What would you competitors like to see at shows?
As a competitor and as someone who has put, or assited in putting on, a good number of small and large scale events I will say, and this is the underlying issue with all of your suggestions, what we need is people actually showing up and competing.
What I often had done for my show is create threads on here and other related forums, i know it's not as traffic driving as more expensive forms of promotion, but even on here we can have a 20 page thread about "Who's Coming" but in the end you will end up with an average maximum of 20 competitors.......HALF of which are the regular hardcore guys whos numbers I have in my phone, those who would show up with zero promotion anyways.
I would also like to use the CSPL format competition to back up my statement. Richard, aka NTXKTD (owns, runs and promotes CSPL) goes all out for his shows - free give aways, points system with prizes, PAS MAG promotion, advertising and event coverage with COMPETITOR photos in the magazine. CSPL has simple rules with amateur and begginer classes. YET, you will hardly see more than 20 guys at any of CSPL events........and again, half of them will be the same regular guys who'd be there regardless of magazine coverage or free prizes.
I've said it before and I will say it again. The problem are not promoters or shops, the problem are the competitors themselves. They just dont show up. That happens for a number of reasons, but the main one being is that alot of guys want 1st place just for showing up, they do not want to loose and/or affraid of stiff competition.
Myself and others have tried countless times to come up with ways for people like that to come out and compete. Unfortunately we had very little success and eventually i just gave up on loosers who are affraid to place lower than top 3 and would rather stay at home. I had come to realize that they should infact stay at home because those are the types of people who cry, complain and bitch in an event of a loss (which happens to all of us at one point or another) and bring nothing positive to the sport/hobby of spl.
This has lead me to form the following conclusion - there simply arent enough REAL competitors out there, period. A real competitor is an individual who does not concern him/herself with how they place at a given event on a given date at a given venue.
A real SPL competitor is someone who constantly tries to develop his game over time, up his score bit by bit and apply the gained knowledge before trying to win any shows, titles, prizes or championships.
This is my methodology and it has proven to be true over and over again. We do have some real competitors, but they are out far and wide thru out Ontario, from Ottawa to Brandford to Barrie to Peterborough and even North Bay.
And those same 10 guys i kept mentioning above, all fall under my definition of a real competitor. I can name them all, it wouldnt take much typing, but they all know who they are.
So, until YOU, yes YOU the person reading this, tries his/her best to come out to as many shows and participate in all of them regardless of how YOU place, all your wishes will remain exactly that - just wishes. Why? Because who wants to go thru the trouble and expense of making those wishes into reality for 20 or so guys MAXIMUM?
** Sorry about the sort of off topic rant **
What I often had done for my show is create threads on here and other related forums, i know it's not as traffic driving as more expensive forms of promotion, but even on here we can have a 20 page thread about "Who's Coming" but in the end you will end up with an average maximum of 20 competitors.......HALF of which are the regular hardcore guys whos numbers I have in my phone, those who would show up with zero promotion anyways.
I would also like to use the CSPL format competition to back up my statement. Richard, aka NTXKTD (owns, runs and promotes CSPL) goes all out for his shows - free give aways, points system with prizes, PAS MAG promotion, advertising and event coverage with COMPETITOR photos in the magazine. CSPL has simple rules with amateur and begginer classes. YET, you will hardly see more than 20 guys at any of CSPL events........and again, half of them will be the same regular guys who'd be there regardless of magazine coverage or free prizes.
I've said it before and I will say it again. The problem are not promoters or shops, the problem are the competitors themselves. They just dont show up. That happens for a number of reasons, but the main one being is that alot of guys want 1st place just for showing up, they do not want to loose and/or affraid of stiff competition.
Myself and others have tried countless times to come up with ways for people like that to come out and compete. Unfortunately we had very little success and eventually i just gave up on loosers who are affraid to place lower than top 3 and would rather stay at home. I had come to realize that they should infact stay at home because those are the types of people who cry, complain and bitch in an event of a loss (which happens to all of us at one point or another) and bring nothing positive to the sport/hobby of spl.
This has lead me to form the following conclusion - there simply arent enough REAL competitors out there, period. A real competitor is an individual who does not concern him/herself with how they place at a given event on a given date at a given venue.
A real SPL competitor is someone who constantly tries to develop his game over time, up his score bit by bit and apply the gained knowledge before trying to win any shows, titles, prizes or championships.
This is my methodology and it has proven to be true over and over again. We do have some real competitors, but they are out far and wide thru out Ontario, from Ottawa to Brandford to Barrie to Peterborough and even North Bay.
And those same 10 guys i kept mentioning above, all fall under my definition of a real competitor. I can name them all, it wouldnt take much typing, but they all know who they are.
So, until YOU, yes YOU the person reading this, tries his/her best to come out to as many shows and participate in all of them regardless of how YOU place, all your wishes will remain exactly that - just wishes. Why? Because who wants to go thru the trouble and expense of making those wishes into reality for 20 or so guys MAXIMUM?
