Urban Expositions has formed the “International Golf Gathering,” an invitation only annual trade show designed to meet the changing business needs of the golf industrys leading international suppliers and buyers. As the first and only show of its kind in the golf industry, the new show is set to debut September 9-11, 2007 at the Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa and Savannah International Trade & Convention Center in Savannah, GA.
“In studying the market, we realized that what the golf industry needs is not another golf trade show, but a highly productive gathering of buyers and suppliers engaged in order writing at the most strategically critical time in the golf industry business year — September,” says Doug Miller, president, Urban Expositions. “For years we have witnessed the erosion of meaningful participation in golf trade shows because the existing major shows were either too late to impact buying patterns, too expensive, or were attracting vendors and buyers who had minimal core commercial relevancy to the golf industry.”
The International Golf Gathering will be a private industry show designed to bring the best of the industrys suppliers and buyers together for the single purpose of writing orders in the strategic September time-frame. The shows timing and its East Coast location provide vendors with a convenient way to convene to reliably predict trends and purchasing patterns for the coming business year.
As an invitation-only event, attending buyers will be nominated by exhibiting suppliers and will receive a four-night stay at the Westin, including all meals, cocktail parties and events, as well as an additional travel credit. These buyers will include selected major on-course golf professionals, on-course buying groups, large independent off-course retailers, off-course buying groups, golf retail chains, large independent golf retailers and other golf buyers of significant interest to the vendor community.
More than 100 exhibiting companies will pay an all-inclusive fee to participate, which includes booth space at the Savannah International Trade & Convention Center (within walking distance of the host hotel), hotel accommodations and meals for three key executives, as well as a host of relationship building opportunities and business forums.
Further enhancing the innovative show concept, the world-class Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa and the Savannah International Trade & Convention Center offer a cordial, relaxed, yet highly charged golf setting for exhibition and networking opportunities. The International Golf Gathering Championship will precede the show on September 8, giving key supplier representatives and attending buyers the chance to “team-up” and play the challenging Savannah Harbor Golf Course, current site of the PGA Champions Tour Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf Tournament.
Urban Expositions has chosen golf industry veteran Joseph J. White to direct the marketing of the new event. “Todays executives in the golf industry-from both the vendor and buyer side-are global in their business perspective and must have their purchase planning, factory orders, strategic buying and business decisions addressed in a timely and compact manner,” says White. “The International Golf Gathering will meet these demands. Its a true milestone for the business of golf,” adds White.
