The CrossFit Games – A Vendor’s Perspective

This year at the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games I worked as a vendor with Rowan Minnion, founder of Blonyx Sports Sciences, at the Blonyx booth. It was a great experience in which I got to see a lot of the games, meet a lot of new people and work closely with some of the top CrossFit driven brands out there.

Day 1 

Day one for me was an early arrival at LAX on Thursday July 12. Originally, that was going to be the day before the games started, until HQ threw that monkey wrench into everyone’s schedule with the Wednesday workout.

The first day as a vendor is all setting up. I did not have to work any of the logistics of getting the Blonyx gear to the Games, which left me to help only with unpacking boxes and setting up the tent.

The first day was my favorite. It was the calm before the storm. Primarily, the only people walking around were Games athletes and other vendors. This left us the chance to check out the other vendors before things got crowded and to chat with some of the athletes (none of the big names were walking around). It was cool to get the lay of the land and scope out the games setup before the masses flooded in.

Days 2, 3 & 4 

Days two, three and four are all lumped into the same category for me. Each day was pretty busy with a lot of people walking around making their rounds with shopping and checking out all of the new gear at this year’s games

[wp_ads id=”2″]

The schedule for our crew was pretty simple. We would show up around 7 a.m. and we would leave around 8 p.m., but the 13-hour days were not bad at all. We worked out a nice rotating schedule where we would get to see all any of the events we wanted in person, and if we didn’t feel like being in the sun we would just run over to the Reebok tents and watch it on one of the multiple flat screen TVs. There were also plenty of Paleo pit stops that you could eat at around the games, which was cool too.

Vendor Perks?

I didn’t see any perks clearly written anywhere but here are a few limited perks that I found as being a Vendor.

– Got to watch some of the Games events from the “VIP Area”. Normally events that weren’t in the stadium had VIP areas.

– Entering and exiting the games was very easy. The lines were long in the morning to get in – Vendors didn’t have to wait.

– Getting there a day early before everyone else to check everything out.

Tips for those thinking of going as a vendor:

– Bring food and water; it’s expensive at the games.

– Don’t miss ALL of the games to work.

– Be flexible and try new things to get your product out there.

– Remember networking is just as important as selling.

– Think about having your own mobile hot spot: Internet connection was a huge problem for everyone working the games. Luckily Rowan had his phone operating as a mobile hot spot when the WiFi would go down. A huge help for accepting payments.

Overall I had a great time at the Games as a Vendor and I would definitely do it again! The overall feel and atmosphere at the CrossFit Games was amazing and I had a blast just being in the environment.