Extreme Coin Show makeover. How would you redesign a coin show?
CoinHusker
Posts: 5,033 ✭✭✭
Is it just me, or do most shows remind you of the movie "Ground Hog Day"? They all look, taste and feel the same as the last one. It's like the same show over and over again.
How would you redesign a coin show from the ground up? As dealers and collectors what would you like to see different? Table formation and bourse layout rethought? An alternative to the rows and rows of tables with rows and rows of allstate cases on them? Onsite food?
How would you make a show more visually appealing? How would you change the way coins and inventory is displayed?
How would you change the way a show is publicized?
Think outside the box and let's see what this accumulation of great minds can come up with.
How would you redesign a coin show from the ground up? As dealers and collectors what would you like to see different? Table formation and bourse layout rethought? An alternative to the rows and rows of tables with rows and rows of allstate cases on them? Onsite food?
How would you make a show more visually appealing? How would you change the way coins and inventory is displayed?
How would you change the way a show is publicized?
Think outside the box and let's see what this accumulation of great minds can come up with.
Collecting coins, medals and currency featuring "The Sower"
0
Comments
Seriously though, give a ways and more give a ways.
Take a percentage of the money that would have went to banners, posters, or other nonessentials and instead give away coins. Have age group give a ways, young people could place their name in a hat and win a coin, have a give a way every half hour.
That would keep people in the room… and most likely keep them buying from dealers.
2. Cut the number of days the show is open. Drop things like PNG days.
3. No "early bird" badges.
4. Wide aisles with plenty of chairs. No tables of less than eight feet.
5. Encourage table sharing. It might bring out some fresh material from dealers who would not otherwise set up.
6. Keep PA announcements to a minimum and make sure the announcer is a good speaker.
but seriously....anything kid friendly that would make them say..."Dad....we WANT to go to the coin show!"
<< <i>Seriously though, give a ways and more give a ways.
Take a percentage of the money that would have went to banners, posters, or other nonessentials and instead give away coins. Have age group give a ways, young people could place their name in a hat and win a coin, have a give a way every half hour.
That would keep people in the room… and most likely keep them buying from dealers. >>
Not a bad idea at all. Keep 'em in the room means they're gonna be lookin' at coins = more sales for dealer's and the excitment of potentially winning something.
Having only been to only 1 coin show ever (and it was less than 100 tables), I assume that the basic setup is the same at most all shows....i.e. Dealer's crammed together with limited space at each dealer's table to plop down and browse, and parking 100 miles away from the show's room.
I'll just have to go to another coin show soon and compare the differences.
-wes
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
Another idea is to have an instant auction. Sellers could consign their coin and within 1/2 hour it could be up for auction to people in the room. They can use their computer or the kiosks computer to bid or just bid live at the table. Auctions close later in the day and payment is due right away. Consignors get paid the next day.
Perhaps people who know the coin business and many of the dealers could be availbale for first time buyers to guide them around, giving them advice on what to buy and what to avoid.
<< <i>Is there an alternative way to display inventory securely other than allstate cases? >>
Like in a Disney Coin Show of the Future. There'll be screens of inventory everywhere, no real coins, just screened images. That's what we are all used to anyway.
New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.
<< <i>Lots of LCD screens and audio. >>
I like it.
Dealers’ cases must have sharp edges and cracked glass whenever possible. Case tops would have sufficient dust to cause customers to sneeze, and never clean the glass – sneeze droplets and finger prints add character and authenticity to the contents.
The sound system will be capable of distorting any human speech into an unintelligible muddle. No exceptions.
No outside food. All food and drink must be purchase from the venue’s approved concession. These consist of prepackaged items left over from the Cat & Dog Expo, and such stale, moldy foods as might be available in nearby dumpsters or found on the floor of a community baseball park. Prices start at $7 for a raw hot dog of uncertain origin – the bun is $3 extra. Condiments are sold for 50-cents per packet. (Note: brown mustard is simple yellow mustard that is more than 4 years old.)
Admission will be free, but it will cost $100(cash only) to exit for any
Chairs: None.
reason.
Restrooms: None.
Public transport: None.
Meeting rooms will be over heated and smell of the Autopsy Room from the latest Undertakers’ and Funeral Directors’ Convention.
Education Programs: None. However, coin collectors must examine all exhibits and will be required to “Oooooh” and “Ahhhhhh!” in appreciation of the 10,000th viewing of a fake 1914 Liberty nickel.
Hmmmm..just read the other posts. Guess I’m describing the “current” not the “ideal.” Shows must, therefore, already be perfect - despite weak attendance compared to the Cat & Dog Show.
