DEMA 2005 Wrap up

[Mark Vlahos]

I feel your pain,

I am a Stage Hand by profession and one of the things we do is convention setups. Usually we just do audio visual or theatrical booths, you know the booths that do shows. In some parts of the country we do all booth setups, it depends on contracts and the like.

The unfortunate part is all too often, and I have not seen any of it in this thread, we get blamed for the high prices you pay. I was working a trade show over 10 years ago and I delivered a TV and VCR to a booth on a rolling stand with a curtain around it. I needed the signature on the delivery paperwork and when the guy signed it he just about passed out. He was being charged $150 for the delivery, $150 for pickup at the end of the show, and $100 per day for each of the 4 days of the show. These charges were crazy, and I agreed with him. He particularly felt that the $300 he was paying to have a cart rolled into his booth and later removed were excessive. Frankly I agreed with him, the problem is that he took his aggression out on me, personally. At the time I was getting paid somthing like $15 per hour, and frankly that is pretty high to deliver a TV, but we also do the more complex video projector setups that were common at that time, but that is beside the point. He was fired up because he had to pay such a large amount of money. After he clamed down a bit I was able to explain to him that I did not get any extra money for a difficult setup or an easy one, the people making the money were the AV company owners and the other middle men.

Sure the AV company had costs, and some of these costs were considerable. they needed to have somthing like 100 TV's and VCR's on site, they needed to have spares when a set was broken, they needed to have extras when people decided to change their original order. They also had lots of other equipment to manage, and lets not forget that all of this gear bounces around in a truck and gets moved around and broken. The average lifespan of a TV on a show like this is about 20 days before it is broken, or stolen. Somtimes they are so badly scratched that even though they work fine, they are no longer "good" enough to be rented. So, I don't diminish the costs that need to be born by the companies that put on trade shows, but $300 to deliver!!!

The problem is that they make the labor so high and blame the unions. I would bet that those of you who have indicated the high cost of having your electricity dropped in your booths thought that the guy who actually ran the cable got a piece of your charge, he is probably paid by the hour and got no extra pay for any individual booth, but rather made his daily wage and went home just the same.

So, remember when you go to these or other shows don't blame the poor guy that brings you your equipment on the forklift, he gets paid the same no mater how heavy your stuff is.

Mark Vlahos

 

[roakey]

I think the issue is being forced to pay someone $300 to do something you could easily do yourself, like schlepping in your booth materials.

You’re talking about offering a service – supplying and maintaining AV equipment. I think most of the complaints are coming from people that were forced to pay for someone to plug in a piece of equipment or carry a box to their booth.

Speaking of that kind of extortion, I without hesitation place the blame on the unions.

Roak

 

[Mark Vlahos]

I think the issue is being forced to pay someone $300 to do something you could easily do yourself, like schlepping in your booth materials.

You’re talking about offering a service – supplying and maintaining AV equipment. I think most of the complaints are coming from people that were forced to pay for someone to plug in a piece of equipment or carry a box to their booth.

Speaking of that kind of extortion, I without hesitation place the blame on the unions.

Roak

Don't blame the unions for everything. I personally have no problem with any exhibitor bringing their own TV and setting it up. The "exclusive" contracts that force you to use the forklift to transport the gear from the truck to your booth exist between the show organizer and the company that sets up and delivers the gear. In some cases this is the convention center itself, in other cases a third party is contracted. The poor guy that drives the forklift, or delivers your TV is the scapegoat, not the problem.

If I got to put a large portion of the $300 directly in my pocket you could blame me and you could blame my union, but the problem is that somebody ELSE puts the large part of the money in their own pocket but tells you that it is the union forcing you to pay the large fee.

In my case, my union competes with other non-union labor providers for the jobs, we DON'T have an exclusive deal for the jobs, we need to be competitive on wages and other benefits that effect the bottom line. It really irks me when I see the delivery guy blamed for the high cost of everything.

Feel free to complain about the high costs all day long, I would probably agree with you on almost everything, just don't lay the blame on the poor guy at the end of the chain. It's like blaming the hourly salesman at the dive shop because a BC costs $600, he didn't set the price, he got is $6.50 per hour to sell it to you.

Mark Vlahos

 

[ScottZeagle]

I agree, Mark, it isn't the guy who is actually doing the work that is to blame. I believe that G.E.S. is the company that DEMA deals with, and I blame them...

Scott

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Just curious, having never been to DEMA this may be way out of line but would a large university be able to handle the crowd instead of a convention center? Many have large arenas for their sports teams that also host concerts, etc. and many are close to nice hotels. Not sure that this would be any less expensive than a convention center but it's possible.

Ber :lilbunny:

 

[cool_hardware52]

I agree, Mark, it isn't the guy who is actually doing the work that is to blame. I believe that G.E.S. is the company that DEMA deals with, and I blame them...

Scott

GES pretty much has a nationwide lock on exhition halls, assuring a consistent, predictable level of extortion regardless of locale.

GES is the concessionaire hired by the owners of the Exhibition Hall, to provide the onsite "services". GES employs the union staff for various functions, freight, electrical, carpentry etc. GES sets the rates exhibitors pay, and it's many times higher than what the trades take home.

Work rules, OTOH, have always been the kernal around which collective bargining agreements are decided, and restrictive work rules raise costs.


