Update About CHA-Summer 2009 Show Plans

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CHA-Summer 2009 will take place in Orlando from Tuesday, July 28th through Thursday, July 30th, 2009. For the first time, it will be followed by a consumer show on Friday, July 31st & Saturday, August 1st.

The initial announcement of the consumer show was pretty controversial, especially because it came with very few details about how the show would be run. After conducting some conference calls with its members to gather information and feedback, CHA has now released more information about details for the new consumer show.

The consumer event on Friday and Saturday of CHA week will be titled the CHA Craft SuperShow.

One major point of controversy about the consumer show would be over who might be allowed to, or even required to, exhibit at it. CHA has issued the following guidelines for exhibits for the consumer show:

All CHA members will be allowed to exhibit at the CHA Craft SuperShow. To avoid complexities and competition between retailers and manufacturers, exhibiting manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers will NOT be able to sell products for cash at the CHA Craft SuperShow. Other categories such as retailers, designers, professional crafters will be allowed to sell products at the show.

These guidelines remove several concerns that I’d heard expressed following the initial announcement about additional costs to exhibitors from possibly being forced to sell at the consumer show, and about local retailers facing competition from sales by manufacturers.

CHA is offering incentive to exhibitors at the show that commit to running a make-n-take in their booth:

Educate consumers about your products! When you buy one or more booths and commit to hosting a Make-N-Take, you will get one additional 10 x 10 booth free. See the CHA Craft SuperShow Exhibitor Contract for more details on this program.

Exhibitors who sign up by December 5th to exhibit at either the trade or consumer show can take advantage of Early Bird booth rates.