2024 IM Expos: Your impressions?

Triathlon Forum
21

You are describing the experience I had at IM Maine–we were forced into and through the “big white tent” in order to pick up bib and packet, and the only way out of the tent was to wander the aisles of IM merch. The other expo vendors were “outside the tent” and because it was so hot, not many people were willing to mill about in the blazing sun to see the vendors. I was very turned off the IM product after that race, and instead I chose to race more “big” local events. Interestingly, though, now that I race gravel, I am heading back to the bigger events: Steamboat, BWR and Unbound. I’d love to go to Sea Otter–it looks amazing!

The expo at Unbound in Emporia last week was HUGE! It reminded me of the good 'old days of Ironman expos. Lots of vendors giving away free swag greatly enhanced this users experience. And this was only about bikes.

22

Roth is on my to-do!!

23

You are describing the experience I had at IM Maine–we were forced into and through the “big white tent” in order to pick up bib and packet, and the only way out of the tent was to wander the aisles of IM merch. The other expo vendors were “outside the tent” and because it was so hot, not many people were willing to mill about in the blazing sun to see the vendors. I was very turned off the IM product after that race, and instead I chose to race more “big” local events. Interestingly, though, now that I race gravel, I am heading back to the bigger events: Steamboat, BWR and Unbound. I’d love to go to Sea Otter–it looks amazing!

There’s a huge difference. Expos like Sea Otter have a variety of vendors showing off new things, selling all sorts of stuff, sometimes giving away little things. Expos like IM have IM brand or partnered brands selling overpriced tshirts. No new tech, nothing that’s cool to look at, only avenues to give more money to IM.

24

You are describing the experience I had at IM Maine–we were forced into and through the “big white tent” in order to pick up bib and packet, and the only way out of the tent was to wander the aisles of IM merch. The other expo vendors were “outside the tent” and because it was so hot, not many people were willing to mill about in the blazing sun to see the vendors. I was very turned off the IM product after that race, and instead I chose to race more “big” local events. Interestingly, though, now that I race gravel, I am heading back to the bigger events: Steamboat, BWR and Unbound. I’d love to go to Sea Otter–it looks amazing!

There’s a huge difference. Expos like Sea Otter have a variety of vendors showing off new things, selling all sorts of stuff, sometimes giving away little things. Expos like IM have IM brand or partnered brands selling overpriced tshirts. No new tech, nothing that’s cool to look at, only avenues to give more money to IM.

I believe Dan was pushing on IM to make that (easy, imo) switch to being more of a Sea Otter, and I’d love to see that transition. Yes, selling product in a race booth is nice, but from my perspective, I’m wanting to have some stationary bikes set up for people to hop on and test some saddles, make connections and shake hands, give out waterbottles, do give aways, meet and greet with pros, and show off manufacturing processes and unreleased products, and like Sea Otter, have media swarming and reporting on those products, and mingling with race participants and gear nerds not doing the race. If I were expo czar, might even say: you can be in our expo, but you have to have new unreleased product for our media partners to report on - maybe even a no-sales rule. Most vendors at Sea Otter are not selling goods - argue with that logic how one likes, but I think there’s a time and place for just shaking hands and showing off product with no sales.

25

Does anyone remember the old Wildflower expos?? Now that was a template of how you do it, and make a ton of money as a RD too. It got so successful that they had a dedicated person to just run the thing all year long. And I knew of booths doing over a $100k+ in sales over the weekend, I had a booth that routinely did 15 to $20k for a price between $500 to $2000(depends on size of booth)

There would be 30 to 40 booths there, along with food vendors and live music. The cash registers at each booth were going off constantly over the 3 days, and it was symbiotic with the actual race sponsors who got prime placings. It all works because you would get up to 10k people walking through instead of the dozens Ironman gets. Everyone benefits when the numbers are there, no one wins when it is just a big hard pass to even walk through…

26

I believe we are missing one factor when it comes to Ironman and Sea Otter. Sea Otter is a much less frequent event. It happens one time at one place. Ironman is damn near every other weekend. If I am a niche vendor I don’t think I have it in the budget to get a staff member or to on the road every week to set up a booth.

27

I believe we are missing one factor when it comes to Ironman and Sea Otter. Sea Otter is a much less frequent event. It happens one time at one place. Ironman is damn near every other weekend. If I am a niche vendor I don’t think I have it in the budget to get a staff member or to on the road every week to set up a booth.

Yes, I believe Dan was suggesting to them for something like Oceanside to be the Sea Otter new gear type of event seeing how it’s in close proximity on the calendar and geographically to Sea Otter. and then other events be like the Wildflower model Monty just referenced.

That said, Sea Otter, Unbound, MidSouth, SBT, Leadville… that’s more than one event and they all have awesome expos.

Monty, what were you selling at your booth(s)?

