Scuba Show, Long Beach

[ScottZeagle]

Bought my airline ticket today!!!

See you there!

 

[Spg01]

Last year was my first year going to the show and about all I can remember are the travel booths with a few dive shops sprinkled in. And there was a booth selling soft inserts for your shoes that you could buy. My first impression was that it was more of a travel show than scuba equipment show.

Still undecided if I will go back this year or not.

 

[merxlin]

I go every year. Last year I went both days and spent most of the time in seminars. Well worth the price. Yes, the merchandise floor is more travel than product, and it seems some major manufacturers are OK with having distributors or retailers represent their lines, versus doing any self promotion. You also have a big retailer that is known to sell at MSRP, yet has a huge booth with show specials, so having other shops selling similar merchandise at less than them might have been an issue. This is just my speculation. Personally, I bought several items through a retailer that advertised their show special prices (many more items than they could have had AT the show), but did have to go to the store. They also gave a gift card rebate, so they got me in twice. I also bought items not on the sale list, so overall it is a very effective strategy. That said, I do wish more manufacturers were there.

The challenge with trade shows in any segment (I go to lots of motorcycle shows as well) is that the industries no longer have the need for these shows to get information out about their products. The internet and direct mail take care of that. There is also no "season" per se any more. Marketing is now year round. You used to go to shows to see what was new and different. Now, its just to hope to see a product live that you already know about. And typically, that product is already in the marketplace so you can see it at the retailers. No need to hit the shows.

So I'll go again this year, see some old friends, and buy stuff I probably don't really need. If all you did were seminars and watched the films, it would be worth the price of admission.

 

[blue steal]

Got my tickets in the mail today. first time for scuba show. Hope the short films are worth it.

 

[JonKranhouse]

............where a variety of self-regulated safety checks can occur (Verification of a c-card, etc.).

I agree with Teamcasa. How can a purchase be deemed "not safe" if you can show proper verification at the show. Also, as Teamcasa pointed out there is no c-card for online purchases. It seems to me to be a way to get divers to the shop for greater retail sales. Could you please expalin why you feel you must enforce these rules; your justification for these rules are NOT valid. If I may be blunt, sorry if I offend anyone. Tell us the real reason why you have the divers buy from the shop. SAFETY IS NOT THE ISSUE and Teamcasa has pointed that out. If safety was the issue then you would have a verification sheet that would list all the requirements in order to purchase and take gear from the floor, this would be online so you could bring the required verification. There is no sheet! You don't even offer that as an option! It's a bait and switch tatic that rubs me the wrong way. Even if I have all the verification that I have been fully trainined in a particular piece of gear you still will not sell it off the floor, WHY????? Safety........BS. It NOT safety, because there are many options to properly verify training and sell off the floor but you chose not to. Please cut through all the crap and give us the real reason. I DO NOT BUY YOUR LOGIC!! Please advise and explain. So sorry to those offended but this hits a nerve on me.

I was told by an employee of one of the partcipating shops that they can't sell certain items because they do not want a biding war going on. Also that if forces people to visit the shops in hopes that they will sigh up for more classes, buy more stuff and trying to gain them as a long term customer.

Why can't you purchase key items at consumer dive shows?
Attendees to just about every consumer trade show, in other industries, expect show discounts. That's the honey that sells show tickets. And if it helps get more divers diving in this economy, that's great. But the dive industry is populated by those with a belief system that won't budge.

Consumer dive show promoters are in a VERY awkward position between consumers, who buy tickets to attend the show, and local dive retailers.

The Houston show, known as SeaSpace, allowed the selling of all types of scuba equipment, which was greatly appreciated by consumers in the area. But the original promoter was PUT OUT OF BUSINESS in 2007 by a horizontal retailer boycott. The show had people from NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Lab at the Johnson Space Center and lots of clubs participating. Volunteers helped get booths set up (and the drayage costs for exhibitors was very affordable). The loss of the show was a loss for the local dive community. Since 1969, the SeaSpace show had raised over $500,000 in scholarship funds via gate receipts and donations. Each year about 260 companies had exhibited.

"Direct selling" at the show built a robust and popular show that attracted hundreds of would-be divers from hundreds of miles away. Many retailers exhibited as well and had to be competitive with each other. That benefitted consumers. Innovative retailers can do more than merely compete on price, but that's what many chose to do (i.e. store-vs-store price-competition). A "senior" store, perceiving that this hurt their collective bottom-line, instigated the boycott.

Three weeks before the 2007 show, a group of prominent retailers who had already committed to exhibiting at SeaSpace, and had done so in previous years, orchestrated a horizontal boycott of the show to put an end to "direct selling."

Local consumers and dive club members were harmed by the loss of the show, and spoke of how they relied upon educational opportunities via networking that was impossible through their local retailers.

The new show promoter is compelled to enforce the retailers' "group-think" rules.

Some people may believe that such horizontal agreements between retailers are within their rights: "That's just business." Others believe that such horizontal collusions violate the Sherman Antitrust Act. One of the harms of such a horizontal agreement: it restricts the access to market for smaller innovative companies, like HydroOptix.

When the Houston show was originally managed by Gene and Sara Baugher, HydroOptix exhibited several times and was able to cover our travel / exhibition costs by selling masks. It wasn't just about the money, but also about educating divers how to dive safer and have more fun with increased situational awareness. Divers could dunk their heads over the side of our water tank and do their own A-to-B comparison with a variety of flat masks we made available. Seeing is believing. AND WE TRAINED THE STAFF OF OUR LOCAL RETAILERS. Everybody was surprised to learn HOW MUCH a flat-mask restricted their field-of-view - and that awareness alone can make some divers safer if they continue diving with their existing flat mask (i.e. keep your head moving around more to scan your surroundings).

HydroOptix ALSO GAVE FREE MASKS TO OUR TEXAS DEALERS, ON A 1:2 RATIO FOR EACH MASK WE SOLD TO A CONSUMER. Rather than basing which store got free masks on geography, we based it upon the purchasing history of the local stores. For fractions of masks, stores got credit on future orders. This was a win-win arrangement, while being respectful of the efforts the retailers make in running their retail stores. HydroOptix helped to create future demand by "peppering the market" with early adopters who got accurate information directly from the manufacturer, about a product beyond the expertise of the local retailer.

The new Houston show is a shadow of its old self.

Now all that said, I have only the greatest respect and admiration for Dale Sheckler and his family. They've done a WONDERFUL job, for over 20 years, of running the Long Beach show and publishing California Diving News. They deserve to be rewarded for their hard work. More power to them!

Consumer-divers deserve to know the truth about what goes on inside the self-regulated dive industry. As I've written elsewhere on SB, I believe there's evidence, historical and recent, that MARP and MAP practices, and "risk management" tactics, negatively impact the safety of diving - most especially at risk are new would-be divers, who cannot find independent objective information, untainted by a profit motive. [MARP thread] [SPG-"war"]

Dive retailer "agendas" have been prosecuted in the past . . .

1. The US Department of Justice successfully prosecuted the Scuba Retailers Association in 1996 for a broad conspiracy involving hundreds of retailers who prevented an innovative product from sharing a level playing field in the marketplace.

2. In the 1980's, the Federal Trade Commission found that some in the dive industry were making bogus claims of safety for the gear that was sold in their stores, thereby impugning what they chose not to sell but there were zero tests to back their claims of safety.

All that said, HydroOptix enjoys working with retailers who don't kowtow to questionable practices imposed upon them by "Big-Daddy" gear companies.

 

[tc]

The long beach show is worthwhile for me just for the chane to see friends.