Smooth operations

FILE | Laker Media

Getting boats cleaned up and in condition for the Roanoke Boat Show how can be a major undertaking, particularly in bad weather.

It's easy to get into the Roanoke Boat and RV Show. But getting the show in is another story.

Whether you're a determined shopper looking for a great deal or someone who likes to keep up with what's new, all you have to do is purchase a ticket and, bingo, you're in.

Most likely, few show-goers stop to think about what it takes to get an event that features more than 300 watercraft set up.

"It's pretty much non-stop activity around here starting on Wednesday before the show," said Lisa Moorman, director of events services at the Roanoke Civic Center, where the Southwest Virginia Boat Dealers Association (SWVBDA) has held its annual show every February since 1973.

Moorman's job is to make sure the facility provides the best possible indoor venue for the lake-area's outdoor recreation retailers to display the latest in boats, PWCs and related marine accessories. This year, eight SML-area boat dealers will be joined by a sampling of representatives from building materials, recreational vehicles and outdoor-living equipment and services providers.

Darrell Ross, SWVBDA's Boat Show coordinator, took on the role 10 years ago while he was sales manager at Webster Marine. With so many Roanoke show setups under his belt, he's learned how to make it happen with minimal spikes in blood pressure.

"Darrell's been doing this long enough to be very effective at orchestrating the move-in," said Moorman, an 11-year veteran of Civic Center events coordination. "There are very few surprises we have to deal with."

Weather is the most significant variable in the process.

"All the boats come from some distance away," Ross explained, "and it can be a real struggle for dealers to get them here if the roads are slippery."

Since the Civic Center's Special Events Center was completed in 2008, there has been plenty of heated space inside for all the boat displays. Managing the flow of arriving and departing boats has been simplified by its multiple large-door entrances

"We don't have to worry so much about staging the traffic," Ross said. "But getting all the boats cleaned and polished to show condition is a major job, especially when they get trailered to Roanoke in sloppy weather."

Planning is critical

Ross gives much of the credit for smooth show installation to the dealers themselves.

"Everyone is very cooperative and works together to minimize wasted effort," he said. "They've been doing this for years so they know the drill."

Each participating dealership carefully prepares its own booth floor plan and hauls in the "props" -- backwalls, banners, signs, plants, whatever is needed to make its display as attractive and accessible as possible. Businesses use their own sales and office staffs plus some part-timers and volunteers to help set up.

"When I design the layout, I think about how traffic flows and what colors people like the most," said Tim Wray, owner of Magnum Boating in Hardy. "I like to showcase a boat that has mass appeal -- something with pizzazz.

"We try to make it easy for show-goers to board the boats that are on trailers or dolleys, with steps and dock-like platforms. It's challenging, but my team works really hard to get everything together," said Wray.

Mary Yeaman of Danville's Hughes Marine, said there is both "art and science" involved in deciding what to bring to a boat show.

"There are space issues that dictate how many boats you can bring, plus the platforms, steps and other display elements that play into the mix," said Yeaman. "We plot everything on graph paper. We have cutouts of our boats, steps, docks and tables that we can move around to see what works. That saves a lot of shuffling everything around once we get there, and my guys appreciate that."

The bigger quandary relates to reading customer trends, said Yeaman.

"There are models like Hurricane deckboats that excite buyers year after year. This year we'll be offering Hurricane's new Value Series. These boats are designed with the features that boaters on Smith Mountain Lake have grown to love, but with very attractive price tags," he said.

A demanding five days

Ross will be on duty nearly 'round the clock from Wednesday before the show opens through Sunday, when it closes. He will serve as the key liaison between exhibitor needs and the Civic Center's housekeeping and maintenance staff. Ross works with Hollins Exhibits, the providing contractor for carpeting, drapes, furniture and other necessary fixtures. Even when he's making rounds on the exhibit floor, he's in touch with Moorman by two-way radio.

"Most every question or issue finds its way to me," he said.

Last year, Moorman spent several hours accompanying an exhibitor with chest pains on an ambulance trip to the hospital.

"You just never know what's going to come up," he said, "but most problems are pretty easily resolvable."

Dealers are responsible for staffing their own booths, and that takes preparation.

