Dema show???

[Dive Right In Scuba]

Bottom Line:
1. Attend the consumer shows if you are a diver looking to meet the people behind the products and see the new products for that year. go to DiveShow.tv for a one stop URL for a list of all of the consumer shows.
2. Exhibit at or at least attend DEMA and support your industry if you are a working dive industry professional.

If these two simple things are done, most of the issues being discussed would go away.

Going to DEMA is NOT going to open their old eyes to the future! They have no clue what they are doing, and it is truly evident. IN fact, a lot of the manufacturers are starting to go down the same short sited path.

Here is why....
You will start to see more manufacturers selling direct online to consumers, then giving a "CUT" to a dealer that is selected by the consumer. Sounds great...well, this is only going to stop those dealers from growing with the internet...you are only subsidizing them to sit and do nothing and get even farther behind the competition...AND they will make less money due to add on sales being lost and less profit because Company "X" keeps more of the money for the referral to them. This will cause a spiral effect....dealers make less money as the Manufacturers keep more of the money...dealers have less money to put into student acquisition, less students taking classes as dealers dry up to no money....less students created to buy equipment....EVERYONE loses...hell, even Joe diver loses because there are less divers for dive buddies...not to mention the resorts, which are already getting killed.

There are too many BAD dealers out there, that I agree need to adapt or disappear(as hard as it is to say that) but if you can't change with the times....

The same holds true to manufacturers...there is so much competition, with the SAME products, competing for the same business....and now they are all suffering. Due to lower sales numbers, they are trying to figure out how they can get more sales which equals money...their only answer is to take some of the profits from the dealers "but we will pay you for it". This won't work.

Everyone needs to STOP focusing on gear sales as the answer out of this, and START focusing on new student acquisition and local diving.

If you get everyone hooked on diving, which isn't too hard and why we are all so passionate about it, then you create not just a diver, but a lifestyle! And creating that lifestyle, is what has been relaxed in DEMAs and the Manufacturers old eyes.

Change that, and you will fix all of the problems

 

[cerich]

Bottom Line:
1. Attend the consumer shows if you are a diver looking to meet the people behind the products and see the new products for that year. go to DiveShow.tv for a one stop URL for a list of all of the consumer shows.
2. Exhibit at or at least attend DEMA and support your industry if you are a working dive industry professional.

If these two simple things are done, most of the issues being discussed would go away.

why does it have to be one or the other??? Why not two trade only days during the work week, then transition over to consumer during the weekend?



Now, regarding your point #2, complete and utter GARBAGE, that reeks of entitlement on behalf of DEMA. The idea that "if you are a working dive industry professional" you support DEMA is wrong. A professional will recognize that DEMA is hopelessly out of touch, non productive and has become a detriment to the industry.

If some guy is holding me up with a gun and shoots his last round into my leg I do NOT hand him more rounds because he has run out. Supporting DEMA at this point would be like cleaning his gun, reloading it and telling him my PIN number for my credit cards so he doesn't have any trouble using them after he shoots me in the head.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I honestly believe that the internet has ameliorated DEMA's ability to make a difference in today's economic climate. I don't know that we can blame DEMA... they are caught up in an anachronistic paradigm of having to do things in real time instead of on the Internet. It was kind of amazing this past DEMA as to just how many peeps came up and told me I was a true pioneer for what I have done here. I am not sure where that came from, but it started with Doug Krause of Oceanic telling me that last May. I don't know about pioneer, but I am happy that I was in the right place at the right time and even now there are those manufacturers who see us as "just a fad".

Now, here's the funny part. I have offered to help DEMA, Sport Diver and Scuba Diving Magazine to increase their internet penetration. Unfortunately, I think they see me as some sort of competitor, which is the real problem. The internet is HUGE, and no one has reached saturation on the net. That's why you see Facebook and MySpace still making innovations: they want even MORE users! For media, there are no "competitors" as much as there are comrades in arms. The more successful I can make them, the better I will do in turn. The tide rises all boats, but if your anchor is firmly attached to the bottom and you didn't have the foresight to give it some slack, then your boat is sunk!

The internet is made up largely of three groups:

1. The innovators
2. The participants
3. The lost

If you haven't made as much ingress into the cyber world as you would like, perhaps you should engage those who HAVE. The offer is still open for me. I would love to see them benefit from our information age, but it appears that they are afraid.

I can sure say that the internet has helped me. If it wasn't for the internet I wouldn't have had a chance.
There is no way a micro cottage industry like myself would ever be able to afford to go to DEMA. My product is not something "run of the mill" enough to land into too many LDS's. I try, but it's hard.
The internet is the only option I have and I've sold many plates around the world as a result.

I thank scubaboard mostly and a few other boards for providing such a valuable tool for me.

Thank you very much Pete for providing such a valuable resource. I mean it.

