Did those attending ANA find it a good experience?
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Did those attending ANA find it a good experience?
I'm curious about how those who attended ANA felt about the experience. Are their aspects open to improvement?Are some parts "just right?"
Re: Did those attending ANA find it a good experience?
Giordano's is a great lunch the first day and not bad the second. Adobe Gilas works for a variety of dietary tastes, a Motley Crue cover band, not as much.
But seriously, as is the case with any show, the interaction with other collectors overshadows any other element
I will add the show guide with all the dealer table numbers is helpful
But seriously, as is the case with any show, the interaction with other collectors overshadows any other element
I will add the show guide with all the dealer table numbers is helpful
often the crusher of hopes and dreams
Re: Did those attending ANA find it a good experience?
I found it fine for what I required this time. However, as I mentioned on the CU discussion board, the ANA (and other large show organizers) need to deal better with the anchoring auctions.
1) The lot viewing was apparently off-site, blocks away. That is never acceptable. It needs to be on-premise. Having it open a couple hours prior to dealer entry might also be a good idea.
2) The floor auctions need to be during the show days. Not doing this limits the attendance of buyers (and even dealers) remarkably. Whales won't bother showing up.
3) If auctions do return to the shows, floor sessions should be after the bourse closes. The big negative of the past had been dealers gone from their tables for hours so they could floor bid on lots. That hurts their sales and frustrates the retail public that keeps returning to empty tables. It hurt me a few years ago at FUN because I had a damned tire kicker at my table, who ultimately bought nothing after rifling through a dozen double-row backup boxes and was unable to get to the auction in time to bid on the one coin I came for and was not appropriate to submit an absentee bid.
The layout was okay. I had a Premium corner, and the next table was Economy. They have to draw a line somewhere, but in the absence of carpeting, a couple customers thought I was in the budget section with one questioning why I was there with high $$$ coins.
If the big shows want to survive, they also need to get with the current millennium (already almost a quarter century into it!) and add efficient technology. A simple interface for dealers to upload their show inventories (could use PCGS numbers to identify coins even if raw or in other holders) with an app client for attendees to locate the coins they seek and a method for set up dealers to delete sold/traded inventory and add new purchases would be excellent. The one downside is that some buyers might target their coins and not browse much further.
1) The lot viewing was apparently off-site, blocks away. That is never acceptable. It needs to be on-premise. Having it open a couple hours prior to dealer entry might also be a good idea.
2) The floor auctions need to be during the show days. Not doing this limits the attendance of buyers (and even dealers) remarkably. Whales won't bother showing up.
3) If auctions do return to the shows, floor sessions should be after the bourse closes. The big negative of the past had been dealers gone from their tables for hours so they could floor bid on lots. That hurts their sales and frustrates the retail public that keeps returning to empty tables. It hurt me a few years ago at FUN because I had a damned tire kicker at my table, who ultimately bought nothing after rifling through a dozen double-row backup boxes and was unable to get to the auction in time to bid on the one coin I came for and was not appropriate to submit an absentee bid.
The layout was okay. I had a Premium corner, and the next table was Economy. They have to draw a line somewhere, but in the absence of carpeting, a couple customers thought I was in the budget section with one questioning why I was there with high $$$ coins.
If the big shows want to survive, they also need to get with the current millennium (already almost a quarter century into it!) and add efficient technology. A simple interface for dealers to upload their show inventories (could use PCGS numbers to identify coins even if raw or in other holders) with an app client for attendees to locate the coins they seek and a method for set up dealers to delete sold/traded inventory and add new purchases would be excellent. The one downside is that some buyers might target their coins and not browse much further.
Re: Did those attending ANA find it a good experience?
I had a great time for the 3 days I was there, but most of that was centered around camaraderie and seeing some cool stuff. A few things stuck out as being not that great for the general attendee.
Lot viewing for auctions was at hotels near the convention center, rather than at the convention center itself. Inconvenient and time consuming. Had it been like this during the 2014 Gold Kennedy ANA show, it would have additionally been unsafe. Not sure why this wasn't able to be done on premises.
