JACKSONVILLE \u2013\u00a0Chad Hovsepian\u00a0considered last weekend\u2019s Jacksonville Boat Show a success even if he\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0have to sell any of the seven boats he had on display.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The general manager and co-founder of Lake Area Watersports in Melrose said the primary purpose of spending\u00a0three days among hundreds of boats and thousands of potential customers was making\u00a0connections and future contacts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing this for 20-something years, and it\u2019s always been successful for us,\u201d Hovsepian said. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0a lot of work, but\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a good way\u00a0to get ready for the season. We make contacts here for after the show.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like\u00a0a fisherman\u00a0creating a trail of chum, patience is the key to future success.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alec\u00a0Adamec thinks the same way, but\u00a0he\u2019d\u00a0rather now have to load up the 16 boats he brought from Adamec Marine\u00a0in Orange Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0great for business.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a highlight for what we do,\u201d he said. \u201cYou get to see who has the best stock, who has the best staff.\u00a0You get to show off what you do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0not about selling boats.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0about starting relationships. But I\u00a0still plan to sell all 16 boats before the\u00a0show\u2019s\u00a0over.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The show ran Friday through Sunday at the\u00a0265,000-square-foot\u00a0Prime F. Osborn\u00a0III\u00a0Convention Center. There were clinics,\u00a0free\u00a0life jackets, lures\u00a0and\u00a0fishing rods,\u00a0seminars,\u00a0raffles\u00a0and demonstrations, along with\u00a0more than 75 different vendors, including\u00a0nearly 40\u00a0boat\u00a0sales companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The show was so big, some of the displays spilled into the parking lots.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Hovsepian, it was also an opportunity to expand his\u00a0ShuvIT\u00a0revolutionary\u00a0wake\u00a0surfing\u00a0training device.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a stationary\u00a0swivel-based board that mimics\u00a0what\u00a0a wave\u00a0board feels\u00a0like\u00a0behind a boat. It can turn 360 degrees and rock up and down. More importantly,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0three inches off the ground, so it allows surfers to work on difficult tricks without the danger of a hard flop during high speeds on the water.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He built one to help his daughter, Lindsay, train for Wakeboard Tournaments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Saturday, the (ShuvIT) boards\u00a0will stop traffic,\u201d Hovsepian said. \u201cKids will be on them all day long.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a good way\u00a0for customers to stop\u00a0to check\u00a0out the brands of boats while\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Adamec said his shop attends two boat shows a year.\u00a0There are plenty of salespeople on the floor to cover the\u00a0large selection\u00a0of watercraft.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe attract people from all over Northeast Florida, not just Jacksonville and Clay County,\u201d Alec said. \u201cWe\u00a0want to\u00a0talk to a lot of people, so we bring\u00a0everybody we can.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0absolutely worth the investment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
And\u00a0a great way\u00a0for local boat\u00a0dealers to stay afloat.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE \u2013\u00a0Chad Hovsepian\u00a0considered last weekend\u2019s Jacksonville Boat Show a success even if he\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0have to sell any of the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":553305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,15024,15015,15023,15026,3188,15016,723,15021,7310,15020,15022,7648,15018,15017,15025,15019,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-553304","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-argyle","10":"tag-clay-county","11":"tag-doctors-inlet","12":"tag-eagle-harbor","13":"tag-fl","14":"tag-fleming-island","15":"tag-florida","16":"tag-green-cove-springs","17":"tag-jacksonville","18":"tag-keystone-heights","19":"tag-lake-asbury","20":"tag-margaret","21":"tag-middleburg","22":"tag-orange-park","23":"tag-pace-island","24":"tag-penney-farms","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-of-america","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115982574795567946","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}