From Jim Winterer:
Things went quite well for Minnesota trials, I think, at the annual international motorcycle show held at the Minneapolis Convention Center over the weekend.Special thanks go to Kevin Johansen who did three things to promote the sport of trials in our area. First of all, he and his family produced a much-needed video that showed what the sport of trials is like at the club level. Second, he made an attractive fold-out display panel with lots of trials-related info for Minnesota, and third, he made a neat little brochure that serves as an introduction to trials and gives down-to-earth information on how you can get involved in the sport right here.
This year the motorcycle show tried something new, called “The Club House.” This was an area set aside for clubs to promote their events. We got there early on Friday and wound up with tables that faced the main corridor of traffic, and we were able to get power to run our gear. We set up three VCR-TV units, and ran various tapes over the weekend. The first TV showed Kevin’s tape; the next one usually showed a fun “trials thrills” kind of tape; and the third TV showed a video from the 2002 Duluth world round. We weren’t being greedy, but we kind of dominated the “club house,” but in a good way.
District 23, with information about all other kinds of sanctioned competition, had a spot right next to us, and they put some of their literature on our tables, so a lot of people stopped by for the District 23 schedules and info, and picked up literature about the UMTA and the world round. We had a couple of nice world-round banners (which Steve is bringing to the Tennessee national this weekend) and all-in-all, it was a pretty spiffy display.
The District 23 reps liked having our videos and displays there because it helped draw people over to the booth.
All of the District 23 schedules, newspapers, and the like have our trials schedules and contact info on them. A neat little newspaper they produced on how to get involved in off-road motorcycle sports has an article and some photos about how to get involved in trials.
We’ll have to see if all this helps us or not, but I can’t rememember when we’ve had this level of exposure for UMTA to an audience of people who already are interested in off-road motorcycling here in Minnesota.
While promoting the world round was important, one problem I always had was that our past promotional efforts generally showed a level of riding that average people could never imagine themselves trying or doing. You should have seen all the families who stopped by the booth over the weekend who watched the “club” tape that Kevin and his kids produced. They really seemed interested, and many picked up Kevin’s brochure and the District 23 literature about how to get involved with our club. As I said, we’ll have to see if there are any results, but to me it is a welcomed step in the right direction.
Oh, I could add that we had lots and lots of positive comments from the cycle show visitors who had either been to the 2002 world round or who had heard about it from their friends. Darn good buzz out there.
Two last quick things. If anyone needs Kevin’s tape, display board and brochures for any future shows, we have the whole package available for use. Plans are to set it up at the world round in June, but it could have other uses too.
Last thing is thanks to Steve Ahlers, Jim Blount, Will Winterer and Kevin for working at our booth over the weekend.
Jim Winterer
