Why doesn’t DEMA open to the general public?

[Superlyte27]

What gun show doesn't sell to the public?

SHOT SHOW in Vegas

 

[tursiops]

You mean like SHOT SHOW which is open to dealers like me, but not the general public like you? Lol. Google it. Largest gun show on the planet every year, not opened to the public.

Now you've done it! Given him a gun show to whine about too. Poor him.

 

[Superlyte27]

Now you've done it! Given him a gun show to whine about too. Poor him.

I have looked at every thread. He hasn’t positively contributed to a single one. Lol

 

[tursiops]

I have looked at every thread. He hasn’t positively contributed to a single one. Lol

Yeah, you'd think he'd say something useful at some point, since he knows everything.

 

[The Chairman]

I'm still waiting for him to start his own dive show.

However, I do have a solution for inspiring the next cadre of divers: ScubaBoard! We're the 24/7/365 dive show in the comfort of your own home. We even talk about a lot of gear before they get announced. If there's anything cool happening at DEMA, you know you're going to hear about it right here. Travel deals, travel companions, and training concepts you won't find elsewhere... what's not to like? All this at no cost, but we are still in dire need of more divers GOING RED.

But wait, there's more! Where else can you find divers who have it all figured out better than anyone else in the world? Though they've never run a dive business, much less a dive show, they have wonderful albeit unsupported opinions about how they should be run. I certainly hope they'll tell me how to run ScubaBoard.

But wait, there's even more! If you post right now, you'll get a lot of actual experts in their fields that will counterpoint the silly with real info we can use. Now that's some real insight You just have to wade through the slough to get to the good stuff.

ScubaBoard! We have the divers you're looking for.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I've been to two DEMA's and don't care if I ever go to another one. The first one was oooo, wow, geee! Until I heard from many vendors of how much it had shrank and was a shell of it's former self. The second I attended, two years later, was probably 10% smaller than the first one I went to. The second was about getting to see the people I hadn't seen since the last one. No real new gizmos and gadgets. Walking around took less time because they only real increase was in the number of travel places. One big difference with some of the gear manufacturers (not the distributors posing as mfgs but the actual factories in Taiwan and China) was their willingness to talk to independent, non brick and mortar dealers and instructors like me. One offered me my own line of wetsuits with an initial order of as little as 30 suits. Quality was ok. But the surprising thing was that they seemed to see the downfall coming and were willing to make deals with entities that no one would have expected.

 

[broncobowsher]

Apparently you have never been to a Gun Show, the primary purpose at all but the NRA annual meetings is to actually sell firearms and merchandise. I have spent several thousand dollars purchasing merchandise and firearms at gun shows over the last 3.5 decades, although these days they tend to have higher prices than gun stores and no longer have the deals we used to get at them.

Yes, you are describing a gun show.
Now quit thinking a trade show is the same, they are not.
As mentioned the largest gun trade show (the shot show also held in Vegas) you can't buy a gun and walk out of the show with it. But you can make an order for 100 guns to be delivered to your gun shop.

If you can't understand how a trade show operates and why it isn't open to the public, there is no point in going to one. I don't care what business it caters to.

 

[tursiops]

Here, @Scuba Client. Have a good time. Scuba Show – Long Beach, California | May 30th & 31st

 

[Lostdiver71]

Yes, you are describing a gun show.
Now quit thinking a trade show is the same, they are not.
As mentioned the largest gun trade show (the shot show also held in Vegas) you can't buy a gun and walk out of the show with it. But you can make an order for 100 guns to be delivered to your gun shop.

If you can't understand how a trade show operates and why it isn't open to the public, there is no point in going to one. I don't care what business it caters to.

I know Trade Shows are different as I literally spent much of my childhood and was later a buyer for the family business in Trade Shows for the Landscaping and Plant Growing Industry in Florida. My point was that almost all public gun shows are there to cater and sell to the general public and the only publicly attended gun show I am aware of that does not actually sell firearms to the general public is the NRA Annual Meetings, although you can see the newest products and handle most of them. As the Shot Show is a Trade Show I did not include it as it is not a publicly attended show.

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

[QUOTE="
EDIT: You understand that DEMA is Travel, Trinkets, and Training, right? The gear sales are done in house by a traveling rep. A consumer might see the newest full face snorkel in the new products pavilion, and might clean up the floor displays the last day of the show so the vendor doesn't have to ship it home, and may make enough for beer money. But there is nothing there for a consumer to buy, and the punters take time away from the manufacturers who are training sales staff and instructors to sell their trinkets.[/QUOTE]

This^^^^^^^***

I went to Vegas a couple of years ago as a bouncing baby DM expecting to find great deals on all kinds of stuff. Even the few booths that would sell anything on the last day weren't offering that great of discounts. I did see a few full faced masks being sold, but while the prices were good, they weren't great.

We talked for a hour or so to a liveaboard operator about a Greece trip with 2 boats. The price WAS phenomenal, but in follow up afterwards the deal began to change drastically. Meals, stops, drinks, air, # of dives, and about everything else you could charge for all started to drive the price up to the point our travelers would not spring for it, especially with the air fare and travel time to get there.

Hands down, the best booth was the US Navy Experimental Dive Unit booth. Those kids are rockstars.

I left thinking, that was not what I'd hoped for at all, and we walked 18 miles in 2 and a half days. There were some good vacation giveaways.

If the new world normal allows trade shows, I'm sure we will go back for the travel side.

Jay