GATS was a blast, y’all!
So as you may have noticed on our Facebook page… we DROVE to Dallas for the Great American Truck Show. We did it as a team building activity for Daniel, Eric and Jeff. Door to door from Dock411 HQ to Dallas Convention center is about 14 hours, just over 1,000 miles, and three great road side diners; in other words, a perfect way for the team to really get to know one another!
Dan and Jeff at Hank’s Hamburgers on old Route 66 in Tulsa, OK. We have three goals when we attend a trade show. First, we want to demonstrate the app to as many people as possible. Next, we want to find and network with partners. Finally, we want to stand out and create buzz on the floor.
We arrived in Dallas Wednesday afternoon, took about two hours to set up our booth, then walked all 500,000 sq ft of showroom floor to identify booths we wanted to stop by later. During the three day show, we demonstrated the app to over 200 truck drivers and numerous partner companies and associations.
Those associations and companies include the NASTC (National Association of Small Trucking Companies), AITA (America’s Independent Truckers Association), TCA (Truckload Carriers Association), TomTom Navigation, uShip, DAT Trucking, PC Miler/ALK/Trimble Navigation, ATA (American Trucking Associations), WIT (Women in Trucking), Avagree, TruckerSam, LoadExpress, WellsFargo Bank, CAT Scale, Dave Nemo Radio Show, Ground Breaker, Drive My Way, Extreme Brake Integration, AllTruckerJobs.com, and Allie Knight (YouTube trucking celebrity).
Did we create a buzz? You tell me…
- The Driver of the Year and Owner Operator of the Year both came by with the management of their organization and said we were the most significant thing they’ve seen at the show in years.
- Most of the companies who stopped by our booth said they did so because they heard talk about us on the show floor
- Women in Trucking made an announcement at their annual reception about our app which drew “oohs” and “aahs”
We are on to a good thing with Dock411. We need your support, ideas and feedback to grow this into the killer app it should be.
