How does DEMA affect the average diver

[Eric Sedletzky]

I don't really see much that has changed in the way of equipment in the last 10 years when you walk into a standard dive shop. One wall is lined with poodle jackets, the other with split fins of 4 different brands. The mask wall looks about the same, and the case with knives could have been unchanged for 10 years and nobody would have missed a thing.
Computers have changed however.

I don't really see where the value is for manufacturters to have to pack up and ship all this stuff to the show, pay huge booth fees, hotel rates, schmoozing, dinners, and on top of it have to deal with the convention center union nazi's, just for a select few to get to participate.
All to show the newest poodle jacket, or the newest face cover redesign of the reg. Big deal, it's all just dive gear and will always just be dive gear.

For the retailers to take time away from the shop to go to DEMA to see all the "huge changes" seems silly. The manufacturers could easily make contact with retailers and update them on any minor design changes or new products through emailers and brochures and sales calls.

As far as seminars go, wouldn't it make more sense to have some of these presentations actually go to the LDS's to speak their cause? If the end user is the target wouldn't it make more sense to get them directly involved in a presentation. I would think this would be a great way to get people back into their LDS's. Instead of manufacturers concentrating all their efforts annually on the dema show and hoping that shop owners come through as representatives for their products, why don't they just go on the road and take the product directly to the end user by having presentations at LDS's and dive club meetings.

If dema, padi, and others concentrate all their efforts on just trying to get new divers into the sport to feed the machine, who's taking care of the already certified and active divers. They seem to just be focussed on getting new people in and not on keeping people in.

It seems to me that if there was more stimulus to the sport diver and not just a select few it would be better for the sport.

After all, the target is the end user right? I mean that's ultimately where the money comes from. Correct me if I'm wrong.
I certainly don't have the time or the money to go to dema, how about you?
Maybe they need to come to us.

 

[The Chairman]

DEMA is spending millions and doesn't really have anything to show for it.

That could merely be a reporting issue. There might be plenty that we haven't seen.

 

[rstofer]

Every industry has a trade show. In Santa Clara County, one of the biggest shows is the Building Maintenance show. Here you can learn everything you never wanted to know about floor buffers and riding lawn mowers.

I view DEMA as the same kind of thing. A gathering of manufacturers to show off the latest offerings to their customers, the dive shops. This eventually filters down to the rec divers in the form of new 'gee whiz' gear.

Now, as to whether 'gee whiz' gear is important: probably not. There have been a lot of changes in dive gear over the last 20 years. There haven't been many improvements. OK, I concede, they now make titanium regulators... Oh, and weight integrated BCs... And those new BCs with the elevator control knob...

As to their advocacy efforts: I think I might have seen a TV commercial a long time ago. I haven't seen anything in a long time and I certainly don't see ANY form of advertising outside the context of my LDS. If you want to know about scuba, you have to go look. At least around here...

One place I worked, we couldn't have any of our competitors literature. Since, in one division or another, we manufactured everything under the Sun, this mandate was non-trivial. We could not even have catalogs and certainly not technical information. UNLESS we were given the information in a PUBLIC forum. We could not take if from an individual salesman but we could pick it up at a trade show. Then all we had to do is inform the ombudsman about the material, why we needed it, and how/where/when we got it. In this way DEMA gives manufacturers an opportunity to interact without competitive and legal issues getting in the way. Oceanic would be free to grab ScubaPro literature in the context of a trade show.

If you think this sounds like paranoia, look at the $1.26 BILLION DOLLAR default judgment against PepsiCo for a discussion re: selling purified water that occurred 20 years ago and several years before they got in the AquaFina business.

Wisconsin Law Journal - Article

Richard

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

Although you don't see it, Dema does affect everyone of you. Sometimes it depends on how much your LDS owner takes away from the show. There are LOTS of seminars from repairs, to retaining students, to lowering costs and being more efficient...even seminars on using the web to grow. Their are some great tools for people to use. That doesn't mean they always use them. I spoke at one of the seminars last year with about 40 people in it...who knows what they walked away with or tried to implement....but there was some great info in the entire seminar!

Your shop can find, better pricing for you, new class offerings(more agencies), better repair training for fixing your equipment, get away from the shop and come back refreshed, find new equipment to bring back for you or better pricing on current equipment due to networking, come back with more knowledge on current trends in the industry that help their customer base which is you, figure out new ways to bring in and retain more divers that grows(your dive club, your dive community, creates demand lowering their prices, makes more dive buddies for you) and of course different travel options and specials that benefit those not wanting to sit on SB all day and go on a vacation

There is ALOT the show does or I should say can do to benefit you. You just don't see the benefits unless you look a little deeper. That doesn't meant the show couldn't be better, but what in this world couldn't be better.

If Dema went away, you might not see a big difference, but your also not looking at the shops books, student counts, or business growth....which really does affect you no matter how much you try to say it doesn't.

