10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker

DOWN TO BUSINESS
I.T.S. Moves Back to Anaheim and Gets Serious
(Click here to see the photos!)

“Getting down to business” was what the 2004 International Trucking Show (ITS) was all about. After a nine-year stint in Las Vegas, ITS relocated back to its original home in Anaheim and, for the first time ever, was produced by the California Trucking Association (CTA), the show’s owner. The three-day trucking industry show was held on September 23-25, 2004 at the recently renovated and modernized Anaheim Convention Center, located across the street from Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. Poor attendance got the show off to a slow start, but the final day more than made up for it.

The CTA and the show’s long-time producers parted ways after last year’s ITS in Las Vegas after working together for decades (since the inception of the show back in the 1960’s). The CTA decided to take the show back to Anaheim, but the company that had been producing the event for the CTA didn’t think it was a good idea. Long story short, the CTA took ITS back to Southern California where they felt it belonged, and a new show was launched in Las Vegas. The two shows are similar yet different, but each has their strong points.

The CTA’s main goal was to put ITS back in the heart of Western trucking (Southern California) and to place more emphasis on business-to-business. One way in which they helped concentrate the show on business was to not include a truck beauty competition. Many attendees were surprised by the omission of show trucks, and most were disappointed. But it did help keep the show focused (all that shiny chrome can be distracting). Right from the start, we could see that this show would be different in many ways.
After setting up on Wednesday (the day before the show opened), we headed over to the ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney for a private reception held for exhibitors and members of the trucking media. Sponsored by the CTA and Newport Communications, the two-hour party featured food, refreshments, ice sculptures, fantastic service, and every sports-related game you could ever imagine - and it was all free! At check-in, each guest was issued a special credit card that allowed them unlimited use of all the games the ESPN Zone had to offer in its upstairs game area. You could ride a Harley or a jet ski, shoot hoops, throw a perfect pass, fire off a round of trap, drive golf balls, play air hockey, box a few rounds, snow or water ski, or play a host of other fun interactive games.

If you have never been to the ESPN Zone, and you love sports, you are missing out. Downstairs in the sports bar, you’ll find a 16-foot wide, high definition, big screen television on the wall and each booth has its own flat-screen monitor right on the table. There is also a row of leather reclining chairs with swing around trays to sit in and enjoy whatever game is being shown on the BIG screen. The ESPN Zone takes the concept of sports entertainment to a whole new level. And with locations in Anaheim, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Washington D.C. and New York, there is probably one near you - wherever you are. It was great fun and a terrific way to kick off the show. It gave all of the exhibitors and press a little time to relax and play before the real work began the next day.

The show’s hours were also a bit different than most of the other truck shows. Thursday and Friday the show was open from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Saturday the hours were 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The show officially opened on Thursday after Curt Pringle, the mayor of Anaheim, cut a ribbon draped in front of the show’s entry doors. But the opening fanfare was followed by two very slow (and long) days. Thursday and Friday’s attendance was poor, to say the least, and attendees walking the floor were practically non-existent after 4:00 p.m. on Friday. But a lot of business was still taking place nonetheless. Many exhibitors agreed that it wasn’t so much the quantity of visitors in their booths but the quality.

But if the first two days were a letdown, the third more than made up for it. Right from the start, Saturday saw visitors lined up in the lobby to get their badges. And these were not short lines - they snaked through the entire outside lobby and lasted all day. Frankly, it was amazing. At that point, many of the exhibitors began wondering (and asking) why the show would be closing so early on this, the best day. As the show abruptly ended, event staff members had to shoo out the crowds so exhibitors could start breaking down their displays. We and many other exhibitors had long conversations with the show’s producers, voicing our concerns and sharing our opinions as to what would make the show better next year. And, oddly enough, they were listening.