** Sorry about the sort of off topic rant **
Last edited by Father Yuli; Jan 15, 2009 at 01:38 AM.
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hey don, it looks like everything i suggested lastnight was stated, we need money shows on main streetsor atleast one a monthsand have advertising for the next 2 or 3 shows comin up so the smaller guys can go to the ones that are in the smaller shops on the back streets, if each show promots other not just the ones by the same promoters it might help get a few more people, if like u, richard, jay jones and someone else all work together and place shows like 1 each weekin different areas it might help like 1 week cambridge, 1 week hamilton, 1 week downtown T O, 1 week barrie and spred them out like that it would be less driving for some... not me personaly but the smaller guys wouldn't have to drive like an hour to get to a show all the time.
X
No more trophies. Give away gift certificates. If the show is at a shop give them for the shop. If not the given them for somewhere else. And make sure the shop is open after the show so people can spend it. The best show I went to was the futureshop Canadian finals because the prizes were great but I also went to one in Detroit and I won a $50 gift card which I spent on a set of RF white wolf RCAs. I am sure cost on those is nothing but I remember the show and the prize and even with all the trophies I have I can tell you exactly the one they gave me just because I remember the RCAs. This show was in 2002. I can tell you for a fact I don't remember who gave me any of my other ones in 2002 except this one (and the one I got when I broke the no wall record but that one is also 6feet tall)
As a competitor and as someone who has put, or assited in putting on, a good number of small and large scale events I will say, and this is the underlying issue with all of your suggestions, what we need is people actually showing up and competing.
What I often had done for my show is create threads on here and other related forums, i know it's not as traffic driving as more expensive forms of promotion, but even on here we can have a 20 page thread about "Who's Coming" but in the end you will end up with an average maximum of 20 competitors.......HALF of which are the regular hardcore guys whos numbers I have in my phone, those who would show up with zero promotion anyways.
I would also like to use the CSPL format competition to back up my statement. Richard, aka NTXKTD (owns, runs and promotes CSPL) goes all out for his shows - free give aways, points system with prizes, PAS MAG promotion, advertising and event coverage with COMPETITOR photos in the magazine. CSPL has simple rules with amateur and begginer classes. YET, you will hardly see more than 20 guys at any of CSPL events........and again, half of them will be the same regular guys who'd be there regardless of magazine coverage or free prizes.
I've said it before and I will say it again. The problem are not promoters or shops, the problem are the competitors themselves. They just dont show up. That happens for a number of reasons, but the main one being is that alot of guys want 1st place just for showing up, they do not want to loose and/or affraid of stiff competition.
Myself and others have tried countless times to come up with ways for people like that to come out and compete. Unfortunately we had very little success and eventually i just gave up on loosers who are affraid to place lower than top 3 and would rather stay at home. I had come to realize that they should infact stay at home because those are the types of people who cry, complain and bitch in an event of a loss (which happens to all of us at one point or another) and bring nothing positive to the sport/hobby of spl.
This has lead me to form the following conclusion - there simply arent enough REAL competitors out there, period. A real competitor is an individual who does not concern him/herself with how they place at a given event on a given date at a given venue.
A real SPL competitor is someone who constantly tries to develop his game over time, up his score bit by bit and apply the gained knowledge before trying to win any shows, titles, prizes or championships.
This is my methodology and it has proven to be true over and over again. We do have some real competitors, but they are out far and wide thru out Ontario, from Ottawa to Brandford to Barrie to Peterborough and even North Bay.
And those same 10 guys i kept mentioning above, all fall under my definition of a real competitor. I can name them all, it wouldnt take much typing, but they all know who they are.
So, until YOU, yes YOU the person reading this, tries his/her best to come out to as many shows and participate in all of them regardless of how YOU place, all your wishes will remain exactly that - just wishes. Why? Because who wants to go thru the trouble and expense of making those wishes into reality for 20 or so guys MAXIMUM?
** Sorry about the sort of off topic rant **
What I often had done for my show is create threads on here and other related forums, i know it's not as traffic driving as more expensive forms of promotion, but even on here we can have a 20 page thread about "Who's Coming" but in the end you will end up with an average maximum of 20 competitors.......HALF of which are the regular hardcore guys whos numbers I have in my phone, those who would show up with zero promotion anyways.
I would also like to use the CSPL format competition to back up my statement. Richard, aka NTXKTD (owns, runs and promotes CSPL) goes all out for his shows - free give aways, points system with prizes, PAS MAG promotion, advertising and event coverage with COMPETITOR photos in the magazine. CSPL has simple rules with amateur and begginer classes. YET, you will hardly see more than 20 guys at any of CSPL events........and again, half of them will be the same regular guys who'd be there regardless of magazine coverage or free prizes.
I've said it before and I will say it again. The problem are not promoters or shops, the problem are the competitors themselves. They just dont show up. That happens for a number of reasons, but the main one being is that alot of guys want 1st place just for showing up, they do not want to loose and/or affraid of stiff competition.
