FMCA’s 108th Convention Kicks Off Wednesday in Arizona – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
The Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) kicks off its 108th International Convention & Expo Wednesday at the Pima County fairgrounds in Tucson, Ariz. With 1,000 RVs registered in advance, FMCA CEO Chris Smith told RVBusiness he’s looking forward to a very well attended four-day event.
The association of like-minded RV owners has done a tremendous amount of outreach for this convention to prospective attendees who may not have attended an FMCA event in the past. In fact, there are a huge number of day passes that have been made available, allowing someone to attend the convention for the day at no cost. The idea here is that there are a still quite a few RVers who haven’t attended an FMCA convention in the past, but would have their eyes opened to the benefits of membership if only given the chance to experience the event.
Furthermore, FMCA also is reaching out to prospective RV owners as part of a new initiative called the Pathfinders program. This is a membership program designed for prospective RVers and enables them to not only access the FMCA’s web-based learning library, but also attend the convention. Attendance includes all the workshops and seminars the FMCA has planned. There are even workshops specifically designed for new and prospective RVers, including ones that FMCA Senior Vice President Paul Mitchell will be teaching with two other presenters.
According to Smith, the objective of FMCA is to leverage its substantial learning library and make this available to the membership. “There are a lot of places that have information but our goal is to provide verified, vetted and accurate information for our membership,” he said.
In the past, of those people who attended the conference but didn’t stay in RVs on the fairgrounds, about half were RV owners with the other half being prospective owners. Among the various reasons prospective owners would attend the convention were the opportunity to tour and even purchase the various RVs put on display by manufacturers.
Other reasons for attending the convention – for both RV owners and would-be owners alike – include the educational workshops and the many vendor booths, so there is no shortage of ways to come away with something, whether that be knowledge, an RV product or even an entire RV.
“With 1,000 RVs on the fairgrounds, we figure about two people per RV so you’ve got 2,000 attendees there, plus we expect a big gate,” Mitchell told RVBusiness.
Other reasons to attend include having your RV weighed to check for any imbalance or overweight issue.
But one of the largest and most intangible benefits is the opportunity to meet other RVers and sharing stories, tips and adventures.
The FMCA’s 108th Convention starts Wednesday, March 20, and runs through Saturday, March 23 at the Pima County Fairgrounds in Tucson, Ariz. There are still free day passes available and more information can be found at the FMCA’s website at FMCA.com.
Peggy and Tony Barthel are veterans of the RV industry and use that experience to create StressLess Camping, a podcast, website and resource for new and experienced RVers and campers alike to learn more, spend less and turn every adventure into a StressLess Camping experience.
