It’s Thursday, so I’ve got another Green Felt Journal in Vegas Seven. This week, I take a look at the surprising success of hobby-related trade shows, with a focus on Creation Entertainment’s upcoming Star Trek Convention:
Things haven’t looked good for business travel to Las Vegas for a few years. Since 2006, the city has suffered a 29 percent reduction in convention attendance. But amid the gloom, one sector of group travel has weathered the storm surprisingly well: hobby-related trade shows.
Creation Entertainment, which puts on conventions across the country for fans of genre television and movies, has seen attendance at its annual Star Trek convention in Las Vegas climb steadily in recent years. In fact, thanks to the company’s efforts, the city holds the world’s largest Star Trek convention each year—and is shooting for the record books again during this year’s event, set for Aug. 5-8 at the Las Vegas Hilton.
Fun article to research–I learned a lot about the thriving genre TV convention circuit. I’m doing a follow-up at the convention that should be even more interesting. If you decide to go, you might run into me–with or without a Gorn costume (almost certainly without, but you never know).
This looks like a crowd that likes having fun. It’s good to see a bunch of convention guys with the Moxie to show up here in Vegas, during a supposed recession. It proves that if something is interesting enough that the people will keep arriving.
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I want to say something about Star Trek. The article said:
“Those who grew up watching the original Star Trek are now well into middle age, an ideal demographic for the gaming tables and restaurants here.”
I want to add my ‘one-cent worth’ on this subject, just for the accuracy of the historical record.
I think Star Trek originally came on TV in 1967 (?). Maybe 1966 (?).
I was around 15 at the time. There wasn’t much on TV worth staying home for then. I’d basically quit watching prime-time TV around 1965. Me and my friends went out every evening to Bob’s Big Boy Drive-In to start our night of socializing.
It wasn’t that we thought we were too good for TV…we just didn’t stay home much at night during that era.
When I was 14 I only saw a few TV shows…like Get Smart or The Fugitive. Every afternoon (5pm) I’d watch The Merv Griffin talk-show and Walter Cronkite News with my parents.
By 6 pm I’d either go my room and sandwich my two stereo speakers next to my head and listen to my albums….or walk to the bowling alley to use the pay-phone and talk to girls, and later meet up with my friends.
Most households only had one TV at the time. It wasn’t like now, when every person watches their own TV in their own room…with the choice of 30 cable channels or a DVD player or getting on the Internet. There wasn’t any ‘time-shifting capability’ (like recording with a VCR).
I don’t know many teenagers of that era who sat with their parents to watch Prime Time TV. There was too much opposition over what could be watched…and my step-dad had the right to watch his shows after a hard day’s work.
So, I’d just head-on-out and meet my buddies. That’s what every friend I knew did. We didn’t stay home. Basically all there was too watch at our house were my parent’s choices like Gunsmoke (then in its 100th season, it seemed)…or that depressing Ironsides (the wheel-chair detective) or Hawaii 5-0 (or older-people’s variety shows).
Basically the only shows I ever watched between 1965-1970 were:
* About two months worth of Mod Squad in 1968 (before it got junky).
* The late night TV shows (Carson, Dick Cavett or Joey Bishop).
* Sometimes Ed Sullivan (to see The Doors or other Rockers), and just a little of Laugh-In’s musical guests.
Around 1970 the comedy-show ‘Love American Style’ became popular from the first episode. Same with ‘The Courtship of Eddie’s Father’. And best of all was ‘Room 222′ (the comedy about high-school).
But as for Star Trek….I never saw it until around 1994…and only then just saw about 45 minutes of one episode.
I don’t know of anyone my age (58) who watched it when it originally aired. And I don’t know when it went into syndication, but I never saw it until 1994.
So. Just for the sake of ‘historical accuracy’ I thought I should state the semi-fact that Star Trek became much more popular to the generations that watched it years after it originally aired and went into syndication (probably sometime in the early 1980s I guess).
I’d imagine that most Star Trek fans are probably age 35-45. And I don’t think I’m mistaken.
The only ST-Fan I know of of that is older than that core-group is my neighbor who is 63. He has a color-photo of him and Dr. Spock sitting together at the Hilton. It looks pretty good.
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So. No. I don’t know much about Star Trek…but I know one thing for sure. I hate it when people pronounce it “Star Track”.
My generation basically all only had one TV per house and (as teens) didn’t watch prime-time TV as much as people might imagine we did. Star Trek is most popular with a different generation than mine….even though it originally aired during our era.
I’ll mention one show I truly liked, even though it might seem lame. It was the Partridge Family in its first two seasons.
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Okay. I’m writing too much again. I’ll blame that on this. This month marks the one year anniversary of me not having a TV.
Try going that long without one. It will change you in major ways. You might become as long-winded as me. Oh yes. I forgot. It’s been one year without a cell-phone and one-year without a vehicle (that can drive over 2 miles). (No air-conditioning and the windows won’t go down. The interior thermometer read 135 F when I drove it last).
Not complaining…just explaining why I’ve been writing so long lately. It’s my substitute for TV and a life.
