Biggest Little Trade Show?

April 6, 2007
The VLJ trade show in Charlotte last month was fascinating—not for its size, but for how well it covered one market. This show was small. The whole thing took place in one hangar at Wilson Jet Center. It didn’t begin to compare with NATA, NBAA, or any other mega aviation groups. But, by golly it covered the VLJ market. Sponsored by aviation manager and sales center Jetpool, LLC, of Charlotte, and Bank of America, the show took full advantage of the fact that the VLJ market is small in numbers but potentially big in bucks. I think they originally planned to attract about 100 attendees—they got more than 600 "gawkers and tire kickers." And I can vouch for the fact that some of those were real buyers. Exhibitors were there, too. Name a VLJ manufacturer and chances are they were there—Eclipse, Cessna, Honda, Embraer, Adams Aircraft, Spectrum, and Diamond. I wonder if a tradeshow has ever before had on exhibit such a high percentage of the total market. Then there were the workshops—all were designed to help VLJ owners purchase, manage, finance, insure, and/or fly a new VLJ. The workshops were well attended and—judging from comments/questions—the subjects covered were right on target. The attendees weren’t the only happy folks there. I questioned each of the exhibitors, and they all told me it was a good show for them, they were glad they came, and they will come back if it becomes an annual event. Jetpool CEO Ryan Stone was delighted, and justifiably so—a show can’t get much better than that. (I gotta confess—I left my wife’s digital camera at the show, and didn’t even know until days afterwards. I thought it was in my computer case. You can bet your last dollar that I was in the doghouse bigtime. A panicky call to Ryan Stone confirmed that they had found it, they still had it, and they would (and did) mail it. I like those people.) We'd love to post your comments. Please click the comment tab at the top.