Thanks to all of you who visited and spent so much time at the Capitals Convention on Saturday.
I know I met at least 2,000 people personally; got my picture taken with thousands of you; and signed autograph after autograph. I did my best to mingle and meet you all. I was exhausted at the end of the day but had a great time. I am very appreciative of the people that want to meet me and humbled when you ask for my autograph. I only stopped mingling when I had to go to the men’s room and I even signed some autographs in the bathroom, too!
I would like to thank Gary Bettman and Bill Daly for coming down to our convention on a Saturday from NYC. They made great presentations; mingled with our fans and media; and worked hard on our behalf. I thought Mr. Bettman did a great job in our keynote speech at 10:00 am and was very candid and honest on a number of tough subjects.
I thought the breakout sessions upstairs were terrific. They were Standing Room Only sessions and really worked. Some folks complained about the audio quality to me in email but, to be frank, I attended five sessions during the day; sat in the back; and had no issues at all in hearing the speakers or in finding a seat. I was pleasantly surprised about the quantity of the questions to the speakers. Our fans are very educated about the NHL and hockey and are very opinionated. All of the speakers remarked to me about the quality of the sessions and the turnout.
The downstairs convention hall was buzzing and a bit too loud. I thought the autograph lines worked out OK. The lines were long but efficient. The main stage sessions were well attended and well produced but the sound quality needed to be improved. We also needed more chairs and more room. We will improve next year.
We were very kid friendly and the hockey areas were just maxed out all day with young adults playing hockey; shooting pucks; and all having such a great time.
I thought the hockey displays, auctions and merchandise areas worked well too. We have very popular merchandise and next time will have to bring more stuff and make the store bigger with more checkout lines.
I think we can also add some extra private time for season tickets holders next year vs. the general public. The lines early in the day were a bit overwhelming but things balanced out as the day progressed.
I thought the venue was very nice. The people were very supportive of us at Gaylord National Convention Center. Some folks have complained to me about parking costs and we will have to figure out how to balance this issue in future years. I would like to note that I just read that Dallas Stadium parking is now priced at $75 so $11 doesn’t seem that high of a price to pay for parking at such an exclusive resort and, so you know, we don’t share in any of that revenue.
I would like to thank our players for being so accessible to our fans. The keynote session with Alex Ovechkin, Mike Green and Nicklas Backstrom was a sellout and they had fun. All of our players were wowed by the turnout and the display of passion by our fan base.
As our fan base continues to grow we are challenged to keep up high levels of interactivity and that high tech, high touch feel that I want to convey to our fans.We will do our best to innovate, to improve and to listen to our fans. I am very pleased with the work our staff did in this first year of our convention. It will only get bigger and better as the years go on. I participated as a fan in the event. I was happy and thought it showed that we had arrived as “a hockey town”. For that I thank you all. Go Caps!
Just wanted to say thank you for putting this event together. My wife and I are season ticket holders and took advantage of being able to enter the convention at 9:00 am and we were in awe. We spent 8 1/2 hours there and had a blast. We even got the tee shirt which really sums up the day we had.
It was great to get to see and talk with the current and past players. To get the chance to sit in on the forums and see how the operations side of the business works was very interesting. Unfortunately we could not get to all of them.
We were wondering if this convention is the first of it’s kind or do other teams in the league do this or something similar? I even made an equipment purchase.
Thanks again for a great time and we hope this becomes an annual event.
Now let’s go get the cup because we are “Cup crazy in Caps City”
Great convention. One person you didn’t mention in your post whom I think deserves kudos is Elliot Segal. Elliot asked the questions that EVERYONE wanted to ask, even some that were borderline inappropriate, yet those were the most compelling. He asked the questions in a way that blurred the line between seriousness and sarcasm and he was successful in getting the answerers to take the bait. Great job.
Great Job Ted! Thanks a bunch. I’ll always remember it.
