Planning for 2023 Rental Rally Tradeshow

This month we asked members about their attendance plans for the 2023 Rental Rally Tradeshow and their ideas for seminars. If you have an idea for a survey for CRA members, please send your request to CRA at Info@CalRental.org. 

1. Are you a Rental Center or Vendor?
Rental Center : 58% (23 responses)
Vendor: 42% (17 responses)

Questions and Responses from Rental Centers:

2. What type of rentals do you have?
General Tool: 56% (10 responses)
Party: 28% (5 responses)
Both General Tool and Party: 17% (3 responses)

3. Do you plan to attend the 2023 Rental Rally Tradeshow?
Yes: 72% (13 responses)
No: 56% (1 responses)
Undecided: 22% (4 responses)

4. Are seminars important to you?
Yes: 56% (10 responses)
No: 44% (8 responses)
Additional comment:
1. But I’m usually helping with set up so I don’t get to participate.

5. Please indicate if you are willing to participate in seminars the following times:
Sunday Afternoon: Yes: 29% (4 responses) No: 71% (10 responses)
All Day Monday: Yes: 81% (13 responses) No: 19% (3 responses)
Tuesday Breakfast: Yes: 56% (9 responses) No: 44% (7 responses)
Additional comment:
1. Having seminars on Monday would reduce the floor time to 1.5 days, which might be too short, but it seems that 2.5 days is too long.

6. What type of seminar would you be interested in?
Round Table: Yes: 80% (12 responses) No: 20% (3 responses)
Professional Speaker: Yes: 79% (11 responses) No: 21% (3 responses)
Industry Experts: Yes: 85% (11 responses) No: 15% (2 responses)
Hands on Demos: Yes: 92% (12 responses) No: 8% (1 responses)

Comments for “Round Table”:
1. How to handle negative yelp reviews consistantly.
2. Propane and CARB: What are our choices?
3. Customer service: teaching telephone skills to counter staff.
4. Credit card fails after rental is in 30 days or over.
5. Hiring/Training Practices, CRA Growth/Member Benefits (manufacturer/rental).

Comments for “Professional Speaker”:
1. Telephone etiquette.
2. RE Party: Event Industry changes after the pandemic. New trends. .
3. Inside sales, telephone skills.
4. Succession Training, Employment training/retention.

Comments for “Industry Experts”:
1. MEWP requirements.
2. What went wrong and how to fix it.
3. Equipment Availability Forecast, Independent Rental Acquisitions/Start Ups (Market Share),
Construction Forecast.

Comments for “Hands On Demos”:
1. Battery technology, “cutting the cord.”
2. Something fun for party.
3. New equipment.
4. New technologies and how to use them.
5. Anything and everything.
6. New equipment, brand competition.
7. Expand the demo. Get more vendors involved. It was awesome.

Questions and Responses from Vendors:

7. Do you plan to attend the 2023 Rental Rally Tradeshow?
Yes: 79% (11 responses)
No: 7.% (1 response)
Undecided: 14% (2 responses)
Additional comment:
1. Of course!

8. Are seminars important to you?
Yes: 43% (6 responses)
No: 57% (8 responses)
Additional comments:
1. I think they are valuable for all who attend.
2. I’m a vendor, so unless we’re presenting, not interested.
3. As a vendor not so much. But important for members. .
4. Adding vendor-related opportunities might be something to consider.
5. Some are... CARB and EPA updates on the equipment we can and can’t sell to the rental yards.

9. Please indicate if you are willing to participate in seminars the following times:
Sunday Afternoon: Yes: 23% (3 responses) No: 77% (10 responses)
All Day Monday: Yes: 46% (6 responses) No: 54% (7 responses)
Tuesday Breakfast: Yes: 62% (8 responses) No: 38% (5 responses)
Additional comments:
1. Vendor, so unless we’re presenting, not interested.
2. Part of time on Monday... during set up.
3. Depends on setup availability time.
4. Just advise prior to plan accordingly.
5. Not sure these are for us??

10. What type of seminar would you be interested in?
Round Table: Yes: 63% (5 responses) No: 37% (3 responses)
Professional Speaker: Yes: 88% (7 responses) No: 12% (1 responses)
Industry Experts: Yes: 89% (8 responses) No: 11% (1 responses)
Hands on Demos: Yes: 89% (8 responses) No: 11% (1 responses)

Additional comments for “Round Table”:
1. Fleet supply and demand. ROI.
2. Fleet planning.

Additional comments for “Professional Speaker”:
1. Motivation, Organization, Networking, Customer Service.
2. Work related education (management skill, dealing with difficult situations, work culture).
3. Customer Service.
4. Current state of economy.

Additional comments for “Industry Experts”:
1. Open to all industry experts.
2. Insurance.
3. Fleet ROI or market trends.

Additional comments for “Hands On Demos”:
1. Open to most needed for the industry.
2. Forklift cert class avail on site? Or something that everyone does/uses.
3. Absolutely.

11. Would you be willing to be a seminar sponsor?
Yes: 23% (3 responses)
No: 31% (4 responses)
Additional comments:
1. Possible. We are a tradeshow sponsor now.
2. Probably not at this point.
3. Depending if we can attend w/setup, etc.
4. Through my vendors
5. Possibly
6. Possibly

Question for Everyone:

12. Survey Ideas
1. CRA is interested in growth and sustainability of members, including the CYRP. We should encourage members to identify individuals in their organization that are being groomed to be the next generation’s leaders. Many organizations may have not thought about this. This would also give CYRP names of the top future leaders that we should keep a close contact/relationship with, as this is the next/young leadership of tomorrow.
2. Need more members to show up for the EXPO. This year did not have the attendance we would expect.
3. Information for beginners in this business would be nice with start-up guides and how to’s.
4. Last year was amazing, especially with the young professionals outing and demos. All the vendors at the trade show were very informational.
5. When is the best time to announce specials/promotions from a vendor/manufacturer?
6. Thoughts on replacing gas equipment with electric.