Remember, your dive shops success brings more into the dive community and DEMA is trying to give them options to improve! If you don't like what they do, tell them....if they listen, GREAT! If not, go to another shop and let the weak fail and the strong survive. It does help EVERYONE to have them around and introducing more to this great sport we all fell in love with! More people to dive with, more people buying equipment and helping lower prices and bring in new equipment, going on trips and filling that extra couple spots needed, more awareness about environment and protecting our oceans, there is always some things you don't think about

 

[theduckguru]

I think I would take a different view from many. We need to remember that DEMA is MUCH MORE than the annual DEMA show. In fact, of all of the things that can happen WITHOUT DEMA, the annual show is the perfect example. In the absence of DEMA as an organization, that would still likely be an annual trade show for scuba diving. Why? Because there is money to be made.

The average diver is heavily impacted in the aggregate by decisions made by the "industry". Your sport participation in scuba diving becomes more difficult without industry growth. Industry growth and expansion makes products more widely available, make them less expensive in real dollar terms, and fosters innovation and creation of new products. Without industry expansion and growth, we could argue that you, as divers, wouldn't have access to the canister lights, wings, reels, and other stuff so loved by ScubaBoard readers.

The DEMA organization is the industry-wide marketing branch of the scuba business. Now, I realize that specific product and service marketing take place by individual companies within the "industry", but most of these efforts are typically designed to promote a PARTICULAR organization, not the industry as a whole. DEMA is the ONLY current organization that is tasked with the expansion of interest in diving, driven to benefit the "members" of the organization. The members are those people who engage in the commerce of scuba diving.

If the DEMA organization does a poor job of the task, and if the result is a stagnation or reduction of the financial power of the industry, many things will happen that impact individual divers. Less local stores will mean less access to training and equipment for the average diver. Less sales will result in less research and development of new products and less desire by investors to bring new things to the market. Less sales and less commerce that the new diver level will result in the reduction of day boats, liveaboard vessels, and resorts. This will result in less dive opportunity and less selection for divers. Like ANY other industry, the participants are tied to the commerce side of the business MUCH more than they might first think.

So, why is there so much discussion of late about DEMA? Simple....it matters to all of us! If the ONLY organization tasked to promote diving in the aggregate is doing a poor job, we could conclude that diving will suffer. If they are misdirected in their promotional approaches and valuable and limited resources are spent on the wrong things, opportunity to "improve the industry" will be lost.

Don't be fooled by your independence as a diver, the industry IS important and DEMA is the organization for the industry. It matters.

Phil Ellis
Discount Scuba Gear at DiveSports.com - Buy Scuba Diving Equipment & Snorkeling Equipment

Phil,

Can you list 3 of DEMA's best efforts that were likely to have caused me to start scuba diving?

Efforts to expand participation by industry trade groups are very low in a benefit/cost.

Recreational activities expand best by socialization amoung current and potential participants, not by commercial promotion.

 

[sibermike7]

But really... I would love to hear MORE from the ScubaBoard tribe that are not professionals on how DEMA affects you. Are they doing their job as an advocacy group?

I seriously doubt if the "average" non-pro diver even knows about DEMA and quite frankly why should he? It is my understanding that DEMA is not geared to the non-pro., because non-pros cannot even attend unless somehow they get themselves "attached" to a pro. So, DEMA exists, not for the average Joe-diver, but for shops and pros to learn what they can offer to the average diver. KNowing most pros in most industries (SCUBA being no exception) trade "secrets" are kept secret. A shop is probably not going to disclose how they managed to get some kind of killer deal. They would rather look like it was their idea to discount some piece of gear or trip so that they look good. Normal business practice worldwide.
m

 

[sibermike7]

where will scubaboard be?
Will scubaboard have a booth? If so, what number?

 

[PhilEllis]

Phil,

Can you list 3 of DEMA's best efforts that were likely to have caused me to start scuba diving?

Efforts to expand participation by industry trade groups are very low in a benefit/cost.

Recreational activities expand best by socialization amoung current and potential participants, not by commercial promotion.

Mike, it would be difficult to name 3 efforts by DEMA in recent time that might have convinced you or someone else to learn to dive. Hence, all of the discussion and the petition you see here to change DEMA.

I am certain they would argue that the Be a Diver program has brought divers into the sport that otherwise would not be participating. With limited success, I could not find fault with that point. The traveling pool program has also helped some I expect. As to other specific things, I cannot actually say.

You are right.....industry trade groups usually do little to expand participation. However, the little they do are typically important. I would further agree that recreational expansion increases with socialization. However, that doesn't mean that a scuba industry association is not important.

Phil Ellis
www.divesports.com

 

[Scott L]

I did not read much of the thread but the demise of DEMA would seem only to hurt the smaller manufactures and up-starts which do not have the resources to otherwise reach LDS. So the biggest effect that I see would be a reduction in new innovative equipment avialiable to divers. I would be interested to hear from Tobin (DSS) on this thought if he would ever forgive me for recomending Halcyon over DSS in one instance. :depressed:

 

[Walter]

where will scubaboard be?
Will scubaboard have a booth? If so, what number?

Up front, but no longer near the pool, now in booth 607.