The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show runs 28 October to 1 November. The people who get something out of it are deciding what that something is right now, in September.
FLIBS is the largest fixture on the calendar — billions in boats and superyachts spread across seven connected venues. It is also five days long, which means the difference between a good show and an expensive walk in the sun is decided almost entirely beforehand.
Three questions cover most of it. Answer them now, while the answers still change anything.
What are you actually there for?
A boat. A berth. A job. A supplier. Or a room full of people who might become one of those in eighteen months. Each of those is a different show with a different route through it. Trying to run two at once is how people end up doing neither and blaming their feet.
Who has to be in front of you?
Not “the industry.” Six names. Anybody worth meeting at FLIBS has a diary that closes in October, so the ask goes out in September or it does not land at all. A show is a place to have the meeting you already booked, not a place to go looking for one.
What happens the week after?
Shows do not fail on the floor. They fail in the follow-up, in the fortnight where a stack of business cards turns into nothing. Whatever system you plan to use for remembering who you met, set it up before you fly, because you will not be building one on the Tuesday.
Fort Lauderdale is the anchor, not the whole circuit
The ZipYacht events calendar is organised by region — South Florida, Mid-Atlantic, New England, both Californias, the Caribbean, Europe, South and Central America, the Far East, the Middle East, and everywhere that does not fit a box. Pick where you actually are, and see which shows are worth the airfare from there.