The Miami International Boat Show and Miami Yacht Show are two of the largest boat shows in the world, featuring over 1,400 new boats, yachts, catamarans, and thousands of boating accessories, all in one location. For February’s edition of our “Destination, Managed” series, we’ll take an in-depth look at how our Hello! Florida (South) team managed the transportation and logistics for these annual events.
Let's Start at the Beginning
Hello! Florida (South) provided all of the logistical planning, vehicles, and transportation staff for the Miami International Boat Show and Miami Yacht Show. The Miami International Boat Show was located on Virginia Key at Miami Marine Stadium Park & Basin while the Miami Yacht Show was showcased on Miami Beach’s Collins Avenue. Both of these highly popular shows operated simultaneously over a five-day period.
Keep Calm and Roll On
Our client wanted the right transportation, at the right places, with consistency between wait times across the shows (which needed to be minimal). The shows needed to not only be accessible, but convenient for their attendees. Hospitality was also a key objective—friendly, warm staff greeting their guests and providing a good customer experience. It was important to Hello! Florida and our client that their guests felt like they were getting good service from us as well as the shows. With so many people descending upon Miami, crowd control was another goal that would certainly present a challenge.
The Boat Show has been produced since 1969, yet Virginia Key was only very recently incorporated as its primary location—an island with very limited infrastructure for transportation. Since the Boat Show has the economic impact of two-and-a-half Super Bowls on the city of Miami, detailed communication and coordination between Hello!, the boat shows’ leaders, Miami Dade Police, and other city personnel was absolutely essential.
To ensure perfect execution and service, our teams performed “dry-runs” with the drivers across all five routes and held two half-day staff briefings in order to prepare. This gave us the opportunity to pass out packets of necessary information and answer all questions about the event. To accomplish crowd control, we set up tents, formed line systems, and even used staff as human arrows. Our team also worked closely with the city police to control the traffic flow coming off of the island.
The Final Exclamation
Hello! Florida (South) operated five routes for a 10-hour period each day, transferring over 85,000 people throughout the shows from multiple lots that were spread throughout the heavily congested city of Miami. On peak days, our team managed 66 vehicles as well as 53 staff members. We received countless compliments on how efficient and organized the transportation was, as well as how helpful and knowledgeable our staff was.
The team’s skillful communication and coordination between our client, city leaders, local police, and event staff ensured yet another exceptional guest experience that Hello! Florida is known for. But you know, it’s what we do!
