Baseball Winter Meetings

[RKKay]

Has anyone ever been to the Winter meetings? How about to the tradeshow that accompanies it? If so, any recommendations? Thanks.

[SABRSusan]

RKKay, I'm going to be there with SABR for the first time this year. I've heard it's big, busy, and that half of the networking goes on after hours. And that you definitely need to wear comfortable shoes.

SABR will be at booth 435. Stop by and say hello.

[OOSL]

I will be attending for the first time! Looking forward to it.

[The Splendid Splinter]

Is the winters meeting open to the public?? I'm just curious how like people get to go to these events...

Also I live like a hour from Indianapolis and if it was open to anyone, I will definately go there and check it out... When is it and Where is it at in Indianapolis???

[Allie Fox]

bump.

TSS has a great question.

[gman5431]

Yeah, id like to know too if anyone can go. I live in Cincy so Indy isnt far, i could have checked it out. MLB Network's coveraghe is pretty cool.

G Man

[SABRSusan]

I got back from the Winter Meetings/Baseball Trade Show on Thursday. I had very limited Internet access and didn't see any of the other responses in this thread until today--sorry.

I spent most of my time at the Baseball Trade Show, where SABR had a booth. From what I could see, there were several big groups of people roaming around the trade show and the meetings.

1) Exhibitors at the trade show. We were there talking up SABR and we one of the few places not actively trying to sell people something. Most of the exhibitors were selling promotional items and hats to minor league clubs.
2) People with "Buyer" on their name tag. These seemed primarily to be front office employees at minor league clubs.
3) Fresh-faced young folks attending the PEBO job fair and trying to find a job/internship in minor league baseball
4) Members of the media
5) VIPs who were important enough not to have to wear a name tag. These were mainly MLB club front office people.

You needed a name tag (and thus had to register and most likely pay) to get into the trade show (they had very light security at the door to check). I learned that a lot of trading of name tags takes place during the meetings. Part of my job is to deal with the media, so I spent some time around/outside the media work room and walking the lobby. I wish I could just sit in the lobby of the Winter Meetings hotel and watch the power plays and crazy social networking that goes on. Shook a ton of hands, passed out a lot of cards, and met a ton of people.

I am not advocating this, but I suppose a non-registered person who wasn't working in some capacity during the winter meetings could hang out in the lobby/bar of the meeting hotel. No one ever asked to see my name tag when I was in the media areas or lobby. I always wore it, so perhaps that's why no one asked. There were a few security/police roaming around, but not many.