28

I believe Dan was pushing on IM to make that (easy, imo) switch to being more of a Sea Otter, and I’d love to see that transition. Yes, selling product in a race booth is nice, but from my perspective, I’m wanting to have some stationary bikes set up for people to hop on and test some saddles, make connections and shake hands, give out waterbottles, do give aways, meet and greet with pros, and show off manufacturing processes and unreleased products, and like Sea Otter, have media swarming and reporting on those products, and mingling with race participants and gear nerds not doing the race. If I were expo czar, might even say: you can be in our expo, but you have to have new unreleased product for our media partners to report on - maybe even a no-sales rule. Most vendors at Sea Otter are not selling goods - argue with that logic how one likes, but I think there’s a time and place for just shaking hands and showing off product with no sales.

Agreed on all points. The brand-building potential at expos surely dwarfs the actual sales. Which in part explains IM’s stance. There’s not much brand building left to do, especially among people at the expo.

As far as there being so many events, if the fees aren’t exorbitant ($75k) and more nominal then you can have local bike shops, food trucks, even big brands at the bigger races. IM Maryland is never going to pull in a ton of big vendors, but IMLP or Oceanside should be gigantic. I’m sure there’s some hotshot MBA in the room at IM who shows why allowing other vendors at the expos doesn’t maximize their risk adjusted profit.

29

Will talk to that MBA on Friday and report back
.

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Monty, what were you selling at your booth(s)? //

In the early days a combination of new and used wetsuits, mostly demo suits going out the door for a $100. Later on when DeSoto became a thing, added some of his clothing to the mix too. But in the last years before the race closed, Dan and I bought out the inventory of Trisports in a bankruptcy auction, so we had a little bit of everything small you would find in a Tri shop. Think the first year we did nearly $30k in sales there, but then covid hit and we were/are left with a lot of that inventory still…That was our plan in the beginning, figured 3 or so Wildflower expos and we could get rid of 90% of that stuff, it really was a shoppers dream that expo…

Plus it was just plain fun to be there are around all those people, it really was the Woodstock of triathlon…

31

It got so successful that they had a dedicated person to just run the thing all year long.

I think there’s your answer. It took so much effort they had a dedicated employee to handle it. Things have gotten a lot more complicated with cities these days with regard to certificates of insurance, fire marshall inspections, etc. Then let’s talk about the trade show dealing with vendors. Do they need power? Point of contact for questions, locations, complaints about locations, booth size, setup and take down coordination, freight or storage requests, complaints of competitors doing annoying things, etc. etc. I’ve been on both side of this issue in other industries.

I’m not saying a big show isn’t preferred. I’m not saying it’s not better. I’m just saying it’s a lot of work and at the end of it, IM seems to be saying, they will only do the work for those vendors IF the vendors make it very much worth their while. You’ve got to pay an employee to manage the vendors, and pay a manager to manage that employee, and pay the investors for all that work. At some point, Ironman can’t just keep telling investors, “trust me this is for the good of the brand and the sport that we engage in this marginally profitable side show that requires a lot of upkeep”. Don’t get me wrong, for every vendor that can just find a space and show up and be self sufficient there is another needy vendor or two that’s causing problems or headaches.

And then as mentioned, everyone of those vendors potentially reduces the share of wallet that comes into the IM tent and that reduces the potential helmet, goggle, wetsuit, shoe sales, etc. that Ironman gets to pitch to their title sponsors. I wrote that before I did a little googling and…

All that said, a 10x10 booth with one table and 2 chairs and power at a 70.3 Coeur D’alene or any other 70.3 I’ve checked is just under $1400 bucks. Kona the same thing is $5400.

I dunno, that doesn’t seem so crazy? Where did they get this 75k for 10 events thing? Maybe they were including a Vinfast?

https://expo.ironman.com/all-events

It is interesting they charge more for full distance events - Chattanooga full IM 10x10 with power is 2250, and they charge only $600 for Whistler UTMB. Their pricing is definitely a little screwy, but UTMB pricing would suggest that IM should be perfectly fine charging $600 at their other events.

32

The $75k package comes with some social media exposure, they are trying to sell it as an up charge. Surprised the a la carte is that low.

33

Does anyone remember the old Wildflower expos?? Now that was a template of how you do it, and make a ton of money as a RD too. It got so successful that they had a dedicated person to just run the thing all year long. And I knew of booths doing over a $100k+ in sales over the weekend, I had a booth that routinely did 15 to $20k for a price between $500 to $2000(depends on size of booth)

There would be 30 to 40 booths there, along with food vendors and live music. The cash registers at each booth were going off constantly over the 3 days, and it was symbiotic with the actual race sponsors who got prime placings. It all works because you would get up to 10k people walking through instead of the dozens Ironman gets. Everyone benefits when the numbers are there, no one wins when it is just a big hard pass to even walk through…

Yeah I remember meeting you and Dan there at the expo at Wildflower 1996 after meeting you at a similar booth at Roth 1993 (I believe you were living with Jurgen Zack near Cologne Germany that summer…you were showing me some Syntace clip on aerobars at Roth…I was on Scott). Both those expos were awesome. It seems like everyone was winning off that format and like you said the key was volume of people at those.

