My DEMA blog: 2014, Las Vegas Convention Center, North Halls

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The Chairman

Chairman of the Board
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Location
Cave Country!
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I just don't log dives
This will be my thirteenth DEMA Show since I made SB a commercial site. I don't have the record for the most DEMAs attended, but I'm a veteran of the Show. Although not a big fan of DEMA the organization, I feel that they do a fair job with the DEMA show. I've heard rumors that this was going to be a very lightly attended show and that less than 3,500 people had signed up for by late last week. I really have no idea if that's good or bad, but I don't come to the show for the attendees: I come for the exhibitors. Whether the show is busy or not busy doesn't affect me much as long as we have "boothers".

Do we have boothers! OMG, the show looks huge. I'm sure it's the biggest DEMA in terms of exhibitors that I've ever seen. Yeah, I've heard people complain about the decline of the show over the years, but I can't imagine ANYONE complaining about the number and variety of offerings available this year. Heck, there were so many boxes in the aisles, that Elena and I had issues getting to our booth. Even then, it was hard setting up with so much happening all around us! We set up in about ten/fifteen minutes, got to see Megan and Howard's cute little baby, and we were off to our first sales appointment. It went great and Elena came away with our first sales of the show and the doors haven't even opened yet.

I've brought two Go Pros with me and plenty of batteries and chargers. I will be doing some interviews with our advertisers and their new offerings as well as some non advertisers as I have time. If you have something new, please contact me. Our booth number is 668, my email is NetDoc@ScubaBoard.com and my cell is (407) 509-0947. Howard, Michelle and Elena are all here too if you need to purchase advertising. I'll be using this thread to give you a run down of the show, and invite anyone else to use it for that purpose too. The more the merrier. The lighter side of the show for me will be in this thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/sh...ppens-vegas-@dema-gets-posted-scubaboard.html Look for updates as we have fun here in Las Vegas!
 
Day one: We got to the DEMA show just before it opened. Exhibitors are allowed to get into their booths prior to opening, and years past we had to wade through a throng of eager attendees to get to the entrance. Not much wading today. ScubaRadio was doing their thing on stage as part of the pre-show warm up. It's a good chance to score a hat, t shirt or other tchotsky. On the floor, the boothers were hard at work making last minute preparations. As I walked by the DEMA booth, I saw Tom Ingram, the CEO of DEMA. A pleasant hello and I asked him where the Media Office was this year. I had spent a bit of time on the second floor looking for it, but they hid it well. :D Well, Tom got this puzzled look and admitted he didn't know. He sent me to one of the information specialists, and guess what, she didn't know. I explained how it wasn't on their Dema Show 2014 app, and she had to look. She couldn't find it either. Finally, Tom made a call to the person manning the office and came up with N433. This is like at the far reaches of the show. I guess they don't think much of the media this year. :D

I checked my bag at our booth and started to visit with some of the exhibitors around us. Over the years, I've become friends with many of them, do it's good to catch up and find out what's really new and what's simply been repackaged. I wandered down the 400 aisle and there wasn't much there. In time, the person I was speaking with said, "Hey, isn't the show supposed to be open?" We looked at his watch and it was fifteen after ten. Hmmmmnnnn... no announcement this year. No attendees either. Now to get an idea of the number of booths, there are about thirty rows and they go up to about 70. The entrance to the show is dead center, right around the 1400 row. It takes time for the attendees to filter down this far. By eleven, I was almost to the end of the 400 aisle. I had stopped to talk with Peter Hughes and the great folk at Dive Encounters. Unfortunately, we had plenty of time to talk too as the traffic was decidedly light.

DEMA2014Day2_24_.JPG


It was about then that I caught up with Gene Muchanski of the Dive Industry Association. We have a sort of mutual admiration society going on. Gene was also concerned about the sparse attendance, but he has a different take on it. To him, DEMA has morphed into a professional development seminar where the exhibitors pick up the majority of the tab. He believed that there were just as many people in the various seminars and workshops as were on the floor. I know many of the manufacturers have called this the "Trips, travel and trinkets" Show. In that regard, there is more travel than anything else. However, the manufacturers are out in force. I only got to stop by the Halcyon booth for a moment, and my biggest impression was: COLOR! THEY'VE GOT COLOR! It was good to see. I'm tired of the old black on black.

