By Rebecca Cahilly-Taranto
Portrait by Kelly Sterling
The show was scheduled to open in three days. The tents were up, the docks were built, the culmination of weeks’ worth of preparation was at hand. But there was a hurricane bearing down on Florida’s southwest coast, and an especially unpredictable one at that. Hurricane Wilma crashed ashore and tore eastward across the state, slamming into Fort Lauderdale on Monday, October 24, 2005. The boat show site was in ruins—generators in the water, docks shredded. An estimated 6 million people across the state were without power. Cancellation seemed imminent.
On November 3, a mere 10 days after the powerful storm all but decimated the show site, the 46th annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show opened to the public.
Andrew Doole remembers it well. “It looked like a bomb went off,” says Doole, president of U.S. boat shows for Informa, the company responsible for producing the event. At the time, he was vice president of sales for Show Management, which previously organized the Fort Lauderdale show. He and his team—many of whom were without power or water at home—got to work cleaning up and rebuilding the site in record time.
In its 61-year existence, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show has never been canceled. What began in 1959 as an informal gathering of boat brokers looking to offload excess inventory has grown into the world’s largest in-water boat show with an economic impact of $1.3 billion throughout the state of Florida.
Governed by the local Marine Industries Association, that first Fort Lauderdale boat show in 1959 saw just 13 exhibitors at its Lauderdale Marina exhibition, but it has grown over six decades into an economic powerhouse. Credited as one of the most influential yachting events in the world, the show now spans nearly 90 acres across seven waterfront locations showcasing nearly $4 billion in products, from inflatables, yachts and submarines to sunglasses and exotic cars. With show sales exceeding $700 million, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show unveiled the first Superyacht Village last year, hosting eight of the show’s largest yachts, including the 295-foot Phoenix 2 by German builder Lürssen. It was the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show and marine trade organization Marine Industries Association of South Florida—which continues to own the show—that contributed to Fort Lauderdale’s reputation as the “Venice of America” and the “Yachting Capital of the World.”
For nearly four of those six decades of growth, Doole has been at the helm of the event’s organizing team. After moving to Fort Lauderdale from London in 1981, he was introduced to the late Kaye Pearson, founder of Show Management, and began his boat show career in 1982, moving from vice president of sales to chief operating officer. Doole stayed on when Show Management was sold to Active Interest Media in 2006 and later acquired by the London-based global events company Informa in 2017. He became president of U.S. Boat Shows in 2019, tasked with overseeing Informa’s U.S. boat shows that include the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, the Miami Yacht Show, the Palm Beach International Boat Show, the St. Petersburg Power and Sailboat Show, and the Suncoast Boat Show in Sarasota.
But by mid-2020, it looked like the Fort Lauderdale show’s streak would be broken. The COVID-19 pandemic was forcing the cancellation of major gatherings and events worldwide. In June, Informa made the difficult decision to cancel September’s Monaco-based superyacht show. Rising infection rates in Florida in July made the situation seem hopeless. Travel restrictions and quarantine protocols in Europe and some U.S. states made the possibility of exhibitor attendance uncertain. The chances of a 61st Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show taking place in 2020 looked grim.
Doole was not deterred. With Informa’s support, he and the Marine Industries Association of South Florida began implementing strict protocols into the show organization with a focus on the event moving ahead as planned. During the pandemic, Informa had overseen a series of well-received events in Asia and translated the AllSecure safety protocols it developed for those events into the planning for the Fort Lauderdale show. The Marine Industries Association of South Florida dug into the research on how large outdoor venues such as Universal Orlando Resort and Walt Disney World have been operating under safety guidelines since June and July, respectively, and a 40-page report of research and plans was presented at a Broward County commission meeting.
On September 10, the 61st annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show was given the green light to proceed by the city of Fort Lauderdale and Broward County.
“We are not rushing to put a boat show together,” Doole says. “The show is extremely important to the marine industry, as well as the mom-and-pop businesses and privately owned companies that depend on it every year. It’s not just the big corporations and the big boat builders.”
Informa’s AllSecure protocol—developed with partners worldwide—aims to set the standard for safe, hygienic and high-quality in-person event experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and after. Following official guidance from government and local authorities comes first, after which AllSecure implements a minimum of 10 key commitments, including enhanced cleaning and sanitizing; physical distancing procedures such as revamped food and beverage service and designated traffic patterns; and screening attendees and working with local officials on contact tracing if necessary. In-booth events and show site cocktail hours will not happen this year. Thermal-imaging temperature checks, hand sanitizer stations and an air-purification system in indoor spaces have been implemented. The show, which has moved to a contactless ticketing format, will include 14 entrances and exits, and face masks are required.
While European attendance is expected to be down when compared to years past, the 2020 Fort Lauderdale International Boat show remains an important event for American and Floridian businesses. American owners drive a significant portion of the yachting industry, and with the pandemic ratcheting up demand for boats, the time to have a show, many say, is now. “America is the most important country in the yachting world,” says Phil Purcell, president and CEO of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida. “The waterways are full and bigger boats are planning to come and stay in the U.S. We have a commitment to the community as a whole, and we are going to have to come up with solutions.”
Bob Denison, president of third-generation yachting company Denison Yacht Sales, is one of the members of the boating community who looks forward to the 2020 show. “When my grandparents, parents and uncles were building boats, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show was responsible for a lot of new construction sales,” he says. “Today, our family still relies upon the show as a sacred place and time to meet new clients and reconnect with old ones.”
Denison echoes Purcell and Doole’s points on the show’s positive economic impact on restaurants, grocery stores, hotels, Uber drivers, taxis and small businesses. “It’s also important to note that beyond the safety measures Informa is implementing,” he says, “the show is voluntary. I don’t know of a single firm that is forcing its team members to work the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show if they feel unsafe or vulnerable.”
The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show is the largest consumer marine event, and Doole says he is looking forward to seeing it carried out safely and properly.
“We are excited that we got the support from Broward County, the mayor, commissioners and city manager and partners,” he says. “I think it will be great for local people to come support the local event.”
To Purcell and Doole, COVID-19 is another headwind, one that the 61-year-old event can navigate safely with proper planning and strategy. “We are confident,” Doole says. “We’ve been through Hurricane Wilma and Hurricane Sandy. We’ve seen difficult show scenarios before.”
It will look different than in years past, but boats will be there, brokers will be there, and the 61st annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show will go on.
This article originally appeared in the Fall 2020 Issue.
