Overland Expo East 2017

KM4DWS said:
My understanding was that last you did indeed need ticket onto the estate and also a ticket to the event... But it seems this year if I read the little cart correctly, the ticket onto the estate is included. (You will need to confirm this for yourself)

I thinking I will show up for Saturday, will I see you there?
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At this point I'll be in Idaho in August
 
KM4DWS said:
My understanding was that last you did indeed need ticket onto the estate and also a ticket to the event... But it seems this year if I read the little cart correctly, the ticket onto the estate is included. (You will need to confirm this for yourself)
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That's correct.
 
Post expo thoughts:

Me, the mrs., and 6yo son opted for the Saturday Day Pass. We could not justify nearly $400 for the weekend camping pass. Maybe if the location was a pristine, virginal forest or a mountain overlook, but field camping at the at the Biltmore, and stacked in like sardines is not that big of draw. I'm certain there is added value for the classes you have access to for the Experience portion, but that wasn't in the cards for the same reasons why weekend camping was out.

Pros: Watching my son walk around with sheer amazement on his face at all the rigs present was worth the price of admission. It is always great to have an event where you can amass the industry experts, and professionals in one place. Meet-n-greets are always fun. I enjoyed seeing owners from several companies I support having a successful weekend. All of the good that these events offer is pretty well documented; I doubt I could add more to that.

Cons: The Biltmore Estate and their crowd management is the biggest drag on the whole event. We were caught up in a traffic jam as expo attendees and estate visitors bottlenecked at the entrance. Then, you had to park, get in a long line to verify your tickets, and get a wristband (by the way, no one checked my wristband from that point forward) before you could be directed to the appropriate parking lot. Once there, and after waiting about half an hour for a shuttle, we were informed by estate staff there were insufficient shuttles for the event and they were opening temporary parking at the event. Back to the Jeep, drive down to the expo and park. Total time from arriving at the Biltmore to walking through the entrance of expo was an hour and 45 minutes. The whole process was an exercise in inefficiency and unpreparedness. I've heard the reasons why the Biltmore is used, but you cannot convince me that there isn't some other site east of the Mississippi more suited for the event.

We had fun, but unless the venue changes we have attended our (first and) last expo east.
 
Thank you for sharing your experience. That's valuable feedback for the event organizers.

I'm not privy to all the particulars on why the Biltmore Estate was selected above all other potential sites on the east coast but I have heard lots of similar feedback from both attendees and vendors alike.

Having organized a few events myself I know firsthand that the rarest ingredient in this recipe is the "perfect" location. I don't envy their conundrum in this case - how to have a nice, large location in the RIGHT location without it being too costly or too constrained by local rules/codes/infrastructure. It's a huge undertaking and there's probably no perfect spot.
 
We managed to make it up to Asheville, and had a great time.

We have wanted to attend one of these for years, and are finally able to now that we are back in the US. We went for the full overland experience ticket and camped on site. It wasn't cheap, but I would do it again.

I can't speak to what Twin Mag saw, but I am not surprised. Camping on site avoided a lot of those problems though. We parked the cruiser on Thursday and only moved it once for one of the driving courses.

Certainly the event wasn't perfect, but it worked great for us. A couple of the classes were duds, and but most were pretty good. We attended a few classes, and wished we had signed up for a couple more. They had good food on site if you got lazy or forgot something, the campsites were crowded, but everybody seemed considerate and was getting along pretty good. It was even dog friendly, so Enzo the Magnificent could attend as well.

I learned a few things, made some new friends, and had a great weekend with the wife and the dog. I even managed to leave with my wallet mostly intact.

We are looking forward to next year.
 
I went to the first Overland East Expo when it was located on the farm outside of Ashville. This year it was a completely different experience now that is at the Biltmore. I can agree with Twim Magnolia about the inefficiencies coming in. The fact that we did get to drive down and park due to the lack of shuttles was very nice. We have two little kids and having to get them on the bus, plus the stroller, and other items would have just made it a mess. Once we arrived and got walking around it was amazing to see how much bigger the event was. We only got half of Saturday to walk around and that was almost all spent walking through the vendor area. I have a problem with sparking up conversations with people and my wife has to tell me to move on. If it wasn't for her I probably would have only seen about 1/10 of everything. Looking at the camping areas everyone seemed a bit cramped compared to the first year, so maybe they will need to find a bigger area of the Biltmore for next year. Overall we all had fun, I have more ideas for my next build, and I can't wait to be back on the mainland so I can get back to overlanding.

I posted some photos up on my site here:

https://www.live2travelphotography.com/overland-expo-east-2017/
 
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I've only been to five expos total (three easts and two wests) but I've managed to attend the last four venues (the ranch, the lake, the fairgrounds, and biltmore). My two cents on site selection, for what it's worth, is finding a location that is used to handling crowds of 1,000's of people made up of a mixture of onsite campers and day visitors. State Fair Grounds come to mind. Not small community fairgrounds (like the new Expo West fairground which is still a major traffic bottleneck), but large ones. Most state fairs have large parking lots (for parking and/or camping), multiple ingress/egress routes (for day traffic), facilities (don't want everyone digging fox holes do we?), and pole buildings (should they be needed for classes, theater, etc).