DEMA2014Day2_23_.JPG


The rest of the day seemed to be filled with appointments. I trotted to the other end for one to find out that a flight had been delayed and they weren't here yet. That's got to suck. I did get to chat for a bit with the good people at Vivid-Pix. Rick is such a happy guy and he showed us the improvements they have made. If you're new to underwater photography, you've probably tried to take the blue out of your pics with spotty success. Vivid-Pix has made it quick, simple and your pictures will look GREAT. I also got to spend a few minutes with Willie and Jim of Diveheart. You may not know it, but they've introduced a training element to Diveheart and it's great. I think I'm going to get to be on the pilot Instructor Development Class. There is nothing like helping others and I'm a big fan of what Diveheart stands for. I'll be sure to write about what it's like.

Probably the best meeting of the day was with Vernon, Marlies and Joe of the National Marine Sanctuaries. ScubaBoard will be teaming up with them to provide a Social Media outlet and forums for our users to be able to find out how to volunteer to help. There are 14 sanctuaries and they want more. They'll need our help to identify and then to protect them. Look for this to happen in the next month or so.

The day was rounded out with the Jobs Panel hosted by DiveWireWorks. Scott Jones led us in a mostly question and answer session with Pat Hammer, Dan Emke, Andy Phillips, Ernie Tegg and myself. The focus was on how to hire and be hired and most thought the class was worthwhile. I know each of us were approached by eager job seekers after the discussion.

It was a good and exhausting day at DEMA. Sure the numbers were down, but the quality of the people was awesome. I ran into a lot of ScubaBoarders and people wanting to be a part of our tribe. Elena and I had a fun time talking to RJP. He's got a lot to offer our industry and I hope we listen to him.

My final meeting was with Diviac, the people who run our SB Logbook. We discussed what's being embraced and what's not. We came up with the beginnings of a game plan that will make our SB Logbook more appealing to use. No, I'm not going into particulars, but it should be good. First rule of Scuba Diving applies: Don't hold your breath. This kind of coding takes some time. I can't wait to see it.

Tomorrow, my first meeting is with Jared of Dive Rite. We'll be talking about their new Side Mount offerings and just how to pick the right one for you. I'll have the Go Pro with me and will post that ASAP.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
"...It was about then that I caught up with Gene Muchanski of the Dive Industry Association.... "

Certainly a name from the past. I first met Gene at least 25 years ago when he opened a small dive operation in Upland or Montclair California, it closed and we lost track of one another.

We were reunited 8 years ago at DEMA in Orlando when my son Sam IV was presented with his SSI PRO 5000 dive award. Had a long catch up conversation - what a nice gentleman

Now he reemerges in your initial DEMA report.


Please extend him my warmest regards from a hill over looking the blue Pacific ocean in California....

SDM
 
DEMA Show Day 2: Again, my overall feel of the DEMA Show floor is that it's slow. Not stupid slow, but slow. I'm seeing the wisdom in Gene Muchanski's insight: more than half the attendees are in seminars and workshops. I am getting mixed responses from the exhibitors. Some are horse from talking so much, others are not happy with the sparse crowds. Our booth is fairly hidden by two massive booths around us. That's OK for us, but our neighbors, Surface Marker is suffering. Fortunately, we don't need to be in our booth. We take our game to our clients and clients to be. I like that. Here's some pictures from today:

DEMA2014Day2_10_.JPG


ScubaTude!

DEMA2014Day2_11_.JPG


Amazing Shark Bite Earrings

DEMA2014Day2_12_.JPG


Scott Cassel

DEMA2014Day2_13_.JPG


Elena with an Ocean Reef Mask. CUTIE alert!

DEMA2014Day2_16_.JPG


Sergio, Elena and Luca at Ocean Reef.
 
