 During my time as ICAS President, I have pleaded this particular case many times. But, as we approach the "hiring season" in the air show business, I wanted to once again make my case for why ICAS members should only hire other ICAS members.
First and most importantly, ICAS members know the air show business in a way that non-members cannot. Whether you're hiring a pilot, ground act, concession company, photographer or air show sound contractor, you want somebody who understands your business. ICAS member organizations know air shows like you know air shows. They understand the implications of bad weather, the importance of safety considerations, and the risky financial environment in which you do business.
ICAS members also have a long-term interest in your success as an event organizer in a way that non-members cannot. For those working week in and week out in the air show business, it's important that an air show survive and prosper from one year to the next. That translates to a fundamentally different relationship than you would have with a vendor who has no reason to look past this year's show.
Similarly, an ICAS member's future reputation is largely dependent on his/her reputation with you and other event organizers. This is the business world in which that company does its business every week. He/she is highly motivated to serve you well. A non-member may not have that long view and that has proven to be a source of problems in the past.
At a certain level, non-members are free-loaders that, as an industry, we should not tolerate. Apart from my obvious self-interest in wanting them as members, there's also larger questions related to how we build the reputation and infrastructure that IS our business.
If we are to have a reliable source of performers and support service providers for our entire industry, we must be able to provide them with work from one week to the next. When we do, we give them the confidence and financial resources they need to invest and re-invest in their own businesses. And, when they do that, they also re-invest in the air show business. They buy new equipment. They hire additional employees. They innovate and help to improve the overall quality of the air show business.
When we don't hire ICAS members, we create a "disincentive" to ICAS vendors and we allow non-members to take advantage of an infrastructure that they played no part in helping to develop.
And for what: Five percent? Ten percent? Probably the most common horror story I hear at ICAS headquarters is from event organizers who decided to save a couple of bucks by hiring a Brand X, non-ICAS member contractor of some sort. Sometimes it works out, but -- when it doesn't -- things get very messy, very quickly. It's the classic example of being penny wise and pound foolish.
So, as we move into the "contract signing season," be careful about signing with non-members. You may save a few dollars, but you're also hurting our industry and potentially putting your show in a very risky position at a time when the last thing you need is additional risk.
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