The mail today included a plea from Coffee Fest, the coffee industry’s self-proclaimed “top retail show,” instructing members of the Specialty Coffee Association of America to express concerns with the association’s consideration to relocate its annual convention to Seattle for 6 out of 8 years annually beginning in 2014.
“While Coffee Fest certainly doesn’t own Seattle, we do object to the SCAA’s plan to all but permanently relocate here,” gripes founder Alan Silverman. “We believe that the SCAA locating in Seattle for a minimum of six shows in eight years will irreparably harm Coffee Fest.”
Coffee Fest also believes that many Pacific Northwest and all non-Pacific Northwest businesses will (or rather, should) object to the move for the following reasons:
- Most of the SCAA membership is in California.
- Coffee Fest also has an annual show in Seattle, so that would be too many annual shows in Seattle.
- You would see all of same people at Coffee Fest that you do at SCAA.
- There is no fee to use the Washington State Convention Center
- …and one other point about the SCAA losing membership dues that makes even less sense than the last one.
Seattle seems convenient to California if you ask me, furthermore it is reasonably accessible and inexpensive city for other U.S. visitors and many international origins
The weaker show will fail, no problem there
we don’t already?
wow, I didn’t know that! …sounds like a good move for the SCAA, how is this a drawback?
(???)
After years of aggressively shadowing/copying the annual SCAA conference with a similar format, lectures, workshops, competitions (even a hastily organized facsimile of last year’s SCAA symposium series… you thought we would forget?), the privately owned and for-profit Coffee Fest now wants you (the SCAA member) to help them protect their most popular and likely profitable show from the competition threatened by… well, you. No such concerns were raised by the member-driven SCAA when Coffee Fest transformed itself from a local consumer coffee tasting event to industry-focused event.
Coffee Fest should innovate, improve and create new value for its attendees, exhibitors and sponsors and have nothing to fear. All parties are in favor of Coffee Fest succeeding to find new and untapped markets beyond SCAA’s reach to improve the visibility of our retail industry. Complaints about the difficulty of fair competition will not win sympathy from business owners who must overcome those same challenges and more each day.
I was not familiar with the SCAA’s plans to frequent Seattle in future conference years, but if indeed true, it sounds like a good idea. Seattle is a great town and the SCAA board has my support.
Coffee fest double billed my business a couple of years ago and then made themselves very hard to get a hold of. Never got the money back. Never went to their show again. I would attend SCAA in Seattle without any hesitation.
Living in the middle of the country, I would prefer that SCAA move around. Seattle may be affordable, but if I can drive to the show for a day instead of having to fly & spend for 4 days, I’d drive. Moving around would also help to expand membership since more people would join if it was more accessible (ie., not having to fly and spend days in a hotel and being in their region). If they decide to settle on Seattle, I’d make it once, but that would probably be it.
Just my 2cents….
In the case where there is 1 and -only- 1 SCAA event each year, I concur; however, with a convenient anchor conference and numerous regional events (skill building, competitions, sub-conferences or more new features), I don’t think that it is a problem. There are already skill building workshops and regional barista competitions taking place across the country in each region — why not use those as an opportunity to create mini shows for the casual day-trippers?
There are many of us actively involved in the association for whom an SCAA conference is a 7-10 day event of nonstop business meetings, leading classes, overseeing events, lecturing, cupping at competitions and/or competing, volunteering for charities and visiting with suppliers and clients… speaking on behalf of that core group of supporters, I don’t think that we really care if the event is even in the USA (but for obvious reasons, it should be); wherever it is, we’ll be there.
You can’t appease everyone’s sense of convenience with one location, nor is it feasible for a small association to travel to all 50 states (and P.R. / Guam) and be within driving distance for everyone, so you might as well select a good location that is cost effective for the association and far majority of membership, then spin off other sub-events to reach the travel-sensitive folks.
This is also a perfect opportunity to split off the Symposium, which could then halve the annual calendar with the SCAA show and, due to its smaller size and space commitment, ‘float’ to other venues without too much trouble.
Why would the SCAA choose to locate nearly permanently in Seattle? Seems a bit short-sighted to me.
Certainly one would expect to receive favorable rates for committing to one city for such a long time but the others have a sharp point for moving the show around (and following historic precedence): accessibility. While it’s true that a core group of people will attend SCAA regardless of location, isn’t the idea of the SCAA to be inclusive rather than exclusive?
By locating the show nearly permanently in the far left corner of America, the SCAA effectively excludes a number of its potential members and supporters. If we follow a show that’s similarly the major show for its industry, The NRA – National Restaurant Association, they have a long-standing tradition of hosting their annual trade show in Chicago.
While Chicago may not be the cheapest city (for attendees) to host a show, it is centrally located with airports that serve as regional or national airline hubs, and a number of international gateways and airlines to serve an audience external of the United States. Being in Chicago, the NRA Show is within a 2-3 hour flight from either coast, Texas or Florida.
And let’s be honest, there really is only ONE SCAA EVENT per year. Only one event brings together the different segments of our industry under one roof – and that is the annual SCAA Conference and Trade Show. To suggest that other SCAA events offset the placement of the Exposition is not a reflection of how it truly is.
Further, I’ve always seen the SCAA and CoffeeFest as two different beasts. CoffeeFest Seattle excels at gearing its show and programming to the coffee retailer. That is its forte. The SCAA is an industry wide event that has always fallen short on serving its retailer clientele. In addition, the two events are five months apart and I see very little competition between the two.
While CoffeeFest Seattle is really the only CoffeeFest worth making the effort to attend (being the largest), I personally don’t make the effort because it’s located in Seattle. Not being conveniently located means multiple flights, additional hours and further travel. Perhaps it’s a show worth making the effort every two to three years. Place the SCAA is such a remote corner of America and the same will follow.
I’m not sure that there is a venue in Chicago for SCAA — too small for McCormick Place (NRA has about 60,000 attendees compared to our 10 or 11,000), too big for Navy Pier… and have you dealt with the unions in that city as an exhibitor? Nickel and dime you at every turn. It’s awful.
There is also the issue of transportation: if showing at McCormick Place, most of the hotels are up on Michigan Ave, so you need to operate buses back and forth (like NRA does) or everyone gets socked with a cab ride each way. It’s not the best layout for a medium-sized show.
East Coast, West Coast, whatever, we need a -good- show location first and foremost that best accommodates the overall membership and also gives the association a platform for further expansion. The traveling carnival routine just doesn’t work for an association of this size; it would be nice to take the show to everyone’s doorstep, but I just don’t see how that would work… it’s certainly been hit or miss (from the perspective of attendee and/or exhibitor) for the last 10 years that I’ve been following along. I wouldn’t go back to Anaheim, and that has nothing to do with geography.
Chicago was an example of the NRA, not for the SCAA. The point being that Chicago is centrally located, which makes it ideal for the permanently-based NRA Show. Of course, there’s more to Chicago than McCormick Place and I too dislike the distance – though I’ve found it cheaper to stay in the ‘burbs, rent a car, drive and park at McCormick Place than spend the money to stay at a hotel in The Loop during the NRA Show.
If the SCAA is really going to pursue a semi-permanent home then it should be centrally located rather than in some distant corner of the United States.