DeLorean Expo vs. DeLorean weekend? If you could choose one...

[DaraSue]

Well, isn't that interesting. The weekend drew more cars than the expo did. My suspicions for a while have been that the modern community prefers a laid back and less expensive meet vs the "pomp and circumstance" of the past. Now if we could only kinda mesh the two types together to get larger car counts.

There were definitely a lot more of the younger/newer owners at DW. That said, DCS still does pretty well, doesn't it? I think people are willing to spend the money on a big show when it's a known quantity, but after 17 years off, DOA was basically starting fresh and a lot of people weren't clear on what they were getting for their fees. That, combined with the Expo's proximity to another established event in the same area that had been announced quite a while beforehand, was a big factor in the different levels of turnout, I suspect. (I know Rob R has said that they were always intended to be very different events but I don't think a lot of people saw it that way, especially when the Expo was going to do some of the same driving tours that were already planned for DW.)

The next Expo AFAIK will be in a different area so the question of one event vs. the other should be a moot point, but I agree that there should be more collaboration between DOA and local clubs if the next one is held in an area where there's already an active group. DeLorean ownership and appreciation shouldn't be a competition and I think we can all learn and benefit from each other's experiences.

[Nuclearbacon]

Any talk of going back to Belfast?

[DMC5180]

Traditionally, the Belfast expo happens in 5 year intervals. The next would be in 2021 if it happens.

[Lwanmtr]

Belfast is a bit of a long drive from here...hehe

[Iznodmad]

I wasn't and am not trying to be negative. I'm gathering from my 20+ years in this community. Having an event near a club/cars is no guarantee of success. A look at DCS Orlando would tell you that. Unfortunately, DCS appears to be on the verge of collapse. There is still a big "IF" out there last I heard on next summers show. I have been running and organizing the North Carolina area for a long time. It is difficult to find people interested in attending and also finding dates that work for the majority of people. There are a very small few that attend every single time, turnover is high on ownership (so you lose a lot that way), and it is difficult to find new owners as well. And this is when it is FREE! Add significant $ to the equation and all bets are off. Btw, how many were "repeaters" between the two LV events?

[DaraSue]

I wasn't and am not trying to be negative. I'm gathering from my 20+ years in this community. Having an event near a club/cars is no guarantee of success. A look at DCS Orlando would tell you that. Unfortunately, DCS appears to be on the verge of collapse. There is still a big "IF" out there last I heard on next summers show. I have been running and organizing the North Carolina area for a long time. It is difficult to find people interested in attending and also finding dates that work for the majority of people. There are a very small few that attend every single time, turnover is high on ownership (so you lose a lot that way), and it is difficult to find new owners as well. And this is when it is FREE! Add significant $ to the equation and all bets are off. Btw, how many were "repeaters" between the two LV events?

Oh, I wasn't trying to take your post in a negative way or anything, just musing on some possible other factors besides the cost. (I've brought these same issues up when giving feedback to the DOA organizers, because I genuinely did enjoy the event and would like to see the next one avoid some of these pitfalls.)

Re: DCS, I thought the issue was more that the organizers had other stuff going on and didn't have as much free time to devote to it? Can you or anyone who's been to several of them comment on how attendance has been over the years?

There wasn't a lot of crossover between DW and DOA this year. I think the only people who did both were me and Rob R (DMC_Vegas). There might have been more participation from locals if the events had been spaced farther apart but I think the higher cost for the Expo plus the perception that the DOA was trying to compete with DW kept a lot of people away. It's too bad, really. Everybody at both events was nice, and it would have been fun to get them all together.

This was my first DW but from talking to the organizers it sounds like their attendance has been steadily increasing over the years. So the lower-cost, more casual model is definitely something with wide appeal, that other event organizers would want to consider. (I've made that suggestion for future DOA events too, because people obviously don't want to pay DCS-level fees without some assurance that they're going to get a DCS-style event, and we're just not there yet.)

[Iznodmad]

