Which 2009 trade show to attend?

[Dr. Haunt Chamber of Fear]

Being new in this industry, bring up to speed a little because I am confused by all this.

Larry, are you working for Transworld. You say "we" alot. Do you have a stake in TW.

Who runs the other 2 conventions and do they post here?

If the goal of this site is to promote the industry as a whole, why is there such a push to get everyone to TW and to treat the other's as second class?


Now, which one should I go to. I am 2 years into this, charity haunt, I have maybe $2000 to invest in props and animitronics. I need advice more than anything, good seminars, tours, etc. Vendors selling $15,000 animitronics does me no good. So which event is going to work best for me. I live in N. Indiana, so I'm smack dab in the middle of all three.

Boni,

Each year I have atteneded a different haunt conference. TW, MHC, and HauntCon. With a small budget and new to the game I would recommend MHC. The reason for this is included with your admission you get to attend the most educational sessions for your money as oppose to paying for each class at TW. The classes at MHC have benefited my small haunt the most. As well as the bus tours are great - as they pack in a lot of variety and the price is very affordable. This helps with planning your rooms scenes and props for the next year. Finally, with only $2,000 to spend on supplies you have a small budget so what you need in that price range you will be able to get at MHC.

Having said this, I am coming to TW this year to see the products and go on the haunt tour. I will mostly come in one day and leave the next unless I see a schedule prior to booking airline ticket.

[spookologist]

We'll try to attend as many as possible, as of right now here's what we are thinking.
1-Transworld St Louis: definitely
2-Eastern Haunters Convention: most likely
3-MHC: probably
4:Transworld Vegas: probably not
5:Hauntcon: possibly

Of course things may change as we get closer.

Wayne
www.trailofterror.com

[kpolley]

The reason that many of us have said that we need our own show is because the combined show was drain on us for many reasons.

The prices were much higher than they needed to be. With our own show prices for us have come WAY down.

The retail buyers RARELY buy from us. Sure there were a ton of them wandering around looking, but few ever bought. We weren't the reason they were there.

The retail vendors STEAL!!! Every year they come into our side of the show, look things over, and the next year they have a cheap knock-off of our products for sale to retailers.

We had no pull with TW when the shows were combined. The haunt section was peanuts to TW and they never cared about us. They catered to the retailers because they were where the major money was. Now TW listens to us.

In the end this industry may not be able to support a thousand different shows and conventions. TW has alwyas and, I predict, will always be the major buying and selling show for haunters. The split has simply allowed us to take more control over the show and make it better suited to haunters. I think it's going to be a great change.