Agenda’s Co-founder On Dates & Details Of January Show

josh hunter

• September 23 2009
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TransWorld Business caught up with Agenda’s Co-founder Aaron Levant to find out more about what the show has planned for the future. Find out what he and his team have planned for January and beyond in this exclusive interview.

Have you nailed down the dates and location for Agenda’s next show?

We’re coming back to Huntington Beach and we’re going to do it January 8-9. We had an amazing experience in Huntington Beach with the first go-round last July during the US Open, so we’re going to bring it back there for January.

Why did you guys decide on the January 8-9 dates?

The first thing we look at is the selling calendars. What we’ve learned is that the majority of the brands—whether they be apparel or footwear—are sampled and having their sales meetings within their company either in mid-November or early December. That’s when they get their samples.

The international guys will then go out and hit the road and the guys over here will get the samples, but it’s kind of hard to get into the shops in December because people are in the middle of one of the busiest times of the year. They’re too busy to see lines and sometimes don’t want to make commitments for Fall 2010 until they’ve seen their holiday numbers and can gauge how they’re doing. So really the first chance is right after the beginning of the year to get into shops. Usually the reps have between January 1 up until February 1—sometimes up until February 15—to put in their Fall order deadlines.  This is a really good time in that regard and a really good time for selling, especially for footwear. Some of those guys are telling us that their first deadline is January 15, for their first July ship dates. So we’re being sensitive to when those windows are for prime selling dates.

The other thing we look at is when the other tradeshows are happening. We can’t expect people to be at Agenda and multiple other trade shows that are important to them at the same time, so we’re looking at SIA, Surf Expo, Bread & Butter, Project, and all these other shows. Between January 1 and February 3 there are a lot of shows happening in the US and internationally all back-to-back-to-back. We don’t want to be on top of any of our peers in that sense.

So, selling windows and dates and locations of other events are really the two main things we look at.

Do you anticipate the show growing?

Yes. The show’s footprint is going to grow by 40 percent. That reflects many of the companies that we already had [exhibiting] are expanding their footprint and we’re also adding new, exciting companies to the show’s roster as well.

There’s a whole additional level to the convention center, and we’re going to have the second floor as well now. That’s where the additional square-footage is going to come from. We’re utilizing all the floor space that the hotel has to offer now—all the other meeting rooms, ballrooms, and other rooms. All together that adds up to around 40 percent more square-footage.

Have you targeted any specific segments of business that you’re trying to bring in additional brands from?

We have the most extensive offering of sneakers and skate footwear already. There were a few people that were missing and we’re anticipating them coming in for this show. With that segment you’d be hard-pressed to find a better offering at ASR, Surf Expo, Project, Magic, or any other trade show in the United States. We have the most extensive brand list in that category.

We’re definitely looking at surf apparel as a category we’re going to see growth in. The last show was the first one that we even dabbled in surf apparel with the additions of Hurley and Volcom to the show, and I think you’ll probably see a couple of other people in that realm jump in.

Skate hardgoods and skate apparel are also some categories for us to grow in as well as women’s. So really across the board there’s a lot of growth opportunities for Agenda. We were doing really well, but it’s been small and focused a lot on streetwear, men’s, and skate. So there’s a lot of places for us to kind of stretch out and expand into.

Do you have any additional plans to draw more retailers?

The one main thing that we’re doing is by including more vendors and making the show bigger we’re hoping to draw more retailers. Our goal is to draw 50-100% more retailers than we had at the previous show. The ways that we are going to do that are varied.

We’re getting better hotel rates and deals on travel because during July and during the US Open it’s peak season down there at Huntington Beach, and the rates are all jacked up at the hotels. Everything from flights to rental cars are expensive that time of year to get out there. January and February are some of the slowest in that industry, so people are being a lot more flexible with the rates on every aspect of what they’re doing. We’re going to able to get people down there for a lot cheaper and I think that’s going to help a lot.

Agenda has also invested a lot of money into direct travel for buyers and helping people out with hotel rooms. We’re definitely going to be making sure people are getting out there. We’re not taking it to chance and hoping that they show up, we’re insuring that the right people are on the floor as we’ve always done.

Are there any other types of expansion—besides strictly from a footprint standpoint—planned at this time?

We’re going to be moving the show outdoors as well and do a huge art installation area where you’re going to see a lot of the top graffiti and street artists from around the world doing live installations. That is something that is kind of from Agenda’s roots. Agenda actually before it was a tradeshow was a series of art shows that I curated with my old partner. Even though that’s not a vital part of doing business we think it’s a vital part of showing some of these buyers the abilities of some of these amazing artists who collaborate with a lot of the brands on the show floor.

Are you going to stick with the format from the last show where there’s a certain uniformity to the booth space?

Yes, very much so. That was one of the biggest things that we were praised on. Out of 100-plus vendors that we had about 97 of them all used our pre-fabricated booth system. As we expand I think you’ll see an even higher percentage. That’s definitely something that we’re going to keep. We’re not going to allow any new brands coming in to do their own traditional tradeshow booth set ups. We think that it enhances the show and focuses on product rather than focus on who can build the biggest booth. That’s one of the things that sets us apart from the other shows. Other shows may come in and want to do that now, but we’ve been doing that for a while. That’s how we do it.

To check out TransWorld Business’ coverage from Agenda’s July show CLICK HERE.