assume that would be AFFTA’s goal.

The site also revealed AFFTA revenues and attendance figures from the last few years of FFR:

According to sources, gross income for the 2009 event was somewhere @ $460,000, in 2007, gross income was over $700,000… exhibitor numbers went from 234 in 2007 to 146 in 2009

Note that these are “gross” numbers – not net. It’s not clear to us if Nielsen was losing money on the show, but a 1/3 decline in exhibitors speaks volumes about the show’s viability in its current state.

Now we have three dealer trade shows in the works (and the directors for two of them have posted to this thread).

As soon as I’m a little less sleep deprived (give me 18 years or so), I’ll respond to some of the comments in this thread.

I will say this: the fly fishing industry was ailing long before the economy went south, and AFFTA’s antics (the head-t0-head trade show war with Furimsky – which seemingly continues to this day) have only wasted time and energy that should have been invested doing what AFFTA has only pretended to do the last 3-5 years.

In one sense, it affects me very little; the fly fishing industry doesn’t own the fly fishing experience. But there is some juice behind the concept of more fly fishermen = more protected fly fishing waters.

Tom Chandler: My take is the opposite; the show’s failing because the fly fishing industry’s done such a woeful job of marketing itself (I can cite a painfully long list of examples).
If the industry’s ailing, its trade show suffers with it. Even worse has been the industry’s willingness to pretend all is rosy; the pre-and-post-show happy fests of recent years belied what most of us saw on the floor, yet the cheerleading continued.
I’m not at all sure OR is the best choice for the industry, but I am willing to bet that – unless AFFTA comes up with a good idea, and fast – OR will simply win by default.

Tom you are right, if the industry was healthy AFFTA would have a strong trade show. This is my biggest complaint about AFFTA in that they do very little to grow my business yet they say that is their mission…

But to think that OR is going to grow my business? Not a chance.
They would prefer to support the closing of fishing access.

ASA on the other hand has some great programs as long as you do not mind competing two or three levels below Cabelas, Bass Pro, Sports Authority, Wal-Mart and others. I went to I-Cast a couple of years ago and Plano would not give me a price list because the rep was not available. I think he was on his smoke break.

Throwing up the white flag is certainly an option, but to do nothing and just sit behind my vise and complain seems rather shallow. I would prefer a trade organization that is committed to growing the trade, my trade, fly fishing. I need someone to fight for fishing access and the protection of our natural resources and feed fly fishing education.

Our choices seem to be this simple – OR, ASA, AFFTA, or just give up.

The realities are that growing a sport and industry takes support and money. If AFFTA can produce a trade show that has fewer hands in the kitty then maybe there will be more money left to promote the sustained growth of the fly fishing industry.

I am hoping AFFTA can live up to its mission.

It’s really about where the FF community wants to gather. Your culture will be intact wherever you go, whether it be Vegas, Orlando or SLC. I can tell you where there is better trout fishing. I can’t tell you how to fix a hurting industry. The ‘risk-reward ratio’ has everything to do with where the dealers will go… a bit over 400 came to Denver. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I see a fair number of fly fishing industry leaders (retailers and brands both) at OR, from around the country. Several have already hit me up for badges to OR Winter, in fact.

We at Nielsen would like to continue to serve the fly fishing market. We want to help make it worth the cost for all involved (yes including us). If the industry is interested in a virtual networking event, we can do that… Really well, and we already do for several other industries. It’s incredibly cost-effective, especially for the co’s that spend a lot on imagery and catalogs. I really hope that idea takes root, and will do my part to help it along. Imagine the savings of flight costs, hotels, meals, dancers (oops) shipping, drayage, electrical, etc…
It can be done. We’d love to do it. But the industry needs to support it.

I know there will be a need for the members of the tribe of FF to gather in person too, and I think you can do that at OR, no problem. All the other tribes mix well, and a number of your tribal leaders all attend. It’s not at all a stretch, the OR show is worthy of your presence, as an individual as well as a vibrant specialty marketplace. But it needs to be a unified decision and I can’t make that unity happen. That is yours and AFFTA’s to make happen.

OR is an influential core group of like-minded businesses who understand this common proposition; paddle, fish, surf, climb, hike, birdwatch, photograph, do whatever on open lands and water which we are blessed to have in this country and are increasingly rare on this planet, and we’ll be there to outfit and serve you. Fly fishing seems consistent with that platform to me.

We’d like to help introduce fly fishing to more active women…like the hundreds at OR who run healthy lifestyle businesses and own/buy for shops. That idea is just one example of why it might be worth a try to talk to them, as an industry collective.

What if you were to convert, in regions across the continent, hundreds of influential professional sports women into fly fishing advocates? They might not buy a thing, but they will go back to their shops and partner with local fly fishers and retailers and co-market events and educate hikers and skiers and backpackers about it. That can happen when markets come together.

Not on guard.

Kenji at FFR/OR