Promote the hobby and membership

I do not know what your sales tax laws are in your state, but I suspect that many rules at a train meet are in place to comply with those laws. Imagine the complexity of dealing with a vendor coming to town from out of state with a legitimate sales tax license from their home state. Or the collectors wanting to sell a few items from their collection but they do not have a sales tax license. By the time you figure out the laws and the needs of people coming to the meet, you may find that what is being done already is the best solution. But I do appreciate your enthusiasm to make the meet better and I wish you well in contributing new ideas.

And here is an idea for some future year: Let’s have a building set aside just for 3D printing. That might bring in people who have never been to a train meet before!

I think the Eastern Division is trying this by opening the Purple Hall to the public Monday through Wednesday of York week. Even inviting vendors that set up there to stay throughout the entire Meet if they want to. It will be interesting to see and I hope it’s successful.

Sounds like an idea to promote the hobby and TCA. Maybe have it held in a larger city like Baltimore or Philadelphia where they could attract many more folks.
Just my 2 pennys worth.

Come on Ted, it's It couldn't be at a better location. Who wants to fight city traffic and $300 a night hotel costs

Larger city attracts more folks. Besides at York, hotels are getting close to $200 a night unless you stay in the roach motels there.

It would never be in Philly. The costs at the Convention Center would be prohibitive with the many unions needing to be part of it.  The Greenberg Shows abandoned the city years ago.

It might be possible at one of the suburban facilities.

Speaking of Greenberg, before the changes in ownership, Greenberg used to do a show in York, and from what I've been told by local-to-York friends, it was held in half of what we call Orange Hall.  Apparently it wasn't drawing enough people to continue doing shows there.

York is what it is because of the hard work of the EDTCA, the TCA members who come from around the world as both attendees and table-holders, and the dealers from all over who come because the attendees and table-holders are a large part of their customer base.  I think the key here is that it is the EDTCA members specifically and National TCA membership in general, working together, that makes this possible.  York is a great tool for promoting membership in TCA, but it is at the wrong end of the hobbyist spectrum to promote the hobby itself.  Events focusing on the buying and selling of trains are not effective, IMHO, in recruiting people into the hobby -- the people that come are generally divided into two camps -- people already in the hobby, and people looking for a little entertainment.  I'm sure there are a few who are curious about the hobby, but shows and meets can be overwhelming to someone who doesn't know where to start (I know that I found my first York to be overwhelming, and I was already in the hobby).  When my club does non-train-show public events, we always get questions from people who are curious about the hobby, and we point them to local hobby shops as a way to get started, and if they seem to have a little knowledge on the subject or are somewhat enthusiastic, we also point them to train shows and magazines like OGR and CTT and may mention LCCA,  TCA and York.  And we always try to skirt around questions regarding cost and price of equipment, as we don't want to frighten people away from the hobby.

One thing that TCA National could do to help promote the hobby would be to partner with LCCA and Lionel in a multi-media ad campaign that goes back to what is perhaps JLC's most genius marketing campaign -- promoting trains around the Christmas Tree as a widely popular Christmas tradition.  After all, you have to plant the seeds before the trees will grow.  I can't even begin to count the number of people in the hobby who have told me that their interest went back to this tradition (that's also my story -- trains around the tree as a tradition that started with my grandfather and continued with my father, and then to me, and then I gradually transitioned from a holiday tradition into it being a full blown hobby).  Once you get that starter set, you will always want one more freight car and a little more track... and that is how the snowball starts rolling downhill.

Andy

Good idea, Andy. Bring back the most nostalgic association with model trains.

@Andy Hummell posted:

Speaking of Greenberg, before the changes in ownership, Greenberg used to do a show in York, and from what I've been told by local-to-York friends, it was held in half of what we call Orange Hall.  Apparently it wasn't drawing enough people to continue doing shows there…..

Andy

Andy, yes, I remember going to a Greenberg show at York in the Orange Hall. I believe it was a January 2008 show I attended. It was set up like the usual Greenberg shows but as you mentioned barely half the building was used. Attendance was moderate and this was during the O gauge upswing. I don’t recall them holding the event there after that.

@Andy Hummell posted:

Speaking of Greenberg, before the changes in ownership, Greenberg used to do a show in York, and from what I've been told by local-to-York friends, it was held in half of what we call Orange Hall.  Apparently it wasn't drawing enough people to continue doing shows there.

York is what it is because of the hard work of the EDTCA, the TCA members who come from around the world as both attendees and table-holders, and the dealers from all over who come because the attendees and table-holders are a large part of their customer base.  I think the key here is that it is the EDTCA members specifically and National TCA membership in general, working together, that makes this possible.  York is a great tool for promoting membership in TCA, but it is at the wrong end of the hobbyist spectrum to promote the hobby itself.  Events focusing on the buying and selling of trains are not effective, IMHO, in recruiting people into the hobby -- the people that come are generally divided into two camps -- people already in the hobby, and people looking for a little entertainment.  I'm sure there are a few who are curious about the hobby, but shows and meets can be overwhelming to someone who doesn't know where to start (I know that I found my first York to be overwhelming, and I was already in the hobby).  When my club does non-train-show public events, we always get questions from people who are curious about the hobby, and we point them to local hobby shops as a way to get started, and if they seem to have a little knowledge on the subject or are somewhat enthusiastic, we also point them to train shows and magazines like OGR and CTT and may mention LCCA,  TCA and York.  And we always try to skirt around questions regarding cost and price of equipment, as we don't want to frighten people away from the hobby.

One thing that TCA National could do to help promote the hobby would be to partner with LCCA and Lionel in a multi-media ad campaign that goes back to what is perhaps JLC's most genius marketing campaign -- promoting trains around the Christmas Tree as a widely popular Christmas tradition.  After all, you have to plant the seeds before the trees will grow.  I can't even begin to count the number of people in the hobby who have told me that their interest went back to this tradition (that's also my story -- trains around the tree as a tradition that started with my grandfather and continued with my father, and then to me, and then I gradually transitioned from a holiday tradition into it being a full blown hobby).  Once you get that starter set, you will always want one more freight car and a little more track... and that is how the snowball starts rolling downhill.

Andy

Well said!

Peter

@Ted Bertiger posted:

Sounds like an idea to promote the hobby and TCA. Maybe have it held in a larger city like Baltimore or Philadelphia where they could attract many more folks.
Just my 2 pennys worth.

Moving the show to a different city would be a disaster. First off York is an event not just a Train Show. It’s a place where we all go and have gone for many years to not only buy but to socialize with old friends. Second I highly doubt that moving it to a big city would draw anymore people to the hobby. The people that are in the hobby already know of York and they steer the new comers there. The people you would attract would be the ones that would come and look and say things like, This is cool, or I never knew these things existed and that would most likely be the end of their participation in the hobby. True you might get a few new people interested but not enough to relocate an event like York. EDTCA is starting to turn things around by getting the new YouTube guys involved and they will be the ones that will draw the new members into the hobby and to York. And they are already doing just that.