Don't get me wrong, there is no such thing as a "perfect" venue. Especially for an event like this which has broad appeal across a wide spectrum of people. I know people that LOVE the Biltmore. I know people that miss the Ranch. I even heard a few people who miss the lake site. That said, as the expo shows grow compromises will need to be made. If not a state fair grounds, then possibly a large venue like a race track (don't laugh) which again has a lot of acreage as well as an infield which can often be dug up. Either that or we need to pull a burning man and all head out into the desert and build out own city for a week.
 
Dean said:
I've only been to five expos total (three easts and two wests) but I've managed to attend the last four venues (the ranch, the lake, the fairgrounds, and biltmore). My two cents on site selection, for what it's worth, is finding a location that is used to handling crowds of 1,000's of people made up of a mixture of onsite campers and day visitors. State Fair Grounds come to mind. Not small community fairgrounds (like the new Expo West fairground which is still a major traffic bottleneck), but large ones. Most state fairs have large parking lots (for parking and/or camping), multiple ingress/egress routes (for day traffic), facilities (don't want everyone digging fox holes do we?), and pole buildings (should they be needed for classes, theater, etc).

Don't get me wrong, there is no such thing as a "perfect" venue. Especially for an event like this which has broad appeal across a wide spectrum of people. I know people that LOVE the Biltmore. I know people that miss the Ranch. I even heard a few people who miss the lake site. That said, as the expo shows grow compromises will need to be made. If not a state fair grounds, then possibly a large venue like a race track (don't laugh) which again has a lot of acreage as well as an infield which can often be dug up. Either that or we need to pull a burning man and all head out into the desert and build out own city for a week.
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The race track idea is actually pretty good. Right now I'm down at Barber for their festival and it's based around a race track. Tons of camping in different locations and they just have a shuttle to help get people around. Yes they have been doing it here for 13 years so they have it down but the race track would be a great place for vehicles to park or run the vendors along. So the track idea works , they are racing here so it is kinda necessary.
 
I volunteered at the 16 west. I don't remember what job they assigned me because I got in a couple of days early and the person on the road was clueless. I parked my rig and was watching the intersection with a sheriffs deputy, it got so bad I told the flagger to take a break and started getting folks in and out of the event in a reasonable manner. The volunteer coordinator kept me there all three days of the event. I volunteered for the 17 west event, was accepted and not contacted until a couple of weeks before the event. At that time I was told I would be working until 8 at night hauling garbage. At no time was I contacted by the volunteer coordinator as to what my age, physical capabilities, restrictions were. When I informed her I would have to pass she sent me an email belittling me for being rude for not accepting the job. I have organized events myself and they are a handfull. The idea that volunteers are attacked in any manner is completely unacceptable. These profit making events could not proceed without volunteers. My 2 cts.
 
Dean said:
Either that or we need to pull a burning man and all head out into the desert and build out own city for a week.
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King of the Hammer's has been packing 30-50,000 people into the desert for over a week at a time for over 10 years now, that idea can work.
 
Another desired characteristic for these types of events is their proximity to ease of access, cellular service, entertainment, and lodging. Those factors often preclude remote locations that we supposed vehicle dependent travelers prize.

Reading between the lines, this should give us cause to ponder who are organizers really trying to attract at these types of events?
 
TangoBlue said:
Another desired characteristic for these types of events is their proximity to ease of access, cellular service, entertainment, and lodging. Those factors often preclude remote locations that we supposed vehicle dependent travelers prize.

Reading between the lines, this should give us cause to ponder who are organizers really trying to attract at these types of events?
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You don't have to put your reading glasses on to see that subtext either, do you?

I think @Dean is on point with state fair grounds or race tracks as viable options. Both of those locations typically have all those criteria covered. Cell coverage at the Biltmore sucked, and I know that vendors missed out on some sales b/c they couldn't run their square card readers on iPads due to lack of connection. Hanging out at booths long enough made that pretty apparent. What the Biltmore lacked in cellular coverage, it had other opportunities in tourist friendly spades (winery, luxury hotel, etc ad nauseam).

Although, if they could get that Segway tour to be a little more off-roady, maybe put some rocks in the road, they might have tapped into a new niche market. A Tepui x Segway personal off-road device with push-button tent deployment would sell like gangbusters.
 
the wife & I are looking forward to the next Expo. Now I do have a question "400.00 camping fee for the week end pass, is that the norm?" or does these vary from expo to expo?
 
ArkansasDon said:
the wife & I are looking forward to the next Expo. Now I do have a question "400.00 camping fee for the week end pass, is that the norm?" or does these vary from expo to expo?
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The weekend pass with camping at Biltmore was $370 if you purchased it in advance. If you look at the Expo site you'll see what all is included with that, which is quite a bit more than camping and access to the vendor area. Many demonstrations, presentations, and films, plus the Land Rover driving course, etc.

We never describe the camping area as anything but a way to stay close to the activity, but most people seem to enjoy it for the weekend. I always try to walk it just for the insight into others' approach to travel.
 
it sound fun & interesting. We are want to attend next years & camp their so we can experience the demo's & other activities. Plus we want to look at the other rigs people own. Thanks for the reply Jonathan
 
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