Building the 'Wow' Event Experience: Planning a 200,000 Attendee Event

Send us Fan Mail Attendees are registering later, booking hotels last minute and still expecting to be wowed. John Bailey, CEM, Director, Shows & Exhibits at the National Rifle Association, joins me to talk about planning events at a scale most of us never see. His team runs the Great American Outdoor Show, a nine-day consumer hunting and fishing show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that draws more than 200,000 people, plus an annual meeting and exhibits that moves to a new city every spring. We get into why people are deciding later, what exhibitors expect in return for their dollar, and why and how John knows it all comes down to content attendees can't get anywhere else. I also asked him about the less glamorous side of the job: hotel contracts, attrition and how far out you really need to book. In this episode: Why a nine-day show keeps its nine days, and what would make them scale back How the team picks host cities for an annual meeting that moves every year What canceling an event 30 days out in April 2020 taught them Why attendees are booking later, and what that does to room blocks and F&B counts The $300 hotel mark and keeping costs in reach for families and exhibitors What exhibitors expect when they aren't taking orders on site Why John recommends a housing bureau, and why they book five to seven years out Tightening the aisles, traffic flow and planning for tens of thousands of people in one building About John John Bailey, CEM, is Director, Shows & Exhibits at the National Rifle Association, where he leads the Great American and the NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits. Connect with John LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-bailey-cem-9281158/ Association Transformation is hosted by Elisa Pratt, CEO and Chief Strategist of Brewer Pratt Solutions, and Andrew Chamberlain, Founder and Managing Director of Elevated. Find every episode at https://associationtransformation.org. This episode is general information, not legal advice for your organization. Until next time, put your members and your mission first!