This will go down as the most contentious show I've ever attended. ITI is at PADIs throat, DiveAssure is directly going after DANs market, not nicely IMHO, Cylinder Inspection Services/my ITI instructor trainer are telling me misleading things, and PSI is suing them, and someone is printing cards of Doug McNeese formerly of SSI and calling him the a$$hole of the decade and dropping the cards in all of the urinals at the show. Very uncool.
 
This will be my thirteenth DEMA Show since I made SB a commercial site. I don't have the record for the most DEMAs attended, but I'm a veteran of the Show. Although not a big fan of DEMA the organization, I feel that they do a fair job with the DEMA show. I've heard rumors that this was going to be a very lightly attended show and that less than 3,500 people had signed up for by late last week. I really have no idea if that's good or bad, but I don't come to the show for the attendees: I come for the exhibitors. Whether the show is busy or not busy doesn't affect me much as long as we have "boothers".

Do we have boothers! OMG, the show looks huge. I'm sure it's the biggest DEMA in terms of exhibitors that I've ever seen. Yeah, I've heard people complain about the decline of the show over the years, but I can't imagine ANYONE complaining about the number and variety of offerings available this year. Heck, there were so many boxes in the aisles, that Elena and I had issues getting to our booth. Even then, it was hard setting up with so much happening all around us! We set up in about ten/fifteen minutes, got to see Megan and Howard's cute little baby, and we were off to our first sales appointment. It went great and Elena came away with our first sales of the show and the doors haven't even opened yet.

I've brought two Go Pros with me and plenty of batteries and chargers. I will be doing some interviews with our advertisers and their new offerings as well as some non advertisers as I have time. If you have something new, please contact me. Our booth number is 668, my email is NetDoc@ScubaBoard.com and my cell is (407) 509-0947. Howard, Michelle and Elena are all here too if you need to purchase advertising. I'll be using this thread to give you a run down of the show, and invite anyone else to use it for that purpose too. The more the merrier. The lighter side of the show for me will be in this thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/sh...ppens-vegas-@dema-gets-posted-scubaboard.html Look for updates as we have fun here in Las Vegas!

Pete, could you check out if there are any cool new developments in :

  1. Freediving Gear
  2. Housings for Smart Phones ( would be nice if one surfaced for Galaxy Note 3's :) ...allowing surface interval posting to Facebook, Instagram and of course, Scubaboard :)
 
This will go down as the most contentious show I've ever attended. ITI is at PADIs throat, DiveAssure is directly going after DANs market, not nicely IMHO, Cylinder Inspection Services/my ITI instructor trainer are telling me misleading things, and PSI is suing them, and someone is printing cards of Doug McNeese formerly of SSI and calling him the a$$hole of the decade and dropping the cards in all of the urinals at the show. Very uncool.

Wow! Do you see this as...
a) signs of an industry in its death throes
b) signs of an industry going through a painful but necessary transitional phase to whatever it's next incarnation is going to be
c) alternate theory of your choice (please elaborate)
 
Pete, could you check out if there are any cool new developments in :

  1. Freediving Gear
  1. Why yes, Dan there is a huge new development in Freediving Gear called "Scuba". :D :D :D

I haven't seen anything as of yet, but I haven't covered the whole show. I did see a couple of smart phone cases and even for the Galaxy 3s. I'll try to get pictures today.
 
Wow! Do you see this as...
a) signs of an industry in its death throes
b) signs of an industry going through a painful but necessary transitional phase to whatever it's next incarnation is going to be
c) alternate theory of your choice (please elaborate)
I'm merely making an observation. It could be that this is how all shows are, I'm just more tuned into it, or it's a slow motion train wreck I just can't stop watching. It is interesting, though.

what do you think, Pete?

by far, the vast majority of folks here have no opinion or are keeping theirs to themselves.
 
.....Housings for Smart Phones ( would be nice if one surfaced for Galaxy Note 3's :) ...allowing surface interval posting to Facebook, Instagram and of course, Scubaboard :) ....
I saw 4 vendors with "scuba rated" housings for smartphones: Bonica/SeaShell, i-Pix, Nauticam and Watershot.
All of them support (or have plans to support) iPhones (from 4S to 6) and Samsung Galaxy (S3 and S4).
None of them has plans to support the Note 3.
We will have a dive computer module for all of them.
 

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