Myself and others have tried countless times to come up with ways for people like that to come out and compete. Unfortunately we had very little success and eventually i just gave up on loosers who are affraid to place lower than top 3 and would rather stay at home. I had come to realize that they should infact stay at home because those are the types of people who cry, complain and bitch in an event of a loss (which happens to all of us at one point or another) and bring nothing positive to the sport/hobby of spl.
This has lead me to form the following conclusion - there simply arent enough REAL competitors out there, period. A real competitor is an individual who does not concern him/herself with how they place at a given event on a given date at a given venue.
A real SPL competitor is someone who constantly tries to develop his game over time, up his score bit by bit and apply the gained knowledge before trying to win any shows, titles, prizes or championships.
This is my methodology and it has proven to be true over and over again. We do have some real competitors, but they are out far and wide thru out Ontario, from Ottawa to Brandford to Barrie to Peterborough and even North Bay.
And those same 10 guys i kept mentioning above, all fall under my definition of a real competitor. I can name them all, it wouldnt take much typing, but they all know who they are.
So, until YOU, yes YOU the person reading this, tries his/her best to come out to as many shows and participate in all of them regardless of how YOU place, all your wishes will remain exactly that - just wishes. Why? Because who wants to go thru the trouble and expense of making those wishes into reality for 20 or so guys MAXIMUM?
** Sorry about the sort of off topic rant **
NTOXKTD how far up north do you go??? i would love to compete but its so dam far. north bay is 4 hours from here and with no loose cash i cant afford the travel and rooms for a day or 2 out of town lol.. its just not convenient :P. also sudbury is 4 hours from here
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Yuli this is exactly what I wanted to say. There is not enough competitors to have a competition between competitions. I don't want to toot my horn but I go all out and give thousands of dollars away all year. At each show I give away subs, amps and coaxials. For some reason I don't get enough of the veteran competitors. I have put on 2x and 3x DB DRAG shows to try and give all of the competitors the opportunity to compete at a national level show and 6 people show up. I give up. I use to compete every week in the early nineties and I would hope for a big trophy but I was up against some really loud guys. If I didn't win I was happy to receive a shirt or hat. So that is why I give away 500 shirts and hats all year. I want to give back some value for the entry fee. Yuli pointed out that I purchase a bunch of pages in PAS MAG. Who does this anymore. I spend so much time and effort to get the sponsors on board and the event coverage and I still might see as little as 20 competitors. Don I appreciate all the help you give me at the shows but before we try to promote many small shows again and hope that 20 people show up we need to get a dozen big shows like the CSPL finals. It just makes more sense.
--SPECIAL ED--
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 209
Hold the SPL contest at already existing car shows.
This gives you a bunch of people at the location already, and may save you in advertising cost if you choose to do so. It would be advertised as a part of the car show on the same web site / flyer.
A friend of mine has a term lab and we hold very basic SPL comps, (not Db drag) at a couple car shows each year and it is not uncommon for us to get 30 - 40 competitors out of a show of 300ish cars. With zero advertising before hand
None of these people compete at any dedicated SPL shows and few of them register on their own, we usually have a few people walking around enticing them to register. Without this there would be very few registered, people tend to be lazy. But if you go to them they usually say yes.
What we do is not even close to a DB drag event, and serious competitors would not likely like it. But for the average guy that has a couple subs to play music..... they seem to love it.
Most of them have never been to a real Db Drag or CSPL event so if they are exposed to one you may develop more competitors out of these people
Just remember they key to making this work seems to be going to them at the car shows, (not for the SPL runs, just to register). Each year we go back to the same shows it gets a bit easier to register people, they expect to see you.
This gives you a bunch of people at the location already, and may save you in advertising cost if you choose to do so. It would be advertised as a part of the car show on the same web site / flyer.
A friend of mine has a term lab and we hold very basic SPL comps, (not Db drag) at a couple car shows each year and it is not uncommon for us to get 30 - 40 competitors out of a show of 300ish cars. With zero advertising before hand
None of these people compete at any dedicated SPL shows and few of them register on their own, we usually have a few people walking around enticing them to register. Without this there would be very few registered, people tend to be lazy. But if you go to them they usually say yes.
What we do is not even close to a DB drag event, and serious competitors would not likely like it. But for the average guy that has a couple subs to play music..... they seem to love it.
Most of them have never been to a real Db Drag or CSPL event so if they are exposed to one you may develop more competitors out of these people
Just remember they key to making this work seems to be going to them at the car shows, (not for the SPL runs, just to register). Each year we go back to the same shows it gets a bit easier to register people, they expect to see you.
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So find me some COMPETITORS and I will do a show.
RW... any thougths on coming further East or is this out of your sales region so it's not quite worth your effort?
(btw, I don't mean this in a negative way at all.. I understand that a lot of what you do is both for your business goals and for the sport... so having shows have to complement these goals...)
(btw, I don't mean this in a negative way at all.. I understand that a lot of what you do is both for your business goals and for the sport... so having shows have to complement these goals...)
