2022 Fort Lauderdale Boat show

I wasn't able to attend the show this year. Chained to the keyboard working through some indexing issues. I wish the revenue model afforded an IT staff, but until then... I'm all we've got.

I spoke to several friends in the industry who said the opening day was slow, mostly industry folks roaming around. Thursday and Friday were a bit more brisk and the weekend was busy. I'm told it was more quality than quantity which is expected because the cost and logistics to attend the show doesn't favor spectacle seekers.

The agency repping the show put out a press release asking the media to put a positive spin on the show; it creates jobs, impacts the local economy, etc. In the coming days they are releasing "a comprehensive plan outlining major announcements for next year's show". Difficult to interpret this but it sounds like unhappy customers. The fact is, the cost to display and stay at these shows may not yield the same results as previous years. The Internet has been a disrupter to both print and trade shows.

We all love FLIBS. I hope the show was a success for the builders and vendors in attendance. Short of that, I think the new boat show is online and our daily visitors quantify that statement. We average 20,000 to 25,000 visitors a day... every day. PLUS, our visitors are only here to obtain information on yachts, NOT center consoles, speedboats or dinghies.

My dingy identifies as a yacht.

I was over there for the week. Went Thur for the day and thought attendance was down but went back Sat and there was so many people you couldn't move plus it was HOT so only stayed a few hours. Brokers and reps all said business was great but everyone was less optimistic about the coming year.

With the photos, videos, and facetime walk thru available, you don't really have to go to a boat show for a walk-on to make an offer if you know what type of boat you want and all looks good.