Next week, much of the Grassroots Motorsports staff will be in Las Vegas for the 2017 SEMA Show. Will you be filtering through the miles of chrome and rubber? Be sure to stop by our booth, say hello, and hang out for a little bit. We'll be in booth space #24633.
Be there Thursday, See you then.
I will be there Wednesday and Thursday. It's my first time to SEMA and I'm super excited...even more exciting because it's a business trip, so I get to go for free.
Holy crap, where is booth 24633??? I'll need to make sure I have a detailed map. Somehow I don't think two days will really be enough for me to see it all, will it? Damn Halloween is getting in the way. I'd head out Tuesday morning, but I can't miss Halloween with my kids. Oh well.
On a related note, those who are regulars, what is your recommendation of rental car vs. not? I land in Vegas around 9:00am Wed morning. I'd want to go to my hotel to drop off my bag before heading to the show. My hotel is about 2.5 miles away. So I'd have to go from the airport to the hotel, then to the show, then back to the hotel. Plus I'm meeting with vendors and going out to dinner at some point both Wed and Thur. I haven't been to Vegas since '03, and never rented a car for use on the strip. However, I just checked rates and I can get a midsize car for a whopping total of $46. That's the all in price including taxes and everything. With it being that stupid cheap, should I get it? My hotel has free parking, I checked. Or is it a major hassle to have a rental car?
Vegas has fantastic transit in the form of taxis and uber/lyft. Parking near sema ain't cheap, historically I've had a rental for sema, if they don't provide me one this year I'll just use taxi's, uber and lyft. I've had other stays in vegas where I didn't have a rental and unless you plan to do much back and forth I don't think it's worth the hassle of having the rental.
We've done a rental car and not done one. And rental cars seem inexpensive there.
To get to the show itself, yeah, take the monorail, a taxi/Uber/Lyft or walk.
If you're going to casinos in the evening, most offer free/cheap valet parking. The monorail works nicely, too, assuming that it's going where you want to go.
Klayfish---- a rental that cheap is hard to beat--- even if you only use it a couple of times. As David said---take a cab, or monorail to the show, as parking is a pain, costs $, and you'll still have a 1/2 mile walk from the lot to the convention center. (doesn't everything in Vegas take a 1/2 hour walk?) For dinner and heading to and from the airport, the car will likey pay for itself.
You're gonna have to hustle to see the show in two days. If you walk the entire facilty, you'll travel over 30 MILES! We are in the main Performance Hall, with Ford, Chevy, Mobil 1 and all the big players. Our booth will be towards the rear of the main hall---- sort of near GM's massive display. Here's a map:
The Southern Hall will be full of wheels, tires and booth babes. The 2nd floor is the truck / SUV / side by side stuff. There is an electronics hall and three big performance halls. Then there's all the activity in the parking lot, with ride and drives, drifting, WRC (maybe again this year) and ridiculously over the top show cars.
Eat healthy, wear comfortable shoes, and bring chapstick, as Vegas is very, very dry. Have a good time, and be sure to stop by the GRM booth. Miles will be there, and you may run into Tom, Tim, Ed or I, but most of the time we'll be running around attending meetings.
Have fun!
I have been doing trade shows for over 20 years, many in Las Vegas. As I find myself between jobs at the moment, I realize that SEMA is the annual tradeshow that I would most want to be managing for my next employer. I had thought about simply going out and handing out resumes, but a regular schlub like me can't get in. (and I know how much I love standing in the booth that I paid money for and having people waste my time trying to sell me something or get a job.)
So as you are walking the show, make a note of whose booth needs some work, who isn't maximizing their ROI in social media and pre-show marketing and whose booth staff isn't well trained and properly scheduled. Then tell them you have a Marketing Pro who wants to be in the automotive market more than anything and give them my e-mail. (pinchvalve at G-Mail)
Thanks for the info! The reason I'm thinking rental, besides being stupid cheap (Dollar Rental), is that my hotel isn't on the strip. I'm at the Westgate Flamingo Bay, which by the map is a few miles west of the strip...due west of Bellagio. So I wouldn't have access to the monorail. I figured by time I paid for cabs too/from the airport, too/from the show and going out to dinner...if we go off the strip...it would cost far less to have the car. But just didn't know if it would be a royal pain in the ass.
Yeah, I figure I won't see every last thing. I'm not a big truck/brodozer fan, so I will do that last...if I get there. Though I won't complain about seeing booth babes. I'm in physically good shape, so all set there. My wife and I made several trips to Vegas from about '98-'03, so I remember how much walking it is. We go to Disney World a lot, and that's a E36 M3 load of walking, so I'm used to it.
See you there!
When I went to SEMA, there was a shuttle between AAPEX and SEMA (badge got you into both) and AAPEX had free parking with a shuttle running between them both. I ASSuME they still have it like that so a car would make sense to me. I had always rented one the years I went. Last year I went was 11 though.
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