Eric Sedletzky

 

[Leadking]

This thread is so long that a refresher is needed on the consumer show issue. See my posts 180 and 189.

 

[cerich]

This thread is so long that a refresher is needed on the consumer show issue. See my posts 180 and 189.

Lee, i don't see where post 189 is relevant and have to disagree with 180


Research is clearly showing that consumers require and demand to be connected with their brands, it is required to be a successful brand in the market place today. the trick is to involve and include the dealers in every step of the process. Expecting them however to be "the" process and sole contact point is a leftover of the old model that isn't working anymore.

Just because we aren't doing it doesn't mean it can't be done.

I will also point out yet once again that somehow people seem to have difficulty getting their mind around a hybrid show, trade only for a set period then consumer for a set period. It is very simple.

In fact because I firmly believe DEMA is kaput I am not putting this forward as opening the DEMA show to consumers, instead I would encourage the consumer shows to add a trace only day or two to the front end.

 

[Leadking]

Exactly how many consumers will attend the DEMA show in Las Vegas if it is available?
Please calculate the travel costs to the consumer when calculatiing the number.

Can someone add what the 2009 entrance fee was?

What will the cost of the exhibition hall cost if it is a consumer show?

How many exhibitors will bail because of the consumer show?

This is not "simple", it is very complex. It is snap decisions like this that has caused the show harm. It might be what you want but not what the industry needs. Research and polling is needed to develop the answers and sometimes even the answers are wrong.

It strikes me as odd that I am somehow supporting DEMA as I am one of their biggest critics.

 

[cerich]

Exactly how many consumers will attend the DEMA show in Las Vegas if it is available?
Please calculate the travel costs to the consumer!!

What will the cost of the exhibition hall cost if it is a consumer show?

How many exhibitors will bail because of the consumer show?

This is not "simple", it is very complex. It is snap decisions like this that has caused the show harm. It might be what you want but not what the industry needs. Research and polling is needed to develop the answers and sometimes even the answers are wrong.

who cares how many consumers will attend the DEMA show if they opened it to consumers? DEMA is dead, it may limp another couple years but it is all but over.

The shows I am talking about are already consumer shows, I am talking about adding a couple trade only days.

More exhibitors have and will bail from DEMA because DEMA doesn't matter than if they open to consumers.

It is simple when you deal with the reality. Certainly if you are looking at keeping DEMA alive it is VERY Difficult, and frankly why would anybody want to?

You mention what I may want, I want the industry to be free of the parasite before it kills the host. I want DEMA gone so that nobody labors under the proven false assumption that DEMA will do a darn thing that is truly positive for the industry. I want a dive industry that embraces the dealers and the consumers and grows, not one that feeds and plans on the dive store and the consumer being stupid to maintain the status quo. That hasn't been working out so well, even before the economy issues.

The sooner DEMA is gone the sooner all hands get involved with the vital business of recreating exactly what recreational diving is, right now they are fighting for the past, doing the same thing expecting different results....

Lets plan the future, DEMA is the past.

 

[ScottZeagle]

who cares how many consumers will attend the DEMA show if they opened it to consumers?

I believe that what Lee is trying to say (if I understand this all correctly)is, the convention centers charge more for "consumer shows" than "industry only" shows.

The added cost would be passed on to the exhibitors, I can only guess....with no actual proof that consumers would even want to travel to Vegas or Orlando to attend.

Making DEMA a consumer show has never made sense to me. There are at least a half dozen regional consumer shows, so a person can pick the location nearest to them and go see pretty much EXACTLY what is at DEMA.

DEMA is some sort of ideal image that "non-professionals" have in their heads - like some Scuba Disney World.

The truth is, it is just work for those of us who actually know.

 

[cerich]

I believe that what Lee is trying to say (if I understand this all correctly)is, the convention centers charge more for "consumer shows" than "industry only" shows.

The added cost would be passed on to the exhibitors, I can only guess....with no actual proof that consumers would even want to travel to Vegas or Orlando to attend.

Making DEMA a consumer show has never made sense to me. There are at least a half dozen regional consumer shows, so a person can pick the location nearest to them and go see pretty much EXACTLY what is at DEMA.

DEMA is some sort of ideal image that "non-professionals" have in their heads - like some Scuba Disney World.

The truth is, it is just work for those of us who actually know.

yup and why attend DEMA at all? If the half dozen consumer regionals do a trade only day at the front end we get business done, then meet, greet and dazzle the consumers with our dealers help.

My point is we keep given the corpse (DEMA) the paddles (our money and attendance) even while it has gone beyond simply smelling to a putrid slimy mess sticking to the gurney.

 

[Leadking]

ANYONE who puts their future solely in DEMA's hands is a fool. DEMA is just another tool in the toolbox!

Use it if it's the tool you need, but understand there are many tools to select from. Use the tools that work for you.