Buy the Big O Show?

[Bob from Omaha]

I just looked & what happened to the Buy the Big O Show??? They cancelled it years ago?

I was telling my wife that we're out of chip clips & I should go to the show to get more. I was half kidding but just to see I looked it up. Not there?

[skinzfan23]

Good question...at one time that was a huge event at the Qwest Center. I remember going a few times, mostly just for the free handouts.

[nebugeater]

The web site for the show redirects to the Chamber web site

www.buythebigoshow.com

The last I can see that it was held was 2014

[Brad]

I believe the email I got said something along the lines of it had ran its course and they were going to move in a different direction.

I participated one year thinking I would get a few leads for my photography... Instead I got a couple hundred sales people asking for my business card and trying to sell me insurance and investments. It was a huge waste of time and money for me to participate.

[Bob from Omaha]

When it first started the idea was to add 5% of company purchasing to local rather than national companies. Get it? Buy the Big O! Add 5% to the local economy and you add a couple of billion dollars to local small and medium businesses. That doesn't include Wells Fargo, etc.

It started at the Holiday Inn Central (RL or whatever the h e l l it is now) and was pretty cool the first year. Not anything fancy just networking. Once it moved to the Qwest Center it seemed to have been required to take any company, local or national, just to fill the space.

I also participated one year and broke a huge rule of mine. Never participate in a show unless you have a definite plan for how to make money...not just pay for the exhibitor's fee but actually grow your business. A measurable plan. I thought the networking and breakout sessions might work. Exhibiting is a huge undertaking in terms of time, money and staff. I brought three employees with me so I had to pay their salaries and make sure we were all on the same page. In the end we got some new business but had no way to measure if we wouldn't have gotten it anyway in the course of marketing.

I am sorry to see it go. I'd have used it as an excuse to visit Omaha & pick up some chip clips, coffee mugs, key chains, etc. About $10 in merchandise for about $250. What a deal.

[GrandpaaSmucker]

Ah yes if only sales was as easy as renting a booth at the fair or a show and then sitting there and having the customers come to you. That would be the life.

[Bob from Omaha]

Ah yes if only sales was as easy as renting a booth at the fair or a show and then sitting there and having the customers come to you. That would be the life.

Well, those who fail just rent a booth at a show and sit there waiting for customers to come to them. Those who build a business spend a pretty large portion of their time planning. It takes months of planning to be a vendor at a trade show. Who will attend? Will they be shoppers or buyers? How will we measure the outcome to be sure that it's worth our time? How big a booth and where on the floor? What materials will we need or will an order book be enough? As with any business it's about building relationships and sometimes working a trade show is about making contacts and then following up. Actually it's always about following up. We never did put a table in the front of our booth, always at the back. We NEVER sat down. We were outside our booth talking to people. Not pushy. Making connections. That's a HUGE part of success in business.

Bottom line? If you want customers to come to you to give their order McDonald's is always hiring. If you are a business owner you are constantly thinking about advertising, marketing, promotion and sales...we called that department in our company AMPS.

Sitting there waiting for customers to come to you? Sounds boring and like a waste of time.