Event promoters need to get a clue.

[tomgearhart]

That's a great post, Tom, one which is filled with sound reasoning.

It would not make ANY SENSE for a promoter to hold an event and not make a profit. I personally witnessed and experienced the perks, benefits, and complimentary freebies that were given to attendees at the Glass City Open in Toledo, which are too numerous to list in this thread. Let me just say that some of the pool players were treated like royalty. :smiling-heart:

I have not attended a DCC in several years now, but last time I went, they issued passes for the players and their girlfriends/wives with photographs on it, which solved the problem of passes being given to friends to get "free" admission. I can definitely see where this would be a problem and should not be tolerated by the promoters.

On the flip side, at the Super Billiards Expo, the security for admission in some arenas made it difficult for the paying public, those who held legitimate passes, to enjoy the show. Some of the gatekeepers that I saw seemed to have what I would characterize as "pitbull-like personalities" with nasty dispositions; however, maybe they need to be pitbulls to be gatekeepers, as opposed to a friendly black lab wagging a tail at the gate. :grin-square:

The issue of passes isn't a problem at the Joss/Turning Stone events because they are all free admission. Of course, this is the exception rather than the rule.

To tell you the truth, Tom, I don't know how any promoter makes a profit in today's pool world. I guess, no matter how you slice it, you can't please everybody.

FWIW, I really do miss the GCO. I loved that tournament.

We really miss the Glass City Open too, Jennie. Promoters of these types of events rarely make money at them. After months spent negotiating with the hotels, the table makers, obtaining key players, billiard magazines and the vendors, not to mention recruiting the volunteers and working with the various charities, coordinating the setup and teardowns, the daily and weekly meetings with staff, the advertising campaigns and a host and multitude of other things that it takes to run a successful tournament, there just isn't enough money left for much, if any profit....just a lot of risk. No, I will tell you it is done for the love of sport and the players making a payday. If it makes money, it is icing on the cake.

Not many people understand or want to understand what it takes to have a successful tournament. Just because a place is packed every night doesn't mean the promoters are getting rich. Money taken in must exceed expenses to be profitable. Thanks for the kind words, Jennie. Say hi to Keith for me, please.

 

[nathandumoulin]

OK, let's grant that you have something to offer. (Though showing up with a lot of equipment isn't enough, just as showing up with a camera around your neck, or voice recorder or notebook in your hand, or wearing a hat with a ticket that says "PRESS" in the headband.)

IMO, it is your job to convince the promoter. Pool is not big time tennis or golf. It's pool -- and it has been done wrong for so long that when someone has something to offer, it is incumbent on them to be a sales person for themselves and for the sport.

In a perfect world, no, you shouldn't have to convince the promoter -- it should be self-evident that what you're offering will be good for their event and the sport. But that's not the way it is. So all I'm saying is: don't be the sales rep who can't close the deal, and then goes off to the bar and moans, "Too bad he didn't decide to carry our line, because it would have brought in more foot traffic and doubled his on-line sales."

Make your case, close the deal, and do something good for yourself, the promoter, the event, and pool.

Lou Figueroa

A handful of you seem to think that it's a great idea to take a single sentence out of the whole post and drill me on it, simply because none of you have the respect or imagination to believe that I may actually have sufficient reason to merit a media pass. For the sake of argument can we just quit being naysayers and just give me the benefit of the doubt already? Endlessly questioning my credibility is not getting us anywhere, and it's pretty shameful really.

As for Lou, I agree that it's not a perfect world. That's granted. But does that justify having to deal with bad event promoters? I don't think so, as I'd rather spend my time and effort elsewhere (pool related).

Thankfully there are a handful of other promoters out there who are actually doing a great job. Luke Riches from Matchroom, Mark Griffin from CSI ...these are the people who have a clue and are doing their best to raise the bar for pool. They understand the need for media and the value it brings. I'd rather utilize my effort to bring exposure to these events, rather than "try to convince" a bad event promoter who fails to understand basic business practices.

 

[lodini]

Someone actually wanted to cover the event? Turning that down is really weird to me... unless they already had a bunch of press people banging their door down?

 

[lfigueroa]

As for Lou, I agree that it's not a perfect world. That's granted. But does that justify having to deal with bad event promoters?

Well, yeah.

We all have to deal with stuff like that, whether it's a bad promoter, a clueless room owner, or sharking opponent. The question becomes: how bad do you want to do what you want to do?

I just think it's your job, as the smart one (and I don't mean that sarcastically), to educate the guy. It sounded like you were close and felt you could have pulled it off if you just pressed a little more. Then he would have seen for himself that giving you a media pass was a good move. But instead, what have you accomplish? Now, the promoter is still clueless and you didn't get to do what you do, and pool fans lose out.

Could have been win-win-win.

Lou Figueroa

 

[nathandumoulin]

Well, yeah.

We all have to deal with stuff like that, whether it's a bad promoter, a clueless room owner, or sharking opponent. The question becomes: how bad do you want to do what you want to do?

I just think it's your job, as the smart one (and I don't mean that sarcastically), to educate the guy. It sounded like you were close and felt you could have pulled it off if you just pressed a little more. Then he would have seen for himself that giving you a media pass was a good move. But instead, what have you accomplish? Now, the promoter is still clueless and you didn't get to do what you do, and pool fans lose out.

Could have been win-win-win.

Lou Figueroa

Regarding the idea of it being my job to educate him, my limited understanding of PR dictates otherwise. As such, I'll just conclude that we disagree on this one, and leave it at that.

As for fans missing out, the truth is that I can only do so much work. I'm limited by man power and financing, which means that I can't cover all the events anyway (especially during the peak of the season oct-jan). Failing to cover the event simply means that I'll cover a different one instead.

In the end, it is of no loss to pool players and fans in general, as they'll be treated to coverage of another event. The only real loss is to those involved with the said event.

 

[lfigueroa]

Regarding the idea of it being my job to educate him, my limited understanding of PR dictates otherwise. As such, I'll just conclude that we disagree on this one, and leave it at that.

OK, I get it.

hmmmmmmm, but, my limited knowledge of PR, having personally worked with folks like Wolf Biltzer, Katie Couric, Pete Williams, and representatives from virtually every major and minor news outlet from the NYTimes, to NPR, on down, dictates you should have educated him (that being one of the prime jobs of anyone remotely connected to anything looking vaguely like PR).

Here, a quick story about Wolf: In a past life I was chief of the USAF Media Training Program -- in a nutshell, it was a 4-hour crash course where we taught general officers and senior civilians how to talk on-camera, while being interviewed by a reporter, without looking like a total goober.

Part of that program was showing them a short video I put together. Basically, I went to every major Pentagon television correspondent and several news print reporters (people from CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, The Washington Post) and asked them if they wanted to participate in telling these senior guys why they should submit to media interviews. Wolf was one of the first guys I interviewed and he was very generous with his time and comments.

To a man, every reporter agreed to be taped for my little training video because they felt it was an important enough thing to do (even if it violated their network and newspaper contracts). One-by-one I interviewed these media heavy weights and asked them to look into the camera and tell the person watching (eventually one of our trainees), why they should talk to a reporter in an interview setting.

Do you get it?

These media big shots felt it was important to *educate* these guys as to why it's important to use the media.

But, I guess you feel differently. Oh well.

Lou Figueroa
to each their own