I think I’ll stop writing after today. I’m sure I bug some people here.
ps. tOO BAD ABOUT kENNY gUINN. hE WAS A DECENT GUY.
During you recent Vegas Gang pod cast (which was very good) Jeff Simpson mentioned that the Riviera likes to host “niche” conventions similar to the Star Trek convention. When I was visiting Las Vegas back in 2006 the Riviera had an “Old West” convention. There were cowboys, gunfighters, women dressed as prostitutes, etc. wandering around the convention center part of the hotel. They had an area setup where they could fire fake guns at targets in an “old west” town type of setting. It looked kind of fun and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
West Vegas-
I used to watch reruns of the Mod Squad when I was much younger. I liked that show a lot and if I remember correctly none of the 3 members of The Mod Squad carried handguns.
Yeah. Mod Squad was one of (if not the first) TV shows to aim toward the teen-25 market. It was groundbreaking in that aspect and seemed quite revolutionary for the time (having actors basically under 25, yet holding good adult jobs).
They didn’t use guns. They used more of a philosophical approach to correct criminal behavior. Sort of like Zen-Police. Maybe not to practical in real life but it gave room for thought.
Peggy Lipton (“Julie”) was perhaps the youngest (of at least the hippest) girl on a regular TV show then. Compared to Patty Duke, the girls of Petticoat Junction, the weird girl on Family Affair or the Flying Nun’s Sally Fields – she was the hottest girl around. (Although Beverly Hillbillie’s Elli-May had guys drooling at the time. And quite actually…I thought Granny was one of the sharpest and sexiest chicks around too. haha).
BTW. I checked the Star Trek demographic on the Internet. At the time, the demo was comprised of the 18-45 crowd. So, my earlier statement that the ‘under 18′ crowd didn’t watch it much was sort of true. Plus, it aired on Friday Nights and most teens weren’t home on that night.
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Yes. The Riviera always has off-beat types of conventions. I drove a lot of billiards players there for conventions. And they even had a convention for English, Irish and Scottish Dart Players there.
It stuck me as unusual that these guys would fly all the way to Vegas for their tournament.
About the (1955) Riviera and the question on the podcast as to whether it can ever be a vital hotel-casino again.
Most of the panelists said “No” and their logic was correct.
I stayed there in 1991 and I got totally confused trying to navigate the place. It’s been built-up so much….over stages that its original, sensible floor-plan got obliterated.
Still. I someday hope to rent one of those penthouse suites in the second-phase (mid-70s) high rise sections. I’d imagine they rent for fairly cheap and that it would be exciting to stay it a high-roller penthouse from that era.
I used to notice (while looking at the Riv from the Circus cab-line) that they have some super-cool penthouses with outdoor patios.
If the Riv can last long enough for the opening of the Fountain-Blue, they might once again get the cross-over, pedestrian traffic that J. Simpson said the lost after Stardust’s closing.
I don’t know the condition of that aged casino. But it sure seems to me it could be turned into a super-cool, hotel again drawing a 20-60 year old crowd of fun seekers.
It has a lot of small showrooms and lounges. Its bars are laid-out in good patterns thru the casino floor. There is a lot of potential to turn it into an active, mid-market hotel for the (lower income) Twenty-Something crowd and for Boomers alike.
It’s location is close enough to the Wynn to be functional as a budget-wise way to be close enough to utilize the Wynn’s entertainment activities. If the designed a roof-top, Sky-Room Lounge it could become a very interesting place (comparable to Caesars Pure Nightclub….but less trendy, elite and expensive.
The Riv could become a great, new hot-spot (if the cost of renovationg its hotel rooms wouldn’t be too high). Imagine if they bought-out the Peppermill and that Korean Gift store (formerly the El Morocco Casino. They could build a great new entryway there and maybe a 10 story addition.
The one thing they would absolutely need to do first is to get rid of their current underground entry-way. It is awful. People going arriving there by vehicles to see a show (etc) are get a terribly depressing first impression of the place (in its dated, greasy cement, undergound).
That wasn’t the original entry. The original entry was an open-air, ground-level entry…directly above it in the exact same area.
If they made a new and beautiful side entry (at ground level, they could change the whole ‘arriving-experience’.
Imagine if Slots-of-Fun built a 10 story hotel on their current site. Circus, SOF and a New RIV…could become a cool zone of fun and cross-over-ness. When Fountain Blue opens that area could be a cool world-of-its own.
I think the time has come to concentrate on making the North-Strip an area that stands apart and stands on-its-own merits…instead of being just a low-cost hotel used as a base-camp to explore the South Strip.
I think it would be cool it the Riv, Sahara and Stratosphere formed an alliance to offer free-shuttle-bused between those three properties…and even extend the transport to Fremont East and back. If some of these hotels worked in unity they might be able to re-vive the North Strip in a way that eventually becomes very profitable.
Their closeness to the Convention Center can be a big advantage for convention groups that don’t want to spend the price to stay at Wynn or Venetian.
etc.
I like to quote you and give attribution but I don’t think I dare!
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/07/copyright-trolling-for-dollars/