Have Mcdonalds cater the event with inexpensive food.
Make all the dealers shower, shave and wear clean
cloths. The female dealers probably do not have to shave.
Have a big screen with the financial channel on during the show
with subtitles.
Bring the shows out of the 19th Century and into the 21st Century.
Have all of the Power Screwers IDENTIFIED with a huge badge.
Free jelly donuts might be nice.
Camelot
<< <i>Like in a Disney Coin Show of the Future. There'll be screens of inventory everywhere, no real coins, just screened images. That's what we are all used to anyway. >>
Disney charges $60/day for their experience. Do you think coin show attendees would be willing to pay that much?
I'd guess not.
I sat at the entrance table for our club's coin show the first time we charged an admission (one whole dollar) and you wouldn't believe all the b*tching and moaning- you'd have thought people were being robbed at gunpoint. If you want more (or new or better) *whatever* at your show, somebody is going to have to pay for it. Lots of collectors won't- you can pretty much bank on that. Can you charge dealers more for their tables without chasing a bunch of them away, too? I don't know.
Now, I'm not arguing against change- I'm just saying that there's a difference between what would be really neat to have at a show and what's practical to do. If someone can figure out how to make the neat stuff practical, that would be great.
<< <i>If someone can figure out how to make the neat stuff practical, that would be great. >>
Well said.
Menomonee Falls Wisconsin USA
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistr...dset.aspx?s=68269&ac=1">Musky 1861 Mint Set
<< <i>Free beer for all customers >>
I think it would be more interesting if there was free beer for the dealers.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
You don’t need “Hollywood” production values to wake up the venue, but you do need to reassess the event from top to bottom.
<< <i>Coin shows, as presently constituted, are not designed to appeal to anyone except hard-core collectors. Imagine you are a state quarter collector and hear about a large coin show in a nice tow – say Baltimore. Poke you head in the door. What do you see? A largely vacant garage punctuated by small lights. Concrete floor. A guard with AK47. The murmur of congealed voices. Only when your eyes become accustomed to the gloom, do you discern tables and rickety chairs. Nothing invites you in. Nothing says, come, learn, excite, enjoy! Nothing says state quarter collectors are just as welcome as pattern collectors.
You don’t need “Hollywood” production values to wake up the venue, but you do need to reassess the event from top to bottom. >>
Thanks RWB. I think your assesment transcends being applicable to just shows but describes the hobby, in general, in many ways.
<< <i>Dealers stay until the the closing time posted on the show advertisements. Especially if admission is charged. >>
Dealers are charged for attendance. So- will buyers be required to be there until closing, too?
1) If a dealer who has paid for a table expects he will leave early, post in the convention schedule approximately when he'll be leaving. (Yes I know this depends on how he did at the auction and in early dealer-to-dealer transactions, but many of the big name dealers can be expected to start packing up around 1 PM Sat. on the typical Wed. through Sunday show).
2) If a dealer expects to stay until the last hour the bourse is open, publish this too, and provide a listing of dealers who will be open for business until the very end.
3) Require dealers to post the mininum amount a collector will have to spend with them before they acknowledge their presence at their table. My biggest turnoff at shows has been walking up to a dealer's table with $500 cash in pocket unable to say hello or get the time of day from the folks behind the table. Cover charges work in the jazz business, why not the coin business?
4) The main food concession should be awarded to a well known large purveyor of fast food with some relatively healthy options (Wendy's, McDonald's, KFC, etc.) on the condition that they provide a large seating for people purchasing ar least one item to sit down and transact business there. Ideally, prices will not exceed 150% of those charged in their nearest franchise.
5) Allow space for an alternative food vendor who offers something unusual (like West African fufu and soup, Swedish pankakes with lingonberries and pickled herring, or Ethiopian anjara), again with sufficient tables for meetings and transactions to paid diners.
6) Parking fees should not exceed admission charges when there is more than a ten minute walk between the parking space and the bourse, unless the show promoter is willing to provide armed escorts upon request for a collector or dealer coming or going.
7) P.A. systems should not be used to serve collectors or dealers with a summons from anyone. We're here to check out coins, not to enrich lawyers.
<< <i>Have all of the Power Screwers IDENTIFIED with a huge badge.
<< <i>
LMAO
All good sugestions folks.
<< <i>Two words… Dancing girls and alcohol (okay, maybe three words!)
We got those here in Vegas plus lots of convention space and relatively cheap luxury rooms. So why don't they move the LBC&S show here