2010 SW-CFM History
Thanks to all the participants who made the 2010 SouthWestern Coral Farmers MarketSM event a very good success ! The vendor participation was very strong. We also changed our public attendance policy just prior to this event. That new polcy is the following - The SW-CFM event will not charge admittance for public attendees as long as maximum occupancy for the venue has not become a significant factor. The public responded well to this new policy and we acheived a public door count of 373. Total vendor attendance was 87 and there was a lot of B to B transactions that occurred during this event. Grand total attendance for the event was officially 460. There was probably another 15 unofficial attendees because we stoped counting during the last open hour. So by removing our admission fees, we grew attendance by 97 this year which was about 25 %. We did experience more family attendance and young family members seemed excited and interested in discovering just what a Coral Show event is all about. The public crowd was also more geared to the general reef market. This is no doubt a direct result of the slow economic conditions within California. We anticipate that the SW-CFM event will continue to attract a more general reef crowd for at least a few more years. The weather was about as good as it gets. Warm day and cool night. Operationally the event was almost completely flawless, but we did experience some power issues within the center MidScale island of booths. Vendors within the MidScale booths need to limit their power requirements. We have to run power lines to the center of the ballroom. That limits the available power. Vendors who are violating maximum current limits for a Midscale booth, could be forced to shut down some of their lights if the circuit breaker they are on gets tripped. If you do not want that power restriction, please ask for an upgrade to a Fullscale booth along the wall. The overall event was just slightly profitable for the CFM companies, but that was primarily due to a one time discount the Hotel gave us since we accommodated their requirements and moved our event to a later date. That discount will not be there next year. So for 2011, we will be raising vendor booth rates across the board by $50 to cover the loss of ticket income that the CFM companies experience with free admission. We also would like to state that the SW-CFM company really appreciates the help and support we get from the local Inland Empire Marine Aquarium Society hobbyist club. Thanks to everyone who helped to make this event a very good success during a slow economic period.
SW-CFM and CFM Staff
2010
SouthWestern Coral Farmers MarketSM Images
(Images copyright of SouthWestern Coral Farmers MarketSM unless otherwise noted.)
We would like to thank the following companies or individuals who have donated either products or services to the 2010 SouthWestern Coral Farmers MarketSM event. These companies and individuals help to make this event a success !