2006 - Year in Review

I wish all of you had been able to attend our Annual Meeting last month at the Queen City Yacht Club. Thom Dammrich, president of the NMMA did a great job recapping the national Grow Boating Program. With his permission, we have put a copy of his Power Point presentation on our website, www.nmta.net in the Members Only section. The presentation was meant to be used in support of his talk, but you can get a lot of information and data just from the Power Point.

During the Annual Meeting, I gave my traditional summary of the year and for those of you who could not attend, I’d like to share my review of 2006.

The list of achievements and highlights is a long one, thanks to the great staff we have and the loyal group of volunteers that serve on the Board of Trustees and our various committees.

Highlights:

• We produced a successful January Boat Show in spite of challenges from the NFL play-off schedule, including setting a one-day attendance record of 14,949 on the opening Saturday.
• The Association balanced our budget for the year ending June 30, 2006. Copies of the financial statement were passed out at the meeting and are available on our website in the Members Only section along with our Investment Policy.
• We experienced no staff turn-over during the year and have the best staff we have had in the seven years I have been here.
• Boat Sales during the summer (when everyone was talking about high gas prices killing boat sales) actually rose 6.6% over the prior summer and set records for units and dollars in Washington State. Note – current boat sales are always available in the Members Only section.
  
• We created a new Grow Boating event in 2006 called Fun on the Foss in Tacoma. It was patterned after our successful Boatstock event in Renton. The first year of Fun on the Foss, drew __ dealers who gave 422 rides to 1,335 people.
• We turned around the Everett Boat Show in 2006 with a 34 percent increase in attendance built around the theme, “Bring the Whole Family.”
• We assisted the Northwest Yacht Brokers Association in setting a new attendance record for their September Show with more than 11,000 people coming through the gates. In the two years we have supported the NYBA fall show, the number of boats has grown and the attendance has doubled.
• We grew the Northwest Salmon Derby Series to 10 events in 2006 and gave away an incredible grand prize, a 21 1/2 ft. Jetcraft fishing boat, motor and trailer.
• Working with our partners at the University of Washington College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, we developed a beta version of a boat sales forecasting tool that we expect will become a significant member benefit in the years ahead.
• Sponsorship continued to grow as a meaningful “non-dues” revenue source for the association. In FY2006, we raised $244,000 sponsorship which helps hold down membership dues as well as space rental costs at our boat shows.
• Created two new non-profit organizations to focus on specific parts of our game plan, the Shoreline Property Owners and Contractors Association (SPOCA) and Fish Northwest. For more information, visit www.SPOCA.com or www.FishNorthwest.com.
• Our Political Action Committee contributed a record $73,000 to almost 100 candidates in Washington State races and 80% of them were elected.
  Challenges:
• The January Boat Show was shortened to 8 days and we lost the closing weekend.
• The IRS did an audit and discovered we missed a payroll tax deposit at the end of 2001 and of course they applied interest and penalties.
• We appealed the Department of Ecology’s Boatyard Permit for storm water, which cost over $100,000 in legal and consulting fees. Note – We are still awaiting a ruling from the Pollution Control Hearings Board so hopefully that money was a good investment for the whole industry.

Looking ahead:

• The 2007 Seattle Boat Show will be 60 years old this year and we have exciting promotions planned including a display of boats from the James Bond movies as well as giving away the most expensive boat ever at a boat show in America, thanks to Chris Craft and Sundance Yacht Sales.
• We hope to have legislation introduced in the Washington State Legislature early in 2007 that would redirect the Watercraft Excise Tax to boating programs. Currently all $14M goes to the General Fund.

Thanks for your membership in the Northwest Marine Trade Association. We are the oldest and largest marine trade association in America thanks to all of you. I look forward to serving all of you in 2007. My door is always open!

With warm regards,

Michael Campbell
President
michael@nmta.net

P.S. We have also posted a copy of my “Year in Review” Power Point on our website. It can be found in the Members Only section of our website under the Member Services tab.