World Stamp Show Ny2016 - At The Show

Is he really trying to sell us on technology being used correctly even through it took 4 months to 'tabulate' the attendance?

Using technology correctly would have provided both 'door counts' and the more accurate registration numbers in real time.
Don

Hard to believe. If they did not know every day, I think something is wrong.

My interest in the attendance figures was always just curiosity - I had a great time at the show and it appeared that all the other attendees I saw there were greatly enjoying the experience. I am just a bit puzzled at why it took so long to come out with some data. Even if all 23,000 registrations were paper, which they weren't, I think a single person could have counted them all up in a week or two just to get a raw figure (never mind having them tallied day by day during the show to keep up a running figure), even if the information in the registrations was ultimately being compiled, analyzed and recorded for other purposes.

So be it - looking forward to Boston in 2026 if I hang on that long.

The previous World Show logged 200,000+ at the door. I have to assume that it was with forethought that they switched counting methods knowing they would lose the ability to compare attendance with previous shows. If they didn't think of this then shame on them. If they did, I wish Linn's would hire a journalist who would ask the hard questions when people spin things like this.

I attended 4 days of the show. I was able to add several items to my collection, attend a new release ceremony, sit in an auction session for a 1M$+ stamp, review exhibits and meet members of the APS and other organizations that I belong to. Overall I was very pleased with the event. Not sure why this is - but I am disappointed in the attendance numbers reported. I took pride in telling people how big of a deal it was to attend an event of this size. Not sure why but less than 25K total visitors just seems to take away a bit of the glitter.

I recall seeing early projections prior to the show setting expectations above 200K and this just now feels like a let down. The longer it took to get the numbers the more I expected the final numbers would be much lower that one might have expected. I recognize these numbers have an increased accuracy given the new counting model but in no way should it take 5 months to get these numbers. At this point it is almost a who cares situation - which may have been the point. As noted above, it seems reasonable that a concentrated effort for a few weeks could have knocked out at least a preliminary number especially given as reported so many people registered in advance. I would think that within 30 days a relatively accurate number could have been provided and might serve as a target for Boston 2026 - which I hope to attend.

I attended the 2006 event as well and had a similar overall experience. At that time I never really focused on total vistors - at least it did not seem to be as big of an issue to me or others if I recall. I will say the buzz to me was more exciting in 2006 (maybe because it was my first big show).

This is not meant to take away from what I said was a great 2016 show which had so much to offer. It is obvious that a lot of people did a lot of work behind the scenes that will never be fully appreciated. My thanks to those many people.

https://goscf.com/t/49853 ... I guess that means that I won the bet!

My guess of 77,000 was way off, but I'm a little surprised. Based on my one day at the show, which was later in the week, I thought the count would be higher, even considering the repeat visitors.

I was surprised by the final fiqure ,it sure doesn't sound right to me but I wasn't there. If that number is correct ,then I can't believe that the stamp dealers had good sales numbers . It is hard for me to understand how close to 100 dealers can make enough money to have a profitable show .
Did the average visitor spend over $1,000.00 with the dealers ,remember you got to factor in the youth, wife's and family.My experience has been over half the visitors never buy anything from the dealers they go to the U.S.Post Office or the various country counters and buy mint new issues .
It will be interesting to see what others think .

I know of a number of dealers that said they did very well, including the one I worked for (I know he did well). Of course for some it might have been one or two mega sales rather then a sustained business.

One could work backwards, first estimating dealers' costs (one de minimis, one more generous), then estimating merchandise markups (again, one high, one low) and, from that, compute a range of break-even gross sales points.

Then do an 80/20 (20% of the guests spent 80% of the money) and see what kind of money the attendees needed to leave behind to make the whole thing work.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Break even points vary tremendously based on location as well as booth size. It seemed to me that a lot of people saved up for this show, and they spent accordingly.

At shows with free admission I bet the ratio/rule is more like 10/90 or 5/95

Seriously, not this show. Not that everyone spent big bucks, but most people seemed to be buying to their limit.