Quote:
Originally Posted by conchxpress
It seems a shame that us "mere mortals" are excluded from attending. When I first heard about the expo I was really looking forward to going until I heard it was an industry event only. Seems to me if the industry is going about the business of selling it's products, what better way than to open it to the public. Boat shows are open to the public; car shows are open to the public; air shows are open to the public. What's up with the surf/kite industry?
Frank
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Good points Frank. I agree, I think the industry would help itself by exposing new gear more effectively to consumers. Still, I don't see it happening at Surf Expo anytime soon. I've been going to them since 1999, back when there were very few kiting exhibitors. Kiteboarding doesn't drive the show, far from it. Checkout the categories of exhibitors listed below that come from all over the USA and world for that matter in some cases.
There have been times when you could hardly walk to various parts of the show, there were that many people glutting the isles. It is a big opportunity for manufacturers and distributors to show retailers what is available, to answer questions. otherwise court them and to try to secure intent to order or actual orders. Sometimes the exhibitors are so busy you can't even interview them. That is just dealing with retailers, making critical impressions that could make or break a portion of the sales year. Retailers come from all over the USA, Canada, Central and South America. Manufacturers come from all over the world. Retailers may be interested in a lot more than kiting gear too, everything from bathing suits, tee shirts, shorts, jackets, trinkets, other board sports and more. They often need to make appointments with various exhibitors to secure time to see what is available. In busy years, there can be little time to cover everything in just three days.
The show runs from about 9 to 6 pm and things are going nuts most of that time just with the industry present. There are dozens of booths with live bathing suit and apparel models. They have seating for buyers with catalogs, order forms and the like. Many of these booths are closed off and limited just to credentialed buyers. Forget about easily taking pictures of many of these exhibits, even with press/photographer credentials. They are worried about competitors taking designs. I had a first this year, a guy from HQ Kites stopped me from shooting his booth seeking identification and intent. He thought I might be trying to copy his foil kite designs for rival Chinese manufacturers or something? I was just trying to help them out with some exposure, too funny. I even bought one of their foils for the snow a while back, have yet to use it though.
Add twenty to fifty times as many consumers for all those activities and I doubt much business with retailers would get done. You couldn't even get near some booths. It costs a fortune to have a booth at the Expo too, tens of thousands of dollars. They nail you coming, going (literally) and at every opportunity with charges. If you want to plug in an extension cord, you have to pay one of the Expo's tradesmen to do it. Bottom line, consumers won't be brought into Surf Expo soon I suspect. There just isn't time or room and many of the exhibitors, non-kiting, fashion, skateboards, wakeboards, surfing might well have a cow for lost sales opportunities to retailers. Another approach might be to have days set aside for the trade with time when the show is open to consumers. It's an idea, would likely work easily with kiteboarding, not so sure about all those other exhibitors but it could be a good thing. It would likely cost the exhibitors a chunk more in upfront money and security would be a nightmare for some areas of the show like skateboarding. Still, they might pull it off.
Still, who ultimately buys all this stuff and keeps the industry alive? You guessed it. That puts a burden on manufacturers to get the word out there. How are they doing?
The Boardsports Category
Surf
Skate
Wakeboard & Waterski
Windsurf & Kiteboard
The Beach Category
Resort
Coastal Home
The Fashion Category
Boutique
Swim
Checkout the floor plan of the show, it covers a very large area. At that the show occupies less than 1/4 of the 1450 ft. x 800 ft. building with over twice that area available in the convention complex. Despite that you still can't walk into some areas easily at times.
http://www.surfexpo.com/Portals/0/pdf/S08/081908.pdf