Tobin

 

[Mark Vlahos]

GES pretty much has a nationwide lock on exhition halls, assuring a consistent, predictable level of extortion regardless of locale.

GES is the concessionaire hired by the owners of the Exhibition Hall, to provide the onsite "services". GES employs the union staff for various functions, freight, electrical, carpentry etc. GES sets the rates exhibitors pay, and it's many times higher than what the trades take home.

Work rules, OTOH, have always been the kernal around which collective bargining agreements are decided, and restrictive work rules raise costs.


Tobin

A restrictive work rule that I think is appropriate is one where, since G. E. S. has hired me to set up the video, G. E. S. should be prevented from using a forklift driver from doing my work. But, if the person who is operating the booth, or in this case the owner of the dive company, or his/her employee wants to set up their own stuff, then have at it. It is after all your booth. If G. E. S. owns the forklift, then you or I can't drive it, but if you want to push a crate yourself then knock yourself out. You will need to operate safley in what I would call a "busy" and possibly dangerous environment, but as far as I am concerned it is your stuff, do what you want. The problem is that I don't get to make the rules.

In general I think the prices that exhibitors must pay at trade shows is OBSCENE. I just object to being personally blamed for it.

Mark Vlahos

 

[USIA]

We all hate paying those ridiculous fees. But every industry that has trade shows is forced to pay those same fees. DEMA itself is a very reasonable priced trade show, but the extra costs kill all of us.

 

[JS1scuba]

Jerry -- we missed you at DEMA this year. A few companies did not show. The ones I noticed were USIA, Andy's, Halcyon, GUE, Mares, Dacor and at least another dozen that i cant remember.

Tech Diving Limited showed this year at DEMA. Mostly to establish our line of analyzers and to launch our new decompression software, and to put on dealers again. We suceeded across the board with our specific goals. As to booking orders we did book orders but only because these were special products and we had special dema pricing. Post DEMA sales have been good but they take a lot of followup.

Ive done dema for 15 years in a variety of capacities. Vegas for us was a cakewalk. We drive 2.3 hours and poof we are there. We only did one booth, but even with that my costs for the week were easily $15k Would i have had the same result with $15k in direct mail ? I don't think so.

An established brand like USIA can take off a year or so from DEMA. (our retail store sells USIA suits) and it will not affect our desire to purchase from them. Heck Aqualung only had a small 4 booth set up, but they invested in conferences and workshops. As an Aqualung dealer I plopped in my Fall Order and Booking order there only so my sales guy could show good #s at the show. I was already committed to those 5 figures of orders.

DEMA has turned into a very specific sales meeting. I have 32 hours of selling time there. I do not appreciate seminars or "banquets" or events that compete in any way with an attendees ability to be in front of a vendor. The vendor pays for that venue very dearly. The show floor should be open from 7 am - 7 pm IMO Conferences and "instructor updates" should be either PRE or POST dema. This may seem like a hard line but its a TRADE show not a WORKSHOP show .......

Anyway ..... my 2 cents ............

Regards,

 

[USIA]

Jerry -- we missed you at DEMA this year. A few companies did not show. The ones I noticed were USIA, Andy's, Halcyon, GUE, Mares, Dacor and at least another dozen that i cant remember.

Tech Diving Limited showed this year at DEMA. Mostly to establish our line of analyzers and to launch our new decompression software, and to put on dealers again. We suceeded across the board with our specific goals. As to booking orders we did book orders but only because these were special products and we had special dema pricing. Post DEMA sales have been good but they take a lot of followup.

Ive done dema for 15 years in a variety of capacities. Vegas for us was a cakewalk. We drive 2.3 hours and poof we are there. We only did one booth, but even with that my costs for the week were easily $15k Would i have had the same result with $15k in direct mail ? I don't think so.

An established brand like USIA can take off a year or so from DEMA. (our retail store sells USIA suits) and it will not affect our desire to purchase from them. Heck Aqualung only had a small 4 booth set up, but they invested in conferences and workshops. As an Aqualung dealer I plopped in my Fall Order and Booking order there only so my sales guy could show good #s at the show. I was already committed to those 5 figures of orders.

DEMA has turned into a very specific sales meeting. I have 32 hours of selling time there. I do not appreciate seminars or "banquets" or events that compete in any way with an attendees ability to be in front of a vendor. The vendor pays for that venue very dearly. The show floor should be open from 7 am - 7 pm IMO Conferences and "instructor updates" should be either PRE or POST dema. This may seem like a hard line but its a TRADE show not a WORKSHOP show .......

Anyway ..... my 2 cents ............

Regards,

One of the better posts on the subject. The seminars and the like are great for the companies that incorportate them, but the majority of us do not. The other point is that in the past, dive stores actually used to place a great number of orders at DEMA for products. That just isn't the case anymore. While I still have no regrets for not attending DEMA, what I do miss is the chance to talk to a lot of our dealers, like Joel, whom I do not get to see very often. But Joel will also tell you that there is nothing more frustrating than talking to a prospective customer only to have them look at their watch and have to run off to attend some conference on whatever. UGH! That is one of the reasons we have been attending more consumer oriented shows. Your not in competition with a conference that a dealer has to go to for the chance to win a new scooter.