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AFFTA announces the show dates of for the SEPTEMBER 9 - 11. 2010 INTERNATIONAL FLY TACKLE DEALER TRADE SHOW

December 31, 2009

AFFTA board member and Trade Development Committee (TDC) Chairman David Leinweber, owner of Angler’s Covey in Colorado Springs, is already hard at work planning for the show, which is only nine months away. 

 According to Leinweber, “The TDC is responsible for the vision and planning of the IFTDTS.   We don’t have much time to plan for the trade show, so Randi (Swisher, now AFFTA VP and Marketing Director) and I will be meeting on Tuesday, Jan 5th in Denver to set the agenda for the TDC meeting which will be on Jan 7th.  I can say that an AFFTA produced fly fishing industry trade show is NOT going to look or feel like a Nielsen produced FlyFishing Retailer show.”

 Under the leadership of Leinweber, AFFTA solicited and appointed several well-known industry veterans to serve the Trade Development Committee.  In addition to Leinweber, committee members are David Heller, Jim Klug, Marc Bale, Kirk Deeter, Tom Bie, Bruce Richards, and Randi Swisher.  These committee members have a reputation of marching to a different drummer, speaking their mind, and not being content with the status quo. 

 AFFTA board and TDC member Jim Klug bluntly said, “Simply put, success will be doing something different with the show (i.e. new and exciting).  We need to be totally aware of the fact that attendees, retailers, manufacturers, etc. are all in agreement on one thing - they do not want to see more of the same.  For us to continue an industry show that is heading down the exact same path as before (same timing, same location, same look, etc.) is NOT the answer, especially when that path has been heading downhill for the past several years. The industry is waiting to see how a new show idea is going to reverse this downhill slide.”

 Klug continued “We as a committee need to ask ourselves how we are going to make this show different. What can we change or add that will inject some excitement into the program?  We know from past experiences that seminars are not the answer, although they can play a role. Casino tours, hotel scholarships, fishing opportunities etc. also have not worked.   We will be coming up with new ideas; ideas that are outside of the box and completely different than anything that has been tried in the past. We will be contacting a number of vendors, retailers, etc. and asking THEM to submit THEIR ideas of what they would like to see at THEIR fly fishing industry trade show. I believe strongly that soliciting vendors and retailers is the only way that we can increase attendance and create the buzz and excitement that is needed for a successful show.”

 The TDC members are going to each submit several ideas and we are going to see which ideas and proposals “float to the top” said Klug.  “The fly fishing industry can rest assured that this year’s INTERNATIONAL FLY TACKLE DEALER TRADE SHOW will look and feel completely different than the past shows.”  

 Leinweber summed it up by saying “I am very excited.  This is our chance to hit a home run and we have assembled the right team to do it.”