November 15, 2007 by Chris Harrower, CTIS.

Back to another airport layover. I’m sitting here in Detroit, half-way home from this week’s Ontario Motorcoach Association Marketplace and Conference. Seems like I just did this not very long ago!

What a difference a day (and a location) makes! You may have read my “impressions” of NTA below, and I promised to write what I thought of OMCA. I can sum it up in the simple fact that I’ve already sent emails to “the gang”, telling them that they MUST plan on being in Toronto next year!

From the first greeting, our good friends up North were perfect hosts. I learned more about Canada in five days than I learned in 10 years living in Detroit as a kid, with frequent trips across the river to Windsor and Toronto. What a beautiful place Ottawa is! We visited Parliament, the breathtaking Cathedral of Notre Dame, and walked all over town. Great shopping, good restaurants, and the most polite panhandlers I’ve ever encountered (”no, sorry, I don’t have any change” “Oh, that’s alright, eh. Someone else will have something. Have a great night, eh!”). And, even though I was terrible at it in Elementary School, walking around with people speaking French all around me was totally delightful. I will be back!

The conference? It was like being back home with my “family” in Virginia or North Carolina. I haven’t felt this welcomed to a new convention since I went to my first NCMA years ago. Everyone was very gracious, welcoming, and friendly. This is how these organizations should be run! I’ve got some great ideas to share with my friends back in the States for their conventions…things like having the entire Board of Directors of OMCA lined up to welcome everyone to the Ice Breaker the first night. What a wonderful touch, and it really did break the ice perfectly! Or the Roundtable, where the Suppliers all sat, and the Operators went from table to table answering questions, and letting us know how we can help them.

And there’s so much more…I honestly felt like I was immediately welcomed as part of the family here, even though I wore that bright green “OMCA Freshman” tag. From the top on down, I was thoroughly impressed by every facet of the convention. Great food, amazing parties, and some wonderful appointments. OK…the marketplace room was a wee bit crowded, but we’re professionals, and — oh, excuse me — we can — no, you go ahead — deal with — sorry, did I step on your foot — a little crowding!

I’m already looking forward to next October in Toronto, and this one will be an “every year” show for us…no questions asked! Thank you, OMCA, for rekindling my excitement after the week in Kansas City attempted to put out the flame! C’est magnifique!

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November 7, 2007 by Chris Harrower, CTIS.

OK…I’ll be honest. I’m NOT back home again yet! I’m sitting in the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport on a 3 1/2 hour layover en route from Kansas City back to Harrisburg. But I decided to go ahead and put down my thoughts and impressions on the just concluded NTA convention in KC. I think it’s better to do this while it’s fresh in my mind, and I know there are a lot of people who asked what I thought of my first NTA. I shared many of these thoughts already with various people, but I’ll bring it all together here,

To be brutally honest, I was underwhelmed. I can remember walking into Marketplace at ABA in Grapevine. There was something in the air (no, not the smell of fear!)…almost like electricity, and it was everywhere. I felt like I was being continuously recharged and invigorated for the entire length of the convention. From opening ceremonies to the final dance/party, it was a non-stop BLAST. That was really lacking in Kansas City. There was no pervasive energy on the floor. In fact, I saw people sitting at tables literally asleep!

Part of that goes to the way appointments are scheduled…the most appointments I had in a row was three! At ABA, I had an entire book, with only the mandated breaks. That helped feed the energy level…when you go, go, go, you keep the energy high from adrenaline, or excitement, or whatever source it comes from. Here at NTA, with sometimes over an hour between appointments, I can see how people slept while waiting.

And some of it goes to people’s attitudes. At ABA, 99.9% of the people are friendly, welcoming, and genuinely interested. I did not get the same impression at NTA. I think there was more attitude per square foot in KC than I’ve ever experienced before. Maybe that’s a positive for some people, but I don’t do well in the presence of — well, I don’t even know what word to use here to describe it. But it wasn’t positive for me…

The food…well, that’s not NTA’s fault, but I will give our hosts their due here. KC, famous for their steaks and barbecue, featured the worst convention food I have ever eaten! As part of the Group Sales Seminar, I teach that you should never skip a meal, a function, or any opportunity. In KC, I skipped several, due to the abysmal quality of the food. Towards the end, I had Operators asking if I’d would please take them somewhere for a meal, rather than face this dreck one more time! Unfortunately, I had promised to sit at a Director’s table for the final Gala (”the Prom”), and couldn’t take them up on the offer! The only good food I had in six days was food I purchased myself outside the convention offerings (the dine-around at Seven Downtown was wonderful, the steak at Dave & Buster’s was great, and the wraps from Mac’s Wraps in the Crown Center were nothing short of amazing…never knew you could pack that much stuff inside a wrap!).

As a Seminar person, I volunteered to help monitor and introduce some of the Seminars at NTA, and they were mostly pretty bad. Poor sound quality, poorer presenters, and difficult scheduling made the ones I attended pretty useless, with the exception of one session on reaching Boomers that was very good. Again, when compared to the Seminars at ABA, there really was no comparison!

I know my team from the Scavenger Hunt is probably reading this, to see what I say about that. It was a blast…props to Marcus and his team (his company does this professionally, and I’d give them a link, but his card is somewhere in my luggage in the bowels of the airport)! But there were a couple of snafus…our team had two questions correct, but were not given a chance to defend ourselves. Instead, since “everyone else had this answer”, we were deemed wrong. It was all in fun, but the OCD in me reared it’s ugly head for a few minutes!

I guess it all comes down to one simple comparison between ABA and NTA. I’ve always been told that you should not expect to write business on the show floor at any convention…it happens so infrequently that you should just sell forward, and follow up to get actual sales. That’s where the comparison I have comes from…at ABA, I wrote a date on the show floor. At NTA, I received a cancellation on the show floor. Does that sum it up?

On to OMCA this weekend, and I’ll have to post my impressions while in the Detroit airport on the way home from Ottawa! And please…no offense intended towards anyone or anything. I will be at NTA in Pittsburgh next November, so I’m not writing it off in any way. It just doesn’t compare right now to ABA…

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