Meet-N-Greet
I
’ve just returned from one of the summer’s must-do events for cruiser and touring enthusiasts: the Americade rally in Lake George, New York. This year’s event marked a milestone for RoadBike and Americade organizers alike. Being an East Coastbased national motorcycle magazine, Americade is the closest major rally to our home in Stamford, Connecticut. Every year, employees from our parent company, TAM Communications, clamor for passes to attend. Staffers usually go up for a few days, snap a few pictures, and retreat before the big crowds arrive later in the week. But this year we did it a little differently and with tremendous results. RoadBike’s participation and involvement in the Americade rally this year was increased to include a display booth at the Forum indoor convention center in Lake George and the sponsorship of a 142-mile unguided minitour of the Indian Lake Loop. Both were a resounding success, and we look forward to continuing our participation in the event with these activities for years to come. It doesn’t end there though. We’re already discussing ways we can increase our exposure in the future. And Americade organizers made some positive changes to the layout this year that included moving the event headquarters and demo rides to smack dab in the middle of the action at the Fort William Henry Hotel and Conference Center. Formerly, participants had to travel to the edge of town to partake in some displays and demo rides, but the move brought all the elements of Americade together in a concentrated location. By all accounts, it was a positive change. I spent three days up at Lake George this year, part of which included booth duty. With temps hovering in the 90s with high humidity and thunderstorms popping up sporadically, the air-conditioned Forum building was a perfect safe haven. We had complimentary copies of all our publications — RoadBike, American Iron, and Motorcycle Bagger — and daily giveaway prizes. I hope you had a chance to stop by if you were there.
Meeting the readers face to face is an invaluable exercise. While putting together RoadBike magazine may be my career and a big part of my daily schedule, reading RoadBike isn’t one of your mandatory daily tasks. I realize fully that sending us a letter, a snapshot of your bike, or filling out a reader survey to tell us how we’re doing are not on the top of readers’ priority lists. You have real lives — jobs, kids, hobbies, soccer practice, little league, chores, grocery shopping, lawns to mow (I know there’s more than that, but you get the point). So having a booth to use as a home base for myself and my colleagues was perfect. I like to think it makes up for all the obstacles in real life that come between you (the reader) and us here at RoadBike. Having a booth display presence put us up-front in the minds of attendees and produced some wonderful meet-and-greet moments. Many participants stopped by to compliment us, as well as chastise us. That’s fine with me. Like I said, this was the perfect forum (in the Forum) to take RoadBike from out of sight, out of mind to “Oh yeah, I wanted to tell those guys at the mag something.” We had no hard-sell going on, actually, nothing for sale at all. Just a booth where readers could stop by, chat, and meet the staff of your favorite magazines (ahem, that would be RoadBike and AIM). I heard some great stories, and you folks told us what your favorite parts of RoadBike are. The sneakpeek copy of the cover of the next issue was a big hit as well. Our newest staffer, AIM Assistant Editor Tyler Greenblatt, will present his take on this year’s Americade rally, his first, in the next issue of RoadBike. While tight budgets and long-distance logistics make presenting the RoadBike booth meeting place a challenge at most other rallies, I’m thoroughly pleased with our Americade outcome. If you didn’t make it to this year’s TourExpo rally, there’s always next year. And until then, don’t forget you can contact us at letters@roadbikemag.com with comments, questions, or to send pictures of your bike. Or find us on the web at Facebook and www.RoadBikeMag.com. RB
… it makes up for all the obstacles in real life that come between you (the reader) and us.
8 September/October 2011 n RoadBike n RoadBikeMag.com