“The ITS, returning to Anaheim after nine years in Vegas, accomplished major goals,” said Joel D. Anderson, CTA Executive Vice President and CEO. “We knew this would be a transition year for the show. We faced many challenges in 2004, and I’m pleased to say that with the solid showing ITS 2004 had, those challenges are behind us. Now, we can build on the experience, knowledge and exhibitor feedback that we gained this year and make next year’s show even better,” added Anderson. And by the time we were finished taking down our display on Saturday afternoon, word was already being spread that the dates and times for next year’s show had been changed - for the better. The 2005 show was originally scheduled to be a Wednesday through Friday show, but after seeing how slow the weekdays were and how busy Saturday was, the dates were changed to accommodate another Thursday through Saturday event. And the hours were adjusted as well. The hours for next year will be shorter on Thursday and Friday (10-5) and longer on Saturday (9-4).

Amongst a slew of trucking publications, insurance companies and truck operations looking for drivers, most of the heavies in the industry were at ITS. Companies like Kenworth, Peterbilt, Alcoa, Detroit Diesel, Freightliner, Mack, Shell Lubricants, Western Star, Western Trailer, Ford, Chevron/Texaco, Volvo, Arrow Used Truck Sales, Bridgestone/Firestone, Wabash, Michelin and many more were on hand to show off their latest products. And many of 10-4’s own family of advertisers were there as well. We enjoyed seeing and visiting with the folks from Rick Nay Insurance Services, Orange Commercial Credit, Bracken Tax & Licensing, Utility Trailer, Sentinel Insurance, Truckin’ For Kids and Windrow Equipment Leasing/Dispatch Transportation, just to name a few. And if that wasn’t enough, the Hays Truck Museum and members of the American Truck Historical Society had a display of vintage antique trucks, including some beauties from Dalton Trucking, Ed Rocha and a 1912 Commercial Truck Company Model F-5 flatbed electric truck. This truck, one of only fifteen left in the world, could carry 9-10 tons and had a top speed of 12 mph empty or 6 mph loaded. Very few of these trucks have been restored due to the complexity of the electrical system.

A couple vehicles that were generating a lot of talk on the show floor and creating rubber-necking in the aisles were two medium duty recreational-type trucks. The International 7300 CXT is a huge pickup truck born out of the proven International 7300 severe service truck used by professionals for the most rugged applications. Featuring a DT466 diesel engine, an air-ride cab and seats, a spacious and well-appointed interior, seating for six, and the capability to haul six tons, the 7300 CXT has all the attributes of a commercial truck, but you don’t need a commercial driver’s license to operate it. The other cool truck that was turning a lot of heads was a specially-built Kenworth T300 crew cab conversion by Bentz Transport Products. The Bentz conversion turns a standard KW T300 into a four-door model with seating for five. The truck on display at the show featured a back bench seat which pulled out into a sofa bed. Spec’d as a hauler and transporter, this rig is ideal for those who want to pull a large horse trailer or are looking for a stylish and tough transporter that makes a statement. Both of these vehicles are guaranteed to make Hummer drivers stare in awe as they roll by.

Of course, over in the 10-4 booth, our crew had a lot of fun handing out free posters, centerfolds, magazines and t-shirts to everyone passing by. We also had our resident artist Greg Dohlen drawing amazingly funny caricatures for anyone who was patient enough to wait. On Saturday, it got so crowded that we had to hand out numbers to those who were waiting. It was like being at the post office, hoping for your number to be called. Many of our trucking friends stopped in to chat with us for a while or just say a quick hello. We’d like to thank everyone who came by our bright red booth and helped make our experience at ITS 2004 a good one.

“We saw what succeeded this year, and we’re listening and responding to our exhibitors and attendees,” said Anderson. “Our goal is nothing less than to make the International Trucking Show the preeminent trucking show west of the Mississippi River, and we’ll continue to work closely with our exhibitors to achieve that. In our first year as producers of the show, we achieved our goal of giving our exhibitors a business-to-business and business-to-consumer show at the same venue, over the same three-day period,” Anderson said. “We’ll continue to analyze the 2004 show and build on its successes to make all three days of next year’s show as explosive and packed as Saturday.” Next year’s revised dates have been set for September 8-10, 2005.