SEMA Should be Open to the Public

  If you are a car fan like myself, you probably heard of the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas. SEMA or the Specialty Equipment Market Association holds this event during the first week of November at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The sad part of it is that it is a trade only event. The general public cannot enter the event. They could make a ton of money selling tickets to the general public for admittance to the show. Here's why it should be open to the public.
  If SEMA was open to the public, the manufacturers who have booths and displays set up there could get a better word of mouth recognition from the general public than of peers of the trade. I'll explain. By having only people from the trade there, a manufacturer's product is limited to the eyes of their industry and restricts the potential buyers who will go out and buy the exhaust system, or tuning kit. The people of the trade can just copy someone's product and make their own version of it. Aka industrial theft. Now if SEMA was open to the public, non trade people would be able to view the market for potential accessories and or custom parts for their project cars. Letting the general public in would create a word of mouth buzz along their friends. For instance, If I saw custom chrome wheels at the SEMA show, and I knew a friend who was interested in buying them to put on his car, I would be telling him of this manufacturer. In turn he goes and looks this company up and decides to buy their wheels. After putting the wheels on his car he goes and tells his friends and they tell their friends and so on. See where I am going with this. Letting the general public into SEMA can bring money into some of these starving companies who need the word of mouth buzz among car enthusiasts.
  Yes you see and hear about SEMA on SPEED or read about it in car magazines and blogs, but you can't experience the event unless your actually there at the event.