Perspective: Cal Ripken Jr. & Columbus

John Wolz

Baseball fans feel the pain of watching Baltimore Orioles star Cal Ripken Jr.�s career fade.
Ripken established numerous baseball records during his career, most notably setting a record of playing in 2,131 consecutive games. He extended the streak to 2,632 before pulling himself out of the lineup of the Orioles� final home game of the 1998 season.
Now his fans are grimacing, as his batting average has slipped from 340 for 1999 to 215 for 2000 and this year he has been dropped from the daily starting lineup.
Many fans would rather have 40-year-old Ripken retire in a blaze of glory than diminish his entire career by trying to play past his prime.
Registration Down Again
Ripken started in the major leagues the next season after the first National Industrial Fastener Show & Conference in Columbus, OH.
Starting at 83 booths in 1981, the show grew to 653 booths in 1996. Total show attendance reached as high as 5,326 in 1998.
But that was �yesteryear,� and now the Columbus show owners must feel the same pain as Ripken�s fans as they watch the once dominate industry annual event dwindle to a fraction of what it once was.
In 1996 the first sign appeared that Columbus had peaked. The show is designed to draw in distributors, and suddenly the number stopped increasing. The 1995 record of 1,753 slipped slightly to 1,744 instead of growing.
Year after year the distributor registration keeps dropping: 1,598 in 1997, 1,347 in 1998, 1,320 in 1999 and 910 in 2000. For 2001 the distributor numbers fell 21% to 715.
General partner Jim Bannister said show management is �quite pleased with this year�s attendance under the current circumstances� and added that the 2001 show �may have out-performed a slumping industry.�
The numbers include advance and onsite registrations. Show management does not use a verified system to determine actual attendance so the results may or may not vary significantly. The show is not audited by an independent trade show quality assurance program.
Other show statistics have fallen too. For years the show promoters hailed Columbus as the �World�s Largest Fastener Show.� After total attendance (including distributors, exhibitor personnel and other attendees) at the 20th anniversary show plunged 33.9% from the 1999 show and the number of booths dropped to 475, Columbus lost any claim to their self-proclaimed global title.
� The total number of attendee registrations fell 19% from 1,570 last year to 1,271 for 2001. In addition to distributors the attendee numbers include 184 nonexhibiting manufacturers, 129 manufacturer�s reps, 73 independent sales reps, 20 importers, 15 forming/cold header, 13 media and 122 miscellaneous/other.
� At 2,269, show management�s total registration including exhibitor personnel was 29.9% below the 3,240 last year.
� The total number of occupied booths dropped 41% from 475 in 2000 to 282 this year.
�A Good Regional Show�
In 2000 the most frequently used term among Columbus exhibitors was �quiet.� This year the most commonly used phrase was �a good regional show.�
Several exhibitors at the 21st annual Columbus show told FIN that Tuesday morning was a successful business session. With a less hectic pace than the National Industrial Fastener Show/West and with wider aisles than in Las Vegas and without the competing entertainment, Columbus exhibitors said they were able to talk with the distributors without distraction.
�I don�t think they can get away with calling it a �national show� next year,� said one observer who has been to Columbus nearly every year. �But it�s still a good, viable regional show.�
Regional status is an alternative for Columbus. In an online survey conducted by AWP Research last fall, while a commanding 88.5% of exhibitors at North American fastener shows wanted only one national event, a majority (55.7%) favored some form of regional shows.
The decline in exhibitors for 2001 was actually an advantage as distributor traffic was divided among fewer booths.
An air wall reduced the size of the hall, and �lounges� disguised blocks of empty booths. The normally sold-out 200 row had eight unoccupied booths this year and even the prime 300 aisle had a vacant booth.
Though exhibitors told FIN they were generally happy with Tuesday morning, several complained they were approached by more manufacturer reps and suppliers than potential customers. More than 200 of the attendees walking the show floor were manufacturer�s reps or independent sales reps.
Amid several indications that the NIFSCO management has already decided to move the Las Vegas show from November to May in 2003 or 2004, the Fastener Industry Coalition is asking show management to announce a five-year schedule.
Two FIC members, the Chicago Bolt, Nut & Screw Association and the Southwestern Fastener Association, moved their regional shows from fall to spring to avoid conflicts with the Las Vegas show.
Future of Columbus
Show management for years has justified the Columbus show with statistics showing the population and fastener business within 500 miles of the central Ohio city.
But distributor attendance has dropped for the past six years.
One exhibitor said the show promoters� figures no longer mean anything. �I get paid for fasteners I produce and deliver, not my plant capacity,� the exhibitor explained.
This year�s exhibitors gave mixed reactions to participating next year. The show is scheduled for one day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 21, 2002.
Several key exhibitors with longstanding prime booth locations expressed doubt that they would even return. Numerous multiple-booth exhibitors have already cut both total space and brought less expensive booths this year.
A few exhibitors complained that they could do just as much business by walking the aisles as attendees next year.
Several indicated they are not interested in the 2002 show at the $1,295 booth price. One suggested prices to be pegged to actual distributor attendance figures.
�This is now a regional show and should be priced accordingly,� another exhibitor said.
Regional show prices are much lower. The 2000 Southwestern show in Houston was $260, and a table at Chicago�s 20th anniversary show on June 20, 2001, is $325.
Ripken isn�t likely to return to the minor leagues to stay in baseball and the Columbus show management may not want to operate a regional show.
Both Ripken and Columbus may be fighting losing battles. Ripken is fighting age. After 21 years, show management is fighting Columbus fatigue.
Ripken and the Columbus show promoters could now celebrate their decades of success and retire with national stature.
If they want to be national stars next year, both will need more than just a few better stats. They�ll need to excite fans with home runs and double plays. \
�2001 FastenerNews.com