A shade canopy is part of the standard gear that we always bring to our events. It’s a small investment which will pay dividends on many levels:
#1 You can offer it as a value-add for your customer, as well as a differentiator between you and any local competition. List it with your prices as part of your rental package. Mention it to customers if they are considering going with the other guy. It’s a nice, welcome perk.
#2 It shades your generator and pumps while you inflate bubbles. Pumps typically run hot regardless of brand, and most have an auto-shut off when they overheat. Once shut off, they typically won’t restart for hours. Using hot-running, black-colored pumps in mid-day sun has caused a number of shut-offs for us, delaying our inflate time, and potentially impacting the customer’s timeline. Luckily we brought spares (But that’s another post.) Now we keep them under the canopy, and have no issues.
Also, we’ve had a couple of instances where our generator had been roasting in extremely hot sun and was difficult to restart. Not sure if it was the heat, but it’s an amazing, zero-issue generator, so we assume so. Solution: Keep the generator under the canopy at all times, and we haven’t had a problem since.
#3 It saves your event in a sudden rain. You can play bubble soccer in the rain, but you can’t run a generator and pumps in the rain. We realized that one day when a rare rainstorm came up suddenly, and our canopy kept our gear dry and running fine. If we hadn’t had it, we wouldn’t have been able to inflate bubbles and fulfill our contract for the customer. It also saved our sound system (more on benefits of using a sound system here).
#4 The customers really, really, really appreciate it. Here in southern California, the hot summer sun is on us almost all the time. Wherever we hold events, any players who aren’t actually playing instinctively huddle under the canopy. They look like wild game huddling under that single tree on the African savannah. They are always grateful for the shade between bouts in the hot, steamy bubbles. Any spectating friends or family are equally glad to have it.
#5 You can offer more canopies as an upsell. Include one canopy with your standard package, but for larger groups, don’t hesitate to recommend another canopy or three, for a small additional fee.
Oh, one last thing. We use the Coleman 10×10 Canopy, which is a nice compromise of size and portability. One thing to watch for when shopping around, though: Many canopy brands (and maybe even some Coleman’s) advertise a size on the box (like 12’x12′) that is NOT the true size. It’s the footprint of the legs, but the legs angle up to a smaller size of canvas, like 10×10.
That’s implying 144 sq.ft. of shade, and actually providing only 100 sq.ft. of shade — a nearly 50% difference.
So be sure you check the label for actual listed shade dimensions, not just the “size”. We prefer straight legs anyway. Beware those canopies with angled legs that advertise a size that is much larger than the actual shade area. That’s (ahem) a pretty shady thing to do.
**UPDATE**: We recently discovered this canopy, which is the same Coleman 10×10, with an additional “panel” that can be a wall, a roof extension, or rolled up. Wow! We’ve been wishing for this feature. It’s more expensive, but for that much more shade for customers in the same portable package, we’d do it. We will buy this model next.
The new, extended model. Much better!
Bubble Soccer Central 