Iowa Gravel Expo Pop-Up Series Reviewed

Session #1 Jen Reed presents the event, "Turds of Misery"

With last Wednesday's final pop-up for the Gravel Expo, it is time to assess how it went, and to look toward the future. When N.Y. Roll and I started this deal we were amazed by the interest and demand for knowledge and for the community to gather during the 'down time" of Winter. We went from a single event on a single evening to a two session event on a single day to this pop-up series. All within three years.  The changes made the dynamic different, and I think we learned a lot along the way. But before I get to the lessons learned and what the future of the event may look like, it is time to review the just completed series.

With the change in venue and format, we did not really have a clear idea on what to expect. So, N.Y. Roll and I were pleasantly surprised to see a nice gathering of folks for the first session. We had people from the Des Moines area and our presenter, Jen Reed, from the Bettendorf, Iowa area talking about the "Turds of Misery" event. (Yes- that is the event's name) My presentation afterward then finished up our first evening. N.Y. Roll and I were pleased with how things went and we noted several folks from the local area, (and a local bike shop employee or two), that were in attendance. A good start then.

Session #2 was marked by a Winter Weather Advisory and it was snowing pretty good right at the time of the second session. This damped the attendance a bit, but we still had a nice gathering to see Dangerous Dan's presentation for the Sterile Iowan event. N.Y. Roll then presented the "How To Choose an Event and to Train For It" talk. This was all well received by those that could make it.

Dangerous Dan at session #2

By this time we were getting feedback that we should have put these pop-up series on during the weekends when people weren't having work obligations and whatnot. Yes. We get that, but here is "our reality" when it comes to venues, business support, and being able to do this.

First thing to understand is that we have zero for a budget. We also charge no attendance fees. We are not paying anyone for appearances. N.Y. Roll and I put in all the behind the scenes work for nothing. Do you understand now that we have no money? That's the first part of the puzzle to get here.

Next is that since we cannot pay for a room, we have to provide the venue owner/manager a benefit. In the previous case of the IGE, (Iowa Gravel Expo), we were bringing in a fairly decent number of people, (80+) to a restaurant which would not have gotten those patrons otherwise. Beer and food was "seeded" by N.Y. Roll's bankrolling the event with beverage and food purchases which then were offered for free to the crowd. (Yes- we lost money the first time)

For the Pop-Up Series we went to Second State Brewing, who wanted to bolster mid-week business. We brought more people than they normally would have had on Wednesday evening for four weeks during their slowest time of the year. The IGE was a benefit monetarily to Second State Brewing. Weekends are different for them. They did not need our help for the weekends. So, with that all said, do you understand why we did Wednesdays now?

Session #3 saw Dan Roberts of the Snaggy Ridge 105 presenting.

I apologize for the economic banter and bluntness, but I feel that many folks don't understand what you have to do to get a space and to make something seemingly so simple actually happen. You come to a Pop-Up Series event and just walk right in, sit down, and consume our content and maybe have a beer or two. Big deal? Yes, a very big deal. In fact, I just described above the "deal" we brokered to get the space. Would you be able to pull that off? Get it done so you could have folks on a weekend? Right......

Let N.Y. Roll or I know your plan for that when/if you care to share it. We're all ears here, but the bottom line is that this isn't easy. By the way, thanks to N.Y. Roll, Nick of Second State Brewing, and his staff there for making this happen for us. I think we pulled our end of the deal off well, and judging by the smiles at Second State I noted, I think it is safe to say they thought it worked for them as well. So, yeah......"have it on a weekend!", we hear ya. But that wasn't a possibility, and I hope people that read this understand now why.

Now with that out of the way, the third session had better weather and maybe was our best attended session of the four. This one saw a presentation from a local fat bike race and from Dan Roberts, of the Snaggy Ridge 105, a gravel race out of Tipton, Iowa. After that we had a presentation from N.Y. Roll on his ultra-distance experience in the BC Epic event last Summer in Canada. He brought in one of his bikes all set up as he might have had it for that long bike-packing event, and talked about his reasons for his choices.

Todd Young presents his event, ICGravel, which happens near Iowa city, Iowa

The 4th session was where we saw a gathering nearly as big as session #3's, which, honestly, I was super surprised by. The reason is that locally the CVAST soft trails group decided to have their event the same evening, (despite our picking that date first and publicizing it), so I expected a worse turn out than the weather affected session #2. However; that wasn't that case, and we also had out of town representation again. This time from Iowa Falls and Alden, Iowa.

The event featured this time was ICGravel and Todd Young came up to present on behalf of that event. After Todd's excellent presentation, I got to talk about what it takes to put on a gravel event, and judging by the responses, it went over quite well. With that our four session pop-up series was a wrap. So, now it is time to take stock, assess our efforts, and look toward the future a bit.

N.Y. Roll and I have already been batting around a lot of ideas. Here's the thing- again, sorry- but we do not have a pool of money to work with. We will, if we do this again, be pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps unless we get backing from an unforeseen source. So, bearing that in mind, our ideas have to be based in that reality.

I think the dynamic of the pop-up series model is a good one, and one we'd likely stick to again. A bigger, one-off event takes a LOT more logistical and financial horsepower. Plus, each presenter gets lost in the haze of the "everything going on", which is not what we intend. We want to spotlight Iowa gravel events. The pop-up idea did just that. Plus, people can pick and choose what they want to come and hear about.

N.Y. Roll and his bikepacking rig at session #3.

So, the pop-up idea works best for that, and we will likely stick to that format. With that in mind, does it make sense to move the pop-up series to different locations? Obviously, getting venues becomes much more complicated, but this is an intriguing idea and one we will be looking at.

The IGE has been, since its inception, all about Iowa gravel events. But, every time N.Y. Roll and I talk about this, the idea of bikes and associated gear comes up. Could the Iowa Gravel Expo be like the Iowa Bicycle Expo, or even be a part of that? I think so, but N.Y. Roll and I also both believe that the event presentations and the gathering of the riders is more important, and that by mixing that in with what the Iowa Bicycle Expo is about, we feel it would dilute the product. It would become just another booth on the showroom floor. So, we never get beyond the talking stages on that idea. But that doesn't mean we couldn't show some bikes and gear at a pop-up, let's say. In the end, it isn't really that high on our "to-do list".

Speaking of venues again- We have also thought about moving the IGE to a warmer time of year and doing it outdoors. If that idea were to be pursued, it may open up a lot of venue choices and other possibilities. So, we're toying around with that too.

In the end, we feel we were successful this year. The changes made were positive and still have potential. So, if we stuck to the basic formula from 2020 and went for that again in 2021, (Second State Brewing willing), I have no problem with that. But we have a long time to work on next year, if we do it again.

Thanks To The Iowa Gravel Expo Series Sponsors: Andy's Bike Shop, Riding Gravel, Second State Brewing, N.Y. Roll, and Guitar Ted Productions.