The ANA exhibit area seemed tired. Nothing seemed new, and nothing terribly engaging for kids (there were kids on Saturday). They should have brought their mini mint and done coining demonstrations.
There was one table that was playing house music non-stop, even while the booth was empty. I don't know if any of their neighbors complained to show organizers, but had I been within earshot of that crap for an extended period of time, it really would have soured my show experience. If someone complained and nobody did anything, then that's Bad.
On the bright side, the SS Central America exhibit with Nemo the robot was really cool. Someone was there to talk about it to whomever showed interest.
Lot viewing for auctions was at hotels near the convention center, rather than at the convention center itself. Inconvenient and time consuming. Had it been like this during the 2014 Gold Kennedy ANA show, it would have additionally been unsafe. Not sure why this wasn't able to be done on premises.
The ANA exhibit area seemed tired. Nothing seemed new, and nothing terribly engaging for kids (there were kids on Saturday). They should have brought their mini mint and done coining demonstrations.
There was one table that was playing house music non-stop, even while the booth was empty. I don't know if any of their neighbors complained to show organizers, but had I been within earshot of that crap for an extended period of time, it really would have soured my show experience. If someone complained and nobody did anything, then that's Bad.
On the bright side, the SS Central America exhibit with Nemo the robot was really cool. Someone was there to talk about it to whomever showed interest.
Welcome to the VAMWorld 2.0 discussion boards. R.I.P. old VAMWorld.
Re: Did those attending ANA find it a good experience?
It was a very good time! I found a 1903-O VAM-22 in 63 - i was the proud owner of it for about 3 min. and then it was gone - off to a new home. If i did not still have my 64 - it would have been really painful to part with the 63. I have also brought home ~50 raw and unknown 1921-Ps that need some work... I also brought home an 1878-CC GSA VAM-13, 1878-CC GSA VAM-18, 1878-S VAM-16A (A brand new discovery of Lewis...)(NGC-63), a few discovery coins (not my discovery but the actual coin already holdered....) around 20 unknown Morgans in slabs and 30 raw unknown Morgans. I have some stuff to be busy with 4 a while. It was great seeing the other VAMfolk that straggled in over the week. Long Beach next (after Rodger Waters...)!!!
Have a great day!
Re: Did those attending ANA find it a good experience?
Nice the several good coins were found, but I was thinking more of the total experience of attending -- what worked, what didn't, what could have been better.
Re: Did those attending ANA find it a good experience?
From a dealer perspective --
Registration and Set up: All worked fine with no issues for us except that there should have been power at each table. The only hassle was running the [provided] extension cords along the demarcation piping and entering another dealer's booth to plug it in.
Public Address system: I had to reach a customer to have him return to my table a few times. Each time the announcement was impossible to make out. The SNL Land Shark salutation was clearer. Not sure that this can be improved. It is the nature of the venue, the room and installed PA.
WiFi: We are nearly a quarter-century into the new millennium. WiFi is cheap and easy to deploy. There really is absolutely no excuse for large shows not to provide it to the dealers and guests. And the ANA is not the only show where this is an issue. Dealers should not need to tether their laptops to their phones, which they continually need to redo as they take the phones to browse the bourse and need to have it for greysheet and other lookups and to be contacted by customers and booth personnel. If the venue is not accommodating, the ANA should be able to do so.
Security: Might have been a one-off fluke, but all of the dealers were concerned that a couple guys could walk out with a dealer's case and not be challenged. This is always a concern at any shows on set up and break down times. But that was mid-show. Hopefully, surveillance videos have helped, but perimeter security was insufficient. They need to be aware constantly of theft potential, not just screening badges. We might need to barcode badges too and only allow entry and exit in scanning them. But that can easily be defeated too. Money and high value liquid assets concentrated at a coin show are always going to be a magnet for thieves.
Auctions: already discussed ad nauseum. Great Collections was apparently the official anchoring auctioneer. You wouldn't have known it without really trying to find out. Ian should be pissed about that poor accommodation of their sponsorship. The others being off-site bothered people a lot because they rightfully assumed they were associated with the show. But they were more like Goldberg's with respect to the Long Beach shows.