34

Those prices for individual events actually are pretty reasonable - maybe not for Boulder with the three or so tents I saw set way off to the side from the big white tent, but maybe for other races. Would require some research on my end to determine which IM races funnel people through the expo, how many vendors they have, which vendors will be present, and then the cost. Appreciate you researching and sharing those numbers!

The $75k is for a 10 race package (Boulder being one of them) and comes with some social media coverage (though there are very clear limitations on what’s allowed), one race entry per race, and a special endemic bike industry expo area just for us, though I didn’t see that present in Boulder with it’s tiny expo.

35

Roth is on my to-do!!

Challenge race are so different. Did Almere last year and was shocked at the expo! It was amazing. I’d focus on that market.

36

Chatted with Ironman.
The Bike endemic sponsor program is in it’s infancy and the kinks are being worked out to make it something more bite size.There is awareness that all expos need to place packet pick up at the end of the expo and not just within the white tent.Possibility of some on site pop up areas within the expo for folks that want to have a 2 hour event vs a 2-3 day booth.Didn’t seem too interested in having local race directors presenting their race on site, and I did make the argument that women may not be entering that short to long distance pipeline, but helping increase female participation in non-IM shorter distance races local to the IM race where the expo is being held could present co-opetition type spillover effects beneficial to IM.Brought up on his own that he’d love for the expo to be similar to Eurobike. Talked that through, and I pushed Dan’s idea of Oceanside being that venue, with its geographic and temporal proximity to Sea Otter, with bringing in media for a mini tri focused Sea Otter. That idea excited him. And the idea more generally of curating the expo providers to increase the athlete experience.I pushed that IM has the race experience down (did not mention Mortal), but the expo and much of the IM experience feels very extractive, and the expo seems like a key area to add to that athlete experience with a mini Sea Otter vibe, local RD’s presenting their races, pop up events within the expo.

37

weird that they don’t want local race directors promoting their races at IM expos. That is crazy. They need a local ecosystem for their 1x per year even locally to thrive. This should be a no brainer win win for all sides. You want to keep athletes in the sport. How do you do that. 1x IM racing per year and doing nothing else but train and after maybe a 2 year cycle, that person leave the sport. If they race 1x per month for 4-5 months a year, that person turns into a committed triathlete versus a one time event participant.

38

weird that they don’t want local race directors promoting their races at IM expos. That is crazy. They need a local ecosystem for their 1x per year even locally to thrive. This should be a no brainer win win for all sides. You want to keep athletes in the sport. How do you do that. 1x IM racing per year and doing nothing else but train and after maybe a 2 year cycle, that person leave the sport. If they race 1x per month for 4-5 months a year, that person turns into a committed triathlete versus a one time event participant.

To be clear, I was never explicitly told that they are not interested in that. It’s just that portion of the conversation did not spark any further conversation or apparent interest, whereas all of the other topics generated excited conversation.

39

I couldn’t agree more.
And you don’t have to go back multiple decades either; only 7-8 years or so.

I have done too many IM to count. I used to enjoy the expos for what everyone else is saying; hanging out with other atheltes, trying new products, getting food from a vendor/ food truck, :15 min massages from a local business, hanging out all day, shop sales at the local bike shop/ running store tent, getting piutched on new windows for my house, running on the new onclouds, sampling Beef from US beef trucks, my family would make signs, charities, etc… I recall spending all the days ahead of IM Lake Placid just hanging out out at the expo for hours.

Now a days, in and out in 10 min flat. And not even staying in the town/area, just heading back to my hotel.

I have raced all over this world and between running and triathlons. IM seems to be the only one who has imploded their expos. Their reasoning is that their ‘exclusive’ partners pay for the category so only they get to sell on site. Hey IM, FYI, most of your partners are lame and most atheltes don’t care for them. They are partners becuase they are trying to grab market share; and as history shows, your platform doesn’t work :wink:

The new CEO claims he wants to focus on the atheltes experience, well the expo would be an ideal place to start.

40

I’d add that if Ironman took more of a local market approach to their expo (not just the running stores, but all of those local vendors that show up at various local festivals) there would be a ton of benefits:

  • Ironman athletes stay in area longer
  • Local (non sporting including) vendors generating some business which raises support to have the race
  • Those local businesses promoting their presence at the Ironman to their own followers on social media – the sourdough bread lady mommy blogger with 100k followers talking about her experience Ironman weekend to all her followers, etc.
  • Non sporting locals would turn out to shop the fair

And the net result of it all is a greater economic boom to the area that can be tied to the event, so when IM comes back with their hand out at contract renewal time they can ask for more $$$ AND there will be a lot more people inspired to do an Ironman.

We’ve all experienced bringing someone to an Ironman who think it’s an impossible task and then look at the various types and sizes of participants doing triathlon and literally, say, “I had no idea anyone could do this, maybe I could do it…”

That is indeed a big loss for Ironman not to have that happening. But it’s a lot of maybes and what-ifs and the fear of more work and losing share of wallet to the local handmade organic soap lady is apparently to threatening for billion dollar Ironman.