Dying DEMA???

[sbijou]

The concept is sound. I sell a line of footwear called Crocs to both the water sports market (i.e. surf, ski and wakeboard) and dive market. Surf Expo presents a much larger account base than Dema to me, therefore I opt for exhibiting at Surf Expo. For the retail DEMA attendee, the potential number of products and services offered is greatly expanded to feature additional water sports products and apparel from a national and local level. Surf Expo is held twice a year, but from a conceptual standpoint, DEMA could be held as an adjunct to a show such as this once a year. In fact, many diving retailers already attend Surf Expo. The political and financial realities of such a "merger" may present a different picture however.

Steve

I too think this is a good idea. Especially for a company like USIA and Ray's company, OS systems. Both of our companies are heavily involved in the Outdoor/ fishing/kayaking business. To have a trade show where we could kill two birds with one stone would be excellent. I know that last year Our World Underwater was part of the larger Chicago Outdoor Show. We did not attend, but I'm curious what others who did thought about it.

 

[WileEDiver]

I know that only some are affected as I am by this, but you may not know that many agencies (PADI and DAN among them--not to slight others, I just don't know what they do) use DEMA as an opportunity to schedule training updates at DEMA. Personally I'm currently tied up 4 mornings from 8 AM to noon (and that's only the 4 hour slots--other 1 hour sessions are at other times).

 

[SDAnderson]

I'm sure this concept has been disscussed behind closed doors. Why not merge DEMA with another wholesale trade show such as Surf Expo ? Separate halls to retain identity but same venue. 2 1/2 days, easy to fly to location such as Orlando, watersports oriented dealers.

Steve

Something similar was tried last year on the retail level in Chicago, when the Our World Underwater Show (a dive equipment and travel show) was held in conjuction with the Outdoor Show. It was the first time and, thankfully, the last time this will happen. It was, to coin a phrase, a freaking disaster - hopefully OWU will be able to recover but serious damage was done to a show that has spent years building a solid reputation.

Careful about overguesstimating those synergies, things can go badly wrong in a hurry.

 

[ericfine50]

reefraff - Just wondering what the issues were? I have no idea one way or the other, just curious.

Thanks

 

[ScottZeagle]

Something similar was tried last year on the retail level in Chicago, when the Our World Underwater Show (a dive equipment and travel show) was held in conjuction with the Outdoor Show. It was the first time and, thankfully, the last time this will happen. It was, to coin a phrase, a freaking disaster - hopefully OWU will be able to recover but serious damage was done to a show that has spent years building a solid reputation.

Reefraff,

What exactly was wrong with the 2 shows being combined?

I would suspect that a lot of people, who would not normally attend OWU, were introduced to diving - which should have been a GOOD thing...no!!??

Can you give me some specific problems that were caused by combining the shows? On paper, it sure sounds like a pretty good idea to me...

Thanks!

Scott

 

[gangrel441]

Reefraff,

What exactly was wrong with the 2 shows being combined?

I would suspect that a lot of people, who would not normally attend OWU, were introduced to diving - which should have been a GOOD thing...no!!??

Can you give me some specific problems that were caused by combining the shows? On paper, it sure sounds like a pretty good idea to me...

Thanks!

Scott

My experience, as a consumer that was at the show...two largely incompatable audiences.

I feel at home at either show, but I believe I was in the minority. OWU attracted the usual dive crowd. The outdoors show attracted guys with big beards and wearing full camo walking out with a new family room clock made of a slab of wood and two deer antlers. I am an advocate and participant in hunting, fishing, camping and the like, but a large number of the attendees of the outdoors show made for an interesting sideshow at best, and made me feel uncomfortable at worst.

In many cases, I don't think the Outdoors show folks ever came into OWU, and of those that did and were introduced to diving, I think a very small percentage had any interest.

But that's just my observations.

 

[USIA]

My experience, as a consumer that was at the show...two largely incompatable audiences.

I feel at home at either show, but I believe I was in the minority. OWU attracted the usual dive crowd. The outdoors show attracted guys with big beards and wearing full camo walking out with a new family room clock made of a slab of wood and two deer antlers. I am an advocate and participant in hunting, fishing, camping and the like, but a large number of the attendees of the outdoors show made for an interesting sideshow at best, and made me feel uncomfortable at worst.
In many cases, I don't think the Outdoors show folks ever came into OWU, and of those that did and were introduced to diving, I think a very small percentage had any interest.

But that's just my observations.

That's why we need to introduce those fella's to the fine sport of spearfishing. The first time I went spear fishing was the last time I went hunting. There is no more entertaining form of hunting. Heck, USIA even makes Camoflage Drysuits!!!

 

[sbijou]

What we are dealing with here are two wholesale trade shows, that are not incompatible, from a products and services arena. Both orgaizations would stand to benefit from increased attendance and interest. However, trade shows are of course
major sources of revenue and unfortunately financial loss, for the organizers. Retailers and manufacturers may have little voice in the matter, based on the direction the trade show organizers wish to take in terms of financial responsibility, management decision making, etc.

Steve

That's why we need to introduce those fella's to the fine sport of spearfishing. The first time I went spear fishing was the last time I went hunting. There is no more entertaining form of hunting. Heck, USIA even makes Camoflage Drysuits!!!

 

[SDAnderson]

Reefraff,

What exactly was wrong with the 2 shows being combined?

I would suspect that a lot of people, who would not normally attend OWU, were introduced to diving - which should have been a GOOD thing...no!!??

Can you give me some specific problems that were caused by combining the shows? On paper, it sure sounds like a pretty good idea to me...

Thanks!

Scott

It sure sounded like a great idea to me, too, then reality showed up like a pissed off woodsman with a 2X4. :05:

The hoped for synergies didn't work out so well - which is part of the "be careful" caution. As gangrel441 said, the two groups of paying customers mostly stared at each other in slack-jawed amazement. There was some interaction between the groups and I didn't see any open hostility but putting a group of "let's clean up the harbor but don't touch anything lest you damage it" divers in the same room with a group of "track it, shoot it, skin it, eat it" hunters made for a distinct contrast and created some tension that tended to upset the "happy hearts = empty wallets" formula needed to make a show successful. The few that took the plunge and visited the "other" side of the show mostly encountered a communication/social barrier that was difficult to surmount - and that worked both ways. There are posts on this board and some of the others from folks who attended the show, my reading was that collectively they measured from disappointed to hostile. Then there were those interminable duck calls.

A good example of the depth of the problem might be the Scuba Pool: it was busy as heck every day and seemed to do an excellent job of drawing folks from the hunting side of the show. There was, however, little success at converting those prospects to students/customers by the dive shops - the kids just wanted to swim and their parents indulged them that far - and no farther.

There was also a lot of grousing from the scuba-side exhibitors about the length of the show. Expanding from three days to five to accomodate the dictates of the Outdoor Show meant the local dive shops were hard pressed to staff both their store and their booths. Several of the manufacturers and travel dealers indicated that the show wasn't producing much (if any) extra traffic while nearly doubling the days. By the end of the run, pretty much everyone was exhausted.

Comparisons between OWU, a retail show, and a show like DEMA can break down pretty quickly, but this year finds OWU back on it's own. As someone who has been going to OWU every Spring for years to sniff the neoprene, I'm glad to see it happen.

 

[ScottZeagle]

Thanks for the explanation.

I think that an earlier idea of combining the scuba show with a watersports show is probably a better idea. At least you know going into it that the people who will attend are interested in water in general...

I agree that a 5 day long trade show (that had really long hours too, right?) would be brutal!!!

Scott