First off, I want to give a huge thank you to all the veterans out there. Always been amazed at their sacrifices to defend our country and way of life. Happy Veterans Day.

Second off, I want to talk about expos, ski expos to be specific. Ten years ago, I never missed one. Free swag, big contests, dry slope ramps, tons of psyched up skiers, games, events, you name it. Now, most, if not all, of those ski shows don’t even exist. Resorts continue to pull their names from the exhibitor list and put those dollars elsewhere.

It makes sense, space is expensive, displays don’t grow on trees, and attendance has been on the decline. Or is it because resorts no longer go that attendance is dropping? Either way, chicken or the egg, ski shows ain’t what they used to be.

However, it seems that Loveland saw this as an opportunity, rather than a hindrance. Check out this video of their display at the Colorado SnowSports Expo:

Radio controlled car races, Loveland lotto, 4pak lift ticket station, and a Loveland branded subaru to boot. Makes me want to find a new ski show to patronize. From the looks of it, Loveland seems to have stolen the show.

So are expos a chance for one resort to stand out and shine or is it too little too late?

UPDATE (11/11/2010): It appears I’ve spent to long in the cave that is northern Utah. Justin Broglio gave me a heads up about the SnowFest in San Francisco, CA. An awesome combination of events, sales, promos, etc. that really gives the snow expo scene a refreshing look. I had seen a video of the snow in the streets of San Fran but didn’t realize what event it was connected to. Thanks again, Justin!

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.