Knowledge Transfer - NAS JAX Air Show

If you follow my Instagram, you likely won’t be surprised to learn that I am an event junkie. If I am not working an event, I am attending one with my camera slung around my shoulder and jotting down notes in my phone about concepts I want to copy or mistakes I want to make sure I avoid. This year alone, I have attended the Formula One Race in Miami, Taylor Swift at Wembley, The US Open in New York, and U2 at the Sphere. I don’t share all of this to brag (well, maybe a little, there were some bucket list events). Rather, I want to prove the point that I have a full-blown event addiction.

However, not every event has me jetting off to some unique corner of the globe. Most weekends, you can find me attending a car show, a sporting event, or exploring city streets in search of inspiration in the most random places (FYI, I take a lot of pictures of signage applications and fixture construction—my photo reel is an absolute mess). Since the diversity of these unique events might be helpful for others to learn from, I thought I should share a quick recap of some of the events I attend throughout the year with the hope that these experiences can help you plan your next event in some way.

With that said, let me share my experience from the NAS JAX Airshow:

Growing up as a kid, my favorite uncle, Mark, would gather all of us cousins together and head into San Francisco for Fleet Week. I clearly remember the highlight of this show was always watching the Blue Angeles perform with the iconic Golden Gate Bridge as the backdrop. I am sure I am not the only one who loves this memory because my brother learned that the Blue Angels were headed to Jacksonville, Florida (only an hour and a half up the road). So, we made plans to go check them out last weekend.

After attending this year’s event, here are my thoughts:

Top Takeaways:

• Everyone loves a static vehicle display. I caught myself walking the airfield taking pictures of airplanes, helicopters, and military vehicles. The US Coast Guard was allowing kids to climb up into the pilot’s seat as their parents snapped pics, which are sure to be pinned to the top of their Facebook pages. These vehicles take up a significant amount of space and enabling guests to get up close to something that they don’t regularly get a chance to see is truly special.
• Background music is key to enhancing a moment.
• Picture this… the Blue Angels are approaching from your left in a high-speed diamond formation and Top Gun’s “Danger Zone” starts playing over the house PA system. Everyone in attendance—including myself—got goose bumps. I even threw my fist in the air… imagining that I was Maverick.
• Music is a key factor in creating memorable moments at an event and the US Navy Blue Angels does this well.
• The speed of the aircraft is difficult to recognize without something else to compare against.
• A handful of times throughout the day, the production team would have a super car (like a Lamborghini, a Ferrari, etc.) drag race a plane as it would make its way down the airfield. The difference between the supercar grabbing gears as fast as it could and the airplane quickly passing it at Mach speed was fun to watch.
• I highlight this because my world of motorsports has the same situation regularly present—it can be difficult for fans to understand how fast the cars are going or how close to each other they are as they drift down the Superstretch at the Daytona International Speedway. I need to develop additional ways to highlight this attribute of our sport—and I was inspired by what I watched last weekend.
• Families are looking for inexpensive entertainment. Most of the airshow was free and F&B were reasonably priced. Therefore, as I studied the audience it appeared that the low barrier of entry and high perceived value created an enormous attraction. I heard multiple people talk about how many years they had been attending this event and that it was one of their favorite days of the year. As I work to help our track presidents sell out our events, I think there is a lot to be said for the value that was created at that airshow. It's likely not possible to make a NASCAR Cup Series event free to the public; however, can we make a lead-in day free or close to? I am sure it’s been contemplated (and likely tried) before. And one thing is for sure.? The audience in Jacksonville would have made for a kick ass crowd at a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.?

Areas for Improvement: (I am not highlighting this to necessarily critique but rather for all event producers to learn. These might be takeaways that guests at your event are also leaving with as key memories.)

• Since the airshow takes place on an active military base, there are limited ways for guests to enter and exit the property. This limitation and the enormous crowd created significant issues with ingress and egress. It took us over an hour to get from the main gates to the parking area (.5 mile away) and two hours to get off property. This was frustrating as it looked like there was a lack of a plan and guests were left to fend for themselves as everyone exited out of the same parking lots at the same time.
• Gates opened at 9:00am with opening ceremonies at 11:00am. The star of the show was scheduled to perform at 2:30pm (US Navy Blue Angels demonstration).? We arrived at 10:00am in hopes that we would see plenty before the main attraction. Unfortunately, everyone else had a similar idea and we stood in line for close to two hours to pass through security and enter the event.
• Both the above issues were solvable, and if given greater focus in the future, these wait times could be reduced drastically without mishandling security measures or increasing the staff headcount in a consequential way.
• If the F35 demonstration team or the Mig-17 performed after the Blue Angels, egress would be spread out and this would have alleviated some of the congestion in the parking lots.

Fun Facts:

• Naval Air Station Jacksonville is credited with being the birthplace of the US Navy Blue Angels.
• The Blue Angels performed a private show for Navy officials in 1946 and NAS JAX is only one of three locations where the Blue Angels have flown shows in every type of aircraft the team has used.
• The airshow hosts over 300,000 guests annually during the course of two event days.

I have attended a handful of airshows over the last decade and depending on your geographic location, I would recommend checking it out for yourself. They are a family friendly way to spend the day watching amazing machines do unbelievable maneuvers that make you question what you are seeing.

Hope you found this blog interesting and helpful!

Until the next one,

MJV