And It Was A Winner From Practically Every Angle

By ANN Correspondent Dave Higdon

Ed Bolen smiled broadly when he walked out of the Board Room at the headquarters stand of the National Business Aviation Association.

"We're almost done," said Bolen, president of the NBAA. He'd just walked out of a board of director's meeting; workers inside the cavernous North/South Wing of the Orange County Convention Center already labored at removing the exhibits representing a record number of vendors who occupied an NBAA record number of booth spaces. Attendance - not yet officially tallied - rose toward the 29,000 mark. Not a record, but not a problem.

The NBAA staff and its volunteer companies pulled it off.

From Out Of The Wreckage, A Winner

The association staff, as most know by now, suddenly faced the need to relocate the 58th Annual Convention of the NBAA after Hurricane Katrina wreaked her havoc on the Gulf Coast and rendered the long-planned location in New Orleans an untenable option. Nine weeks out from the original dates, NBAA had to find a new home.

And it's not exactly the kind of meeting you can just drop anywhere. In fact, over the past decade the list of suitable cities shrank to basically three - New Orleans, Las Vegas and Orlando. Hotel rooms for nearly 30,000 within easy distance of the convention site is a must; a hall with more than 1 million square feet - in one building, please - was another must. The toughest nut: An airport capable of hosting a static display of aircraft plus hundreds of member's aircraft.

In near record time, Orlando won the draw and the work started in earnest. Exhibit distribution had to be done; new programs printed, new maps of the exhibit halls, housing, ground transportation, distributing new information to members. Three years of advance planning had to fit into the time available.

T-Minus 10 weeks from when Katrina struck. So, think the staff arrived a little pooped? "Yeah, but we were energized," said Bolen (above), still unbelievably energetic in attitude, even if he looked a little road weary.

"We didn't want an event that people said was a 'nice show, considering,'" Bolen observed. "We wanted an event that had people saying, 'Nice show!'"

From all indication, Bolen and his team of pros succeeded. "We're going to be talking to people in depth to gauge their feelings a little farther away from the convention," he noted. "But we've been hearing a lot of positive things about this one."

"We think the attendance numbers will be good, strong. People really partied at our Gala (Thursday evening) and showed their enthusiasm," said Bolen. The Pointer Sisters warmed up the audience - which sold out in record time, by the way. "But when the Doobie Brothers started singing "China Grove" it seemed everybody in the audience knew the lyrics - and the lyrics to all the other songs."

The evening - a fundraiser for hurricane victims - was, Bolen conceded, "something different" for us. "But the people had a good time - and it showed."

The Downsides? Few And Far Between

So nothing this size - and organized on this short a time frame - ever goes perfectly, right? Well, sure - but Bolen's criticisms were few and far between. And Bolen's not prone to dodging the downsides of questions.

His appeal to members to use a special kiosk to e-mail members of Congress opposing the airline industry's latest scheme to shift costs to general aviation seem to come up a little short of his own high expectations. "I never saw people waiting to use the computers; but they may have been responding on their own, given so many people here have their own access avenues. Still, he must keep pushing our members to get engaged in this, because if we don't business aviation will suffer."

"The Showalters did a great job with the static," Bolen noted. Bob and daughter Kim Showalter, of Showalter Aviation at ORL, have years of experience running NBAA statics - and this year was among the best seen by many observers' comments. "But getting in and out from the streets took longer than I expected when I went out. What we can control was excellent - can't control the traffic flow, though."

All in all, the weaknesses Bolen mentioned aren't problems that can be blamed on anything related to the late venue change - and street access into ORL is often difficult, NBAA convention or no.

And The Hit Spots? Well, Overall, It Was The Sum Of The Parts

"I'm happiest that, I think, we met our definition of success," said Bolen. "I think it was a good show, period."

The move of the NBAA Convention into the OCCC's North/South Wing, a square building across International Drive from the long, thin, narrow rectangle that is East/West Wing used in the past, proved a hit with Bolen - and the vendors, delegates and journalists, for that matter. "I was delighted by the square layout," Bolen noted. "You don't think about the fact that when you make appointments for several stops in a day that you might be facing a mile-and-half walk from one to the other…and back again."

"But that was often the case across the street." In the new facility, it must be noted, the longest walk from one extreme of the hall to the opposite extreme took but a few minutes. True, the aisles still added up to miles of walking on concrete - but easier, shorter walking compared to the prior OCCC home of NBAA.

Next up: Some Familiar Venues -- While Another One Bites The Dust

Next year, NBAA returns to the OCCC for the 59th Annual meeting next year; then Atlanta for the 60th Anniversary gathering in 2007; then back to New Orleans for 2008.

No more, however, Las Vegas - the city that was hardest to get onto the NBAA calendar, the city where NBAA attendance hit its high-water mark, showing its appeal to delegates. Last year's experience with the Static Display in Henderson, however, left a bad taste in the mouths of exhibitors and vendors, alike. "It was too far, we had to drive a gravel road to look at Gulfstreams and Challengers, the aircraft exhibit was a mile-long taxiway," Bolen said.

So Vegas is falling off the list. "But it wasn't just about one bad trip. It really is about them not wanting us there." NBAA people do love Vegas, Bolen acknowledged. NBAA people bring $30 million to the cities that host their convention. "They just didn't like our business aircraft there and they weren't accommodating," he continued. "We're a business aviation organization and they are hostile to business aviation."

So bye-bye Vegas. NBAA is one organization that does put its money where its mouth is.

FMI: www.nbaa.org