Ted:
My daughter and I had a blast. Her autograph time slot pulled Alex Semin and Michael Nylander, and both guys were very nice. This was the first equipment sale we have attended, and we were happy with the reasonable prices and friendly staff helping us check out.
Good job and good luck this season.
Jeff
Ted thanks for putting on such a wonderful event. I attended with my brother. The only suggestion for improvement that I have is for wheelchair access to the main stage area. It would be nice to have an area exclusively for people with wheelchairs. Other than that it was a wonderful day. Go CAPS!!!
My husband and I attended the convention and enjoyed it!
Especially interesting was the Panel discussions upstairs. Very enjoyable was the “Young Guns” panel minus Alex Semin, Nicky needs to get over his shyness a little but, all the players, the entire CAPS organization were great to all the fans, I have always said Hockey Players are the most friendly to their fans and willing to stop and talk.
This just made us impatient for the “home opener” on next Saturday!
I agree that the panel sessions upstairs were terrific. Best thing about the convention. Overall, a very good time and a good innovation. In the nature of constructive criticism, the area around the main stage area was way too small and the sound was no good. There were many people trying to crowd around to see the Young Guns discussion, for example, and those who were on the outskirts couldn’t hear anything. And I wasn’t crazy about the constant pep rally aspect of the main stage. Some of that is okay, but not all day long. As you noted, the merchandise store was too small and didn’t have enough check out people. I really think you need to move it to a larger convention hall if you are going to continue to have 5,000 people.
Great event, definitely a whole day of fun for us Caps fans.
The whole team really showed itself as fan-friendly, and I’d like to particularly compliment Brendan Morrison, who was part of a great panel of guys on “first day jitters,” walked around the floor (with just one staff member) willingly shaking hands and signing stuff, and spent quite a bit of time in the shooting interactive helping my kids and others.
A couple of negatives:
- Some of the other staff were harsher in their management of the players and the crowd then they needed to be, e.g. a time on the floor when Karl Alzner was about to sign a kid’s jersey, but the staff member literally blocked him from doing so and hustled Karl out of the hall.
- I’d definitely concur that the main stage was too loud and also note that there wasn’t nearly enough seating there (couldn’t get anywhere near there to see your talk, Ted).
But overall, it was great and we are cranked up to rock the red. Let’s go Caps!
Hey Ted, overall the event was amazing. It surpassed my expectations and the players were the friendliest I’ve seen.
My only gripe is about the equipment sale. My friend and I were numbers 1 and 2 in line for it and were the first ones into the event. When we got tot he equipment sale we realized that some of the vendors/vendors families were already picking through stuff… I still ended up with some good stuff but next time just let your staff know that we should have been the first ones allowed in.
Just thought you should know how it went, like I said overall it was an amazing experience and hope it’s even better next year.
Mike
We combined the convention experience with our anniversary celebration and spent the entire weekend at the hotel. The Gaylord is a gem to say the least and did not disappoint. I really enjoyed the opening ceremonies with you, Mr. Bettman and Elliot as MC. I totally agree on improving the sound system in the main hall and there definitely need to be more seats at the main stage. We purchased golden tickets and they were, indeed, worth their weight in gold. We breezed through the player autograph lines. Being physically challenged I had a little trouble with the steps up to the players, but toughed it out. Players did get up and approach those in wheelchairs to sign items. I was surprised and delighted to see Caps alumni such as Michael Pivonka, Jason Woolley and others who were not announced. I wish they had more than one alumni table so the lines weren’t so long. The wait for Peter Bondra was extensive and he was gone by the time we got to the table. I was thrilled to get John Druce to sign my husband’s #19 jersey! We only got to one event in the National Harbor Rooms, “Covering the Caps,” but enjoyed it thoroughly. My only other suggestions would be to apply the golden tickets to the alumni tables, as well as the main stage. I commend all who worked their ‘you-know whats’ off making this convention happen. You all deserve a special thank you for a job well done. This was a GREAT experience and I hope it returns next year, bigger and better.
Wonderful (annual, I hope) convention!
Could not hear speakers in the main hall, but the panel discussions were great!