"Everyone who is actively selling boats at the show is required to have a sales license from DGIF and must have completed the state's mandatory boating safety-education program," said Virgil Naff, SWVBDA president. "They've got to be up to speed on new boats' features and equipment, understand show-special pricing, boat availabilities and special offers. That's a lot of information to have at the ready."

Mike Ratcliff of Conrad Brothers Marine noted another requirement: "Those concrete floors get hard after a few hours on your feet, and the days are long. Besides being knowledgeable, dealer representatives have to be hardy and resilient to stay focused and personable over the entire run of the show."

And even when the show's over, it's not over for the dealers.

"We have to have everything out of the exhibit halls by midnight Sunday," Ross explained. "It is often 2 or 3 a.m. before some dealers get their boats back to home base."

Added Yeaman: "One year we pulled boats back to Danville in about 4 inches of snow. The only vehicle we passed on [Virginia] 40 was a snowplow."

Indoors is good

This is the seventh year that Ace Marine of Stuarts Draft has participated in the Roanoke Boat Show.

"And we are ever so happy to be inside," wrote co-owner Kimbra Swett in an e-mail, remembering years past when the dealership's display was outside in the parking lot. "We could always count on Mother Nature to supply wind, cold temps, rain and/or snow. It was a challenge to sell boats in that kind of weather," she said.

"One of our salesmen brought over a vintage Airstream camper for us to use as a sales office, and it always seemed folks were more interested in getting into that than in buying a boat."

Mark Mills, sales manager of Webster Marine, recalled changes since the first show more than 30 years ago.

"1987 was the first year we removed the boats from the trailers for easier boarding and viewing, and we've been doing that ever since. Boats are brought in by trailer and tractor, then placed using a fork truck. We're now using some specially designed dock-like platforms for easy boarding and to give them an 'in-water' look and feel."

Swett said because Stuart's Draft is more than an hour from Roanoke, getting boats to and from the Civic Center is always an adventure.

"We recruit some of our customers to tow boats, and when they pull out of our lot, it looks like a parade," said Swett.

The biggest challenge in setting up inside the Civic Center is maneuvering the boats into position.

"In the past, we've borrowed a small tractor equipped with a hitch, a small pickup truck and a four wheeler. But we find that good old-f-shioned manpower works well, too," she said. "Hanging banners and signs can be a bit precarious, but all in all, everything comes together."

WHAT'S NEW

Here's what dealers at the 2010 Roanoke Boat & RV Show said they will be featuring at their exhibits:

• Ace Marine (Stuarts Draft) will showcase the 2010 Yamaha SX240 High Output and 212 SS family sportboats, along with Yamaha WaveRunners and a representative selection of fishing boats from Triumph, Crestliner and G3.
• Conrad Brothers Marine (Moneta) will be displaying boats ranging from entry-level pleasure and fishing craft to high-caliber Four Winns runabouts and advanced Centurion wakeboarding and wakesurfing tow boats.
• Hughes Marine (Danville) will introduce a new Parti Kraft pontoon plus Hurricane's new Value Series, designed to provide features that boaters on SML have grown to love at a value price.
• Magnum Boating (Hardy) will display Chaparral's new Xtreme family watersports towboat and the 2010 JC Manufacturing pontoons with patented u-shape pontoon design that provides superior flotation, ride and handling.
• Smith Mountain Boat and Tackle (Penhook) will showcase Sylvan Marine pontoons and Smoker Craft aluminum v-hull boats, plus Carolina Skiff fishing/utility boats powered by Honda outboards.
• Smith Mountain Yacht Club (Moneta) will be featuring 2010 Sea Ray boats with the ultraclean Mercury low-emission engines plus NauticStar deck boats with wood-free hulls.
• Virgil Naff Lynchburg Kawasaki Yamaha and SeaDoo (Lynchburg) will display the new GTX and RXP line of Sea-Doo watercraft with unique i-Control braking systems and, for land-lubbers, the all new Spyder Roadster Touring Edition makes its show debut.
• Webster Marine (Moneta) will showcase the latest designs from Bennington and Godfrey Marine, plus a new line of top-performing, stylish pontoon boats by South Bay.