One week, two conferences, no sense

April 29th 2008

 3 comments
Answer me this. Why during the same week is there an important horse-racing conference in Lexington, Kentucky AND an important horse-racing conference in Montreal? Why isn't there a single conference that brings together the people who are attending both? It's a symbol for much that is wrong about our industry-- no coordination, no conservation of resources, no centralization or organization.
 
Here is what the USTA's Deveau Zubrod wrote about the first annual International Equine Summit, in Kentucky: "As people from all backgrounds in the horse world came together one thing was clear -- that there is concern across the board for how strong the demand for the horse will be in the future. Along with varying economic factors, the customer base of all equine sports is aging and we are often struggling to adequately replace them with the younger generation."
 
Meanwhile, in Montreal, Standardbred Canada reports this about the Standardbred Wagering Conference: "The conference will focus exclusively on standardbred wagering and is the only event in North America that will deal solely with the issue of standardbred horse wagering. Regulators, operators, officials, participants and customers will be asked to come together to discuss concrete plans to develop and grow standardbred wagering. Standardbred Canada's revised Strategic Plan, identified the urgent need to address the continuing decline in Canadian standardbred wagering; the Standardbred Wagering Conference will serve as a catalyst for the industry to address this issue."
 
It's crazy.
 
 

Comments

Warren said...

All of the folks gathered at these conferences have been there before and this was their results. Open up OTBs. That will get more people interested in the sport. Raise purses. That will bring more people into the sport. Slot machines. That will bring them to the track. It's the people that earn a living with the sport saying if you give them more money then they will draw the fans. What's going to happen when these people get back to their tracks? Count the slot money and complain about what a stupid meeting it was.

posted at 1:08 PM on Apr 30th 2008

Paul Siegel said...

I wonder if there is any other business that does no market research to find out who their current and potential customers are, and what those customers want from the product.

posted at 4:20 PM on Apr 29th 2008

Bob Marks said...

The problem is who appoints whom to discuss what? I've noticed some people discussing topics they've never published a single word about.

Just as more and more I notice stuff being written by those whose expertise on the subject has never been documented yet we're to accept this commentary as verbatim.

posted at 11:14 AM on Apr 29th 2008

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