As I sit here watching it snow (if I never saw snow again in my life I would be happy), I thought that it might be a good time to discuss what happens in the event of bad weather on the day of a show. If the weather is bad, we really have two choices, and neither is perfect. We can go forward with the show and hope that the attendance is not impacted greatly, or we can postpone the show knowing that we will lose a lot of advertising momentum. Every show involves a lot of preparation and investment by both show management and by the exhibitors, so it's a decision that we take very seriously!
Luckily, we have insurance that covers us and protects your investment in your booth space. Over the years (and 150 shows), we've only had 3 shows impacted by weather. The only show that we ever canceled was not because of snow, it was because of Hurricane Isabel that knocked out the power to our show location. It was impossible to reschedule that show and our exhibitors received a full refund. Prior to that, we had a case where it snowed in the middle of the day and this resulted in a 40% attendance drop. The brides who braved the weather were very serious buyers, so the exhibitors still had a productive show. Even so, we produced another show a few weeks later that was free for exhibitors. In the third case, we had a smaller decrease in attendance and everyone received a credit toward a future show. This insurance gives us options while at the same time protecting your investment.
If bad weather occurs (with "occur" being the key word, as we don't base decisions on forecasts) we will keep you posted on the status and let you know as soon as a decision has been made. You can check our web site, call our voice mail or watch your email. It's unlikely that we would make a decision any earlier than the evening before the show, and perhaps not until the morning of. If you're thinking about calling us two or three days before with a "what if" question, consider holding that thought!
