Doing Business at the Calgary Stampede
The Importance of Being Seen
I imagine if you live anywhere other than Calgary, Alberta, Canada, you might be under the impression that the annual Stampede has the potential of being the place to score those big deals you are hoping to land. If you believe that, you’re dead wrong cowboy. The Stampede is Christmas in Calgary — a time to gift loyal and well-heeled clients to coveted event tickets. This is when you find out who’s who in Calgary business!
A little bit of background. In 1912, Guy Weadick, a trick rider and roper born in Rochester, New York, established his vision of the Calgary Stampede for settlers and Indigenous people to gather together to share knowledge. After a six-year absence, in 1919 the Stampede returned to Calgary after forming an alliance with an Exhibition.
Since then, the Calgary Stampede has evolved over its hundred-plus years from a seven-day annual event to a ten-day party and a world-class tourist attraction featuring cowboy sporting events and an agricultural fair. Starting with a grand western-themed parade, the city shuts down to participate in chuckwagon races, one of the world’s toughest and richest rodeo, midway, art and product exhibits, and stage shows. There is something for everyone.
This is a city-wide event. The better pubs and bars in every corner of the city are booked for corporate parties and downtown streets are blocked off for free pancake breakfasts for most everyone. If you are short of cash, get up early and fill your face.
What makes the Calgary Stampede such a success? One of the key ingredients is truly simple. It costs next to nothing to don a cowboy hat, boots and jeans, so everyone — homegrown or tourist — is instantly transformed into a local for the duration of the fun.
As a long-time resident, I can tell you firsthand that, other than caterers, event planners, bartenders and servers, very little work is being done during this 10-day extravaganza. Wheeling and dealing are on no one’s mind. This festival is all about who you know and being seen as “one of us.”
From a business standpoint, this is a very unique opportunity. It is when Alberta corporations reward their best customers by inviting them to Stampede functions. Nobody cares that they will be watered with free, cheap booze and fed the usual diet of beans, burgers, and pulled pork. I’ve eaten enough that my stomach warns me in advance not to repeat the previous year’s folly. No, that’s not the point at all. The point is to be invited and seen by your counterparts as someone worthy of the invitation. Maybe you’ll even get your picture in the paper or a tweet out at having been seen at the invitation-only Stampede Roundup event.
I used to work at one particular international law firm where our clients would have their secretaries, executive assistants and low-level management working like mad, making all the right phone calls to the right people at our offices to ensure their names were on or added to the coveted complimentary golden ticket lists. It is that important!
So if you are considering coming to our fair city in July during the Greatest Show on Earth to do a little business, save your money and stay home. However, if you insist on spending the big bucks for flights and accommodation, it truly is the public relations event of our year, and you can try your luck at photo-bombing a few movers and shakers for Calgary’s Avenue Magazine or Business in Calgary.
Come, be seen, kick up your heels, but leave signing those big contracts until after we’ve slept it off.
Yee-haw!
