dannzac
Verified Trader
Here are my thoughts and suggestions for future shows:
1. Dealer organization-the best dealers had their cards in a drop box with separate folders by category (modern, vintage, autos, PSA graded, etc). This was a whole lot easier to navigate than an Ebay store and you don't spend as much time searching. Some dealers had 10,000 cards listed and it's time consuming to search through something like that at every booth. I also wasn't a fan of the slide shows. Too much time to wait for pictures to show up, and then if you were interested in something, it was gone too quick. I know there was a learning curve here but I hope more dealers switch to the drop box route in the future.
2. Dealer booths-the most interesting and fun booths were the ones that had a constant flow of people dropping in live. It was nice listening to the hobby talk while browsing the booth. The most active ones I noticed were Puck Junk, Sports Cards Live, Vintage Hockey Collector, and Vintage Hockey Card Shop. Jim at VHCS even did his own interviews of various collectors during the show. The Ultra Pro booth was surprisingly good too. I almost didn't go there but they consistently had 2 sales people chatting about their products, they had an offscreen moderator reading questions from the chat room, and had lots of giveaways. On the other hand, there were at least 2 booths that did not have a single person online the entire show. I just don't understand that because like Barry said on SCL last night, it's about networking and making connections for future deals. A suggestion would be for dealers to have some buddies to rotate in and out of their booths just to have conversation going when the booth is slow. It's kind of weird clicking on a booth and seeing someone staring at you in complete silence.
3. Main stage-The interviews were good from what I saw. I caught bits and pieces of Esposito, BGS, Bushwacker Luke, Steiner Sports. I liked the fact that some of them were taking live questions from the chat. The only thing that was weird was that they were cut off and ended abrubtly while people were still speaking. I wish they'd change the ability to watch the interviews after they end. Maybe put them up for viewing in the reception area so those that missed them (including dealers) could watch later at night after the show ends.
4. User Interface-I thought it was pretty easy to figure out. I used it on both my iPhone and laptop. The laptop was a little nicer layout since there's more room but I could do everything from both devices. It was a little hard to read the chat on my phone especially if there was a large pinned post at the top. I think it would be helpful if there were messages that dealers could post on their video when they are away like "lunch break, be back at 1:00" or something like that. Until I got used to it, it was hard to tell if dealers were in their booth or if it was an issue on my end not being able to see them. I'm sure most first time users were thinking the same thing.
I honestly think for a first run through, the Expo could not have gone any better. Yes, there are some things that can be improved, but when you take into consideration this thing was put together in less than 2 months, it's really quite impressive.
1. Dealer organization-the best dealers had their cards in a drop box with separate folders by category (modern, vintage, autos, PSA graded, etc). This was a whole lot easier to navigate than an Ebay store and you don't spend as much time searching. Some dealers had 10,000 cards listed and it's time consuming to search through something like that at every booth. I also wasn't a fan of the slide shows. Too much time to wait for pictures to show up, and then if you were interested in something, it was gone too quick. I know there was a learning curve here but I hope more dealers switch to the drop box route in the future.
2. Dealer booths-the most interesting and fun booths were the ones that had a constant flow of people dropping in live. It was nice listening to the hobby talk while browsing the booth. The most active ones I noticed were Puck Junk, Sports Cards Live, Vintage Hockey Collector, and Vintage Hockey Card Shop. Jim at VHCS even did his own interviews of various collectors during the show. The Ultra Pro booth was surprisingly good too. I almost didn't go there but they consistently had 2 sales people chatting about their products, they had an offscreen moderator reading questions from the chat room, and had lots of giveaways. On the other hand, there were at least 2 booths that did not have a single person online the entire show. I just don't understand that because like Barry said on SCL last night, it's about networking and making connections for future deals. A suggestion would be for dealers to have some buddies to rotate in and out of their booths just to have conversation going when the booth is slow. It's kind of weird clicking on a booth and seeing someone staring at you in complete silence.
3. Main stage-The interviews were good from what I saw. I caught bits and pieces of Esposito, BGS, Bushwacker Luke, Steiner Sports. I liked the fact that some of them were taking live questions from the chat. The only thing that was weird was that they were cut off and ended abrubtly while people were still speaking. I wish they'd change the ability to watch the interviews after they end. Maybe put them up for viewing in the reception area so those that missed them (including dealers) could watch later at night after the show ends.
4. User Interface-I thought it was pretty easy to figure out. I used it on both my iPhone and laptop. The laptop was a little nicer layout since there's more room but I could do everything from both devices. It was a little hard to read the chat on my phone especially if there was a large pinned post at the top. I think it would be helpful if there were messages that dealers could post on their video when they are away like "lunch break, be back at 1:00" or something like that. Until I got used to it, it was hard to tell if dealers were in their booth or if it was an issue on my end not being able to see them. I'm sure most first time users were thinking the same thing.
I honestly think for a first run through, the Expo could not have gone any better. Yes, there are some things that can be improved, but when you take into consideration this thing was put together in less than 2 months, it's really quite impressive.