Unrelated message to Dan Snyder:
“Like a flower, you can not build a team,
you must grow one.” (Talk to Ted!)
Hal Pierson
It was a great day. The players were friendly and approachable,I had a blast!
I loved the convention, and most of my problems are basically already covered in your post Ted. I was a bit surprised of course that they ran out of convention shirts, but in the end I can live without one. My main point of improvement for next year would be on the quality of the sound in the main area. I’m not an audio engineer and I have truly no idea whether it was excessive bass or what was specifically the problem but as loud as it was in the main area, unless you were close to the stage you could not actually understand it.
The MC is a difficult one for me to come to a conclusion on, as there were certainly times I wished he had an off switch, but I can understand that you can’t just not have one.
My personal favorites were the upstairs sessions , with my absolute favorite being Don Fishman. It wasn’t as funny neccasarily as others, but he made what is clearly a very confusing issue easy to understand. He said that a few of the questions people were asking required the “expert” version of the talk, which obviously wasn’t possible right then.
Thanks and I hope to be there again next year.
As in the email I shared and hope that you got I think you all may have just made a lifetime hockey fan of my daughter. Thank you. Lets bring home that cup!!
The convention WAS awesome. My family of four had a great time. What really impresses me the most is how you have already captured what my husband and myself considered areas that needed improvement. It shows me that you really do understand what the average fan experienced. Sure, there were glitches but that had to be expected. And it was very impressive to turn around and see you standing there giving autographs and having pictures taken. My daughter was one of those autography seekers, so thank you.
P.S. Tell Alexander Semin to smile more.
My son went with his buddy and had a great time, Ted. You signed his shirt and he shook hands with Ovie. Thanks for putting this on.
Thanks for hosting the Capitals Convention. I was very excited to be able to participate, and while it wasn’t perfect, I was sure you and your staff would evaluate what went right and what didn’t.
Your positives and negatives very nearly mirrored mine own.
I’ve been to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, and I liked the “locker room” and the timeline and the trophies. My one question regarding the trophies though…. why no Stanley Cup? Even a facsimile of *the* Cup would have been better than not having it there.
Thanks again, and I hope next year’s Convention builds on the successes of this one.
You touched on all the elements I and my fellow ticketholders thought could be improved, especially the sound and the amount of space. We all had a bit of a headache after a while from the loud music but other than that, we had an amazing time. Thanks to everyone in the Caps organization for being so friendly and fan-accessible!
My friend and I could not have had a better time yesterday, and we appreciate you stopping to take a picture with us SO MUCH
) We also bought Convention t-shirts and one of the lines in the poem is “Talked with Ted,” so actually getting to meet you made that even more special. The entire event was just amazing from start to finish and I know it will be something we’ll be attending for as many years as you continue to have it.
I was working all the way at the entrance (farthest point from the stage in the main room) just about all day and I’ve lost 3/4 of my voice from trying to speak over the DJ/techno music for 12 hours. Maybe having the sound at 1/2 or 2/3 of what it was would be great for future years.
As a fan, the event was AWESOME. The players, alumni, coaches, and staff were great, and very accessible. The games were well monitored and it was made sure that the lines went smoothly and quickly. The main stage activities were great.
However, as a fan that was also there as a vendor, the vendor area was not well placed. The way we were in the back corner certainly affected our traffic. Being right by the speakers gave us almost no chance to tell any passerbys about who we are and what we do. After speaking with many of the other vendors who share these thoughts, we wanted you to know. As small businesses, we put an investment into a program like this and realize that it is not going to be a profitable situation, but rather a marketing opportunity. Because of the placement and the noise, it was a flop from a business point of view. This is something that needs to be worked on for next year. As much as we want to support the Caps and their programs, this part of the convention just did not work.
As I said earlier, it was a great day, and THANKS.
Andy
I haven’t heard so many people excited about an upcoming hockey season since I was a kid. Good luck this year. I think this is going to be a massive year for the Caps and the NHL alike.