I can comment on the DCS attendance. However, you must keep in mind that it is in a transition phase. The last event in Springfield, IL, was the first for the new organization. I was there and best I can recall it was roughly 45-50 cars. Most Ken K DCS shows were in excess of 100 cars. Except the Orlando show which was also in the 45-50 car count. Florida has tons of owners, but for whatever reason they didn't really "support the show" and bring the cars. Location is key and staying close enough to the "core" owners that almost always attend is important to keep car count up. There was probably a large amount of people sitting back taking a "wait and see what this new group is about before we attend" going on too. I love the shows that have been indoors, and that surely increases the cost and time involved for the organizers. The larger shows were "piggybacked" with BTTF stuff, which appeals to the masses and will drive more people to attend. I prefer to focus more on the non BTTF aspect, but that is me and I may be in the minority there. Fact is, we all enjoy different aspects (judging, tech talks, BTTF stuff, vendors, history aka former factory workers, museum, etc) and the more you try and please everyone, the more time it takes and the greater the cost. It is not easy and I'm not trying to talk down to anyone that has tried and/or is trying to organize something. I know because I've been there first hand. The timing was way different as well, old DCS was Father's Day weekend, new one was late July and now pushing back to August. The August will be difficult for me personally since my wife is already back at work then and also bad for those with college aged kids. There are tons of factors involved obviously. Not to mention the cars are continually aging and not everyone wants to drive and/or trailer their car to the show. I think it is good to discuss out in the open though.

[DaraSue]

Hmm, I'd be curious to hear from Floridians who were around back then, why that particular DCS did or didn't appeal to them?

Maybe the heyday of big conventions really has passed. I'm kind of bummed that I missed some of the huge gatherings, but I guess I'm still in that honeymoon phase of new ownership where I want to go to everything I can, and anything short of a Dashcon-esque disaster is going to be worth it to me, heh.

I kind of want to start a survey of what owners would like to see from meetups as far as costs, events, how far they'd be willing to travel. Maybe this should get spun off into its own thread...

[Rich W]

I can comment on the DCS attendance. However, you must keep in mind that it is in a transition phase. The last event in Springfield, IL, was the first for the new organization. I was there and best I can recall it was roughly 45-50 cars. Most Ken K DCS shows were in excess of 100 cars. Except the Orlando show which was also in the 45-50 car count. Florida has tons of owners, but for whatever reason they didn't really "support the show" and bring the cars. Location is key and staying close enough to the "core" owners that almost always attend is important to keep car count up. There was probably a large amount of people sitting back taking a "wait and see what this new group is about before we attend" going on too. I love the shows that have been indoors, and that surely increases the cost and time involved for the organizers. The larger shows were "piggybacked" with BTTF stuff, which appeals to the masses and will drive more people to attend. I prefer to focus more on the non BTTF aspect, but that is me and I may be in the minority there. Fact is, we all enjoy different aspects (judging, tech talks, BTTF stuff, vendors, history aka former factory workers, museum, etc) and the more you try and please everyone, the more time it takes and the greater the cost. It is not easy and I'm not trying to talk down to anyone that has tried and/or is trying to organize something. I know because I've been there first hand. The timing was way different as well, old DCS was Father's Day weekend, new one was late July and now pushing back to August. The August will be difficult for me personally since my wife is already back at work then and also bad for those with college aged kids. There are tons of factors involved obviously. Not to mention the cars are continually aging and not everyone wants to drive and/or trailer their car to the show. I think it is good to discuss out in the open though.

A few clarifications on DCS 2016 here, while an update on DCS 2018 can be found under DaraSue's [DCS 2018?] thread.

DCS 2016 had 75 DeLoreans registered and 61 DeLoreans attended, with a total of 55 DeLoreans displayed indoors.

With the exceptions of DCS 2012 (FL) and DCS 1998 (Cinci), Ken had 100+ DeLoreans at all of his other DCS Events.

DCS 2012 was more of a destination event, and more owners attended with families (either flying in or driving mini-vans).

Pre-DCS 2016 was always Father's Day weekend. DCS 2016 and future DCS Events (?) will not be Father's Day weekend.

Registration and other costs were kept low with Raffle Car fundraising. Unfortunately, there will be no Raffle Car for 2018,
therefore, expect higher Registration costs, but other costs will be similar. The minimum 1 dinner requirement is removed.

August was selected to allow for one of our anticipated Keynote Speakers to attend (only available during August) and the
first weekend of August had conflicts for several guests, while the second weekend of August had another car show booked.

Some folks had difficulty attending Father's Day weekend, while other's cannot attend later next August, for various reasons.
For now, DCS is Not "locked-in" to a specific weekend, which helps to reduce costs for off-peak or otherwise available dates.

Again, more DCS 2018 details can be found under DaraSue's [DCS 2018?] thread.

Thanks,
Rich W. [for the DCS 2018 Planning Team]

[DMC5180]

Lowest attendance of cars shown on DSC Saturday was 42 at Orlando. As I recall the banquet/ cars show hall was to capacity. I don’t think you could have squeezed another car in. Then space was also shared with Vendor tables too. The largest DCS attendance was Gettysburg. I believe the final car count was over 150 in attendance. We also had the Bricklin Owners National show at that event as well as 2 other DCS shows.