Changes at this year’s ICAST set to stay

Changes to this year’s ICAST won approval from exhibitors and visitors and look likely to become features of future shows. 

Business seminars, normally held in meeting rooms elsewhere in the Orange County Convention Center, were replaced with Lunch-and-Learn sessions within the show. 

“We didn’t want to take people off the show floor,” explained ASA President, Glenn Hughes. “It worked great. We had a full house each day and for some it was standing room only. We will do more of that in the future.”

In another innovation, the 200 companies who entered the show’s New Product Awards were asked to donate their entries to an online auction, the benefits from which will go to Keep America Fishing (KAM). 

Manufacturers get further exposure for their products and KAM receives funding for its grassroots advocacy efforts in the win-win scheme.

The New Product Awards attracted 680 entries, a little more than 300 short of 2019, but an encouraging number given the vastly different backdrop to this year’s event.

The overall Best in Show award went to a lure for the first time, bucking a trend that has seen kayaks, trolling motors and electronics dominate.

“That’s great for the industry,” said Hughes, after Berkley’s PowerBait Gilly took the top honour.