Registration and Set up: All worked fine with no issues for us except that there should have been power at each table. The only hassle was running the [provided] extension cords along the demarcation piping and entering another dealer's booth to plug it in.
Public Address system: I had to reach a customer to have him return to my table a few times. Each time the announcement was impossible to make out. The SNL Land Shark salutation was clearer. Not sure that this can be improved. It is the nature of the venue, the room and installed PA.
WiFi: We are nearly a quarter-century into the new millennium. WiFi is cheap and easy to deploy. There really is absolutely no excuse for large shows not to provide it to the dealers and guests. And the ANA is not the only show where this is an issue. Dealers should not need to tether their laptops to their phones, which they continually need to redo as they take the phones to browse the bourse and need to have it for greysheet and other lookups and to be contacted by customers and booth personnel. If the venue is not accommodating, the ANA should be able to do so.
Security: Might have been a one-off fluke, but all of the dealers were concerned that a couple guys could walk out with a dealer's case and not be challenged. This is always a concern at any shows on set up and break down times. But that was mid-show. Hopefully, surveillance videos have helped, but perimeter security was insufficient. They need to be aware constantly of theft potential, not just screening badges. We might need to barcode badges too and only allow entry and exit in scanning them. But that can easily be defeated too. Money and high value liquid assets concentrated at a coin show are always going to be a magnet for thieves.
Auctions: already discussed ad nauseum. Great Collections was apparently the official anchoring auctioneer. You wouldn't have known it without really trying to find out. Ian should be pissed about that poor accommodation of their sponsorship. The others being off-site bothered people a lot because they rightfully assumed they were associated with the show. But they were more like Goldberg's with respect to the Long Beach shows.
Re: Did those attending ANA find it a good experience?
Helpful comments.
Regarding WiFi: We are nearly a quarter-century into the new millennium. WiFi is cheap and easy to deploy. There really is absolutely no excuse for large shows not to provide it to the dealers and guests. And the ANA is not the only show where this is an issue. Dealers should not need to tether their laptops to their phones, which they continually need to redo as they take the phones to browse the bourse and need to have it for greysheet and other lookups and to be contacted by customers and booth personnel. If the venue is not accommodating, the ANA should be able to do so.
During a discussion of this problem in relation to the Baltimore Convention Center, I was told that the Convention Center agreement prohibited any WiFi/Internet except through their provider. As expected, the fee was some absurdly high amount to blanket the bourse area.
Regarding WiFi: We are nearly a quarter-century into the new millennium. WiFi is cheap and easy to deploy. There really is absolutely no excuse for large shows not to provide it to the dealers and guests. And the ANA is not the only show where this is an issue. Dealers should not need to tether their laptops to their phones, which they continually need to redo as they take the phones to browse the bourse and need to have it for greysheet and other lookups and to be contacted by customers and booth personnel. If the venue is not accommodating, the ANA should be able to do so.
During a discussion of this problem in relation to the Baltimore Convention Center, I was told that the Convention Center agreement prohibited any WiFi/Internet except through their provider. As expected, the fee was some absurdly high amount to blanket the bourse area.
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vamsterdam
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Re: Did those attending ANA find it a good experience?
I had a fantastic show. I sold boxes of stuff, vams, varieties, rainbow toners, etc. and i picked a very large amount of stuff. Found some really good vams and varieties!Food and company was great, motely crew cover band was painfully loud and annoying. On my way to thai food tuesday night(?) my car got hit by some guy driving a new tesla. He must have been flying when he tried to turn right at a stop light. Ripped his driver rear wheel totally off the hub, lost control of the car and still managed to hit me well past the intersection. His car was a mess. Rear end trashed, front wheel chewed up badly, and he dumped so much green fluid all over. What a mess. Messed up my dinner plans but my car only has surface damage. Will have to check the steering and balance when they check it out. Knocked my car sideways. Police should have done a sobriety test on the other driver. Well, good night.