How was DEMA 2009 ?

[cool_hardware52]

Tobin,

Luxfer wasn't supposed to know anything about me. I'm not associated with Luxfer. I think you just got confused here. What I was trying to say is, I was there to take pictures of products, not pricing. I was taking pictures of products, not pricing, when I was accosted.

Jah,

I'm not confused at all. We have a college kid who should not have a press credential roaming the aisles at DEMA.

I know from previous experience that you need lots of repetition so once again,

DEMA is a TRADE SHOW, paid for by the exhibitors. It's not an entertainment venue for wanna be "reporters" from the local college.

The Exhibitors have paid for the Opportunity to Expose their goods to their customers, i.e. the folks in the Scuba Business, the LDS.

I was surprised that two different booths seemed upset at me looking at their products and taking pictures.

Same reaction twice, hummmm.

I don't know if I should name them, but one company who had tanks on display practically ordered me to leave, even with my press pass.

It's a tradeshow, not a press conference. A DEMA press pass is not a holy talisman.

They told me that they thought I was with a competitor and would steal their proprietary tank information. I decided I would not be giving them a glowing review for having the best deal on tanks. Any company that doesn't want pictures of their products on Scubaboard, I wonder how good their product is.

So your journalistic values allow you to slant or withhold information based on how the source treated you and your "press pass"? Maybe I was too hasty, you sound perfectly qualified for the mainstream media.

If you look through my pictures and notice some company has a really good price on tanks at their booth...

Publishing tradeshow pricing information on a public forum and you wonder *why* not all exhibitors were welcoming you with open arms.

The second booth was one of those companies that has roughly the same products as several other companies, infact, I don't even remember which one of the 4 or 5 almost identical companies it was. But one of their sales lady's was very insistent that she know "who you are with" even though I didn't have any questions or want to talk to her. I watched her interrogate another person before she came over to bother me. They had a few unique products I would have liked to have photographed and put up with a mention on Scubaboard, but they lost that opportunity.

One more time, DEMA is a trade show. They issue badges that (supposedly) identify attendees as "Buyer" or "International Buyer" or "Guest" or "Press" or "Exhibitor".

Did your "journalist curiosity" ever ask why they do this? Precisely because the exhibitors want to know *who* they are talking to. They are entitled to know, they paid for the right to know.

Unfortunately this system is widely abused leaving most exhibitors no good way of knowing, without interrogation, who they are actually speaking with.

If you had even a tiny bit of real world experience you'd know that many of the people at DEMA aren't who their badge says they are.

Badges are shared, badges are given to friends and often "Press" credentials are issued to those who are members of the press only in their own minds.

Me? I've thrown photographers out of my booth too, when I wasn't satisfied I knew who they represented.

Tobin

 

[The Chairman]

For what it's worth... JahJahwarrior was there at my personal request. He has photographic experience from the commercial side and watching him work was interesting. His credentials were verified by DEMA and Adams Unlimited, a PR firm out of New York. Tobin, while you may think he should not have a press pass you simply don't get to make that call. Others did, and Michael did a wonderful job for us.

The only legitimate way to be able to take pictures on the floor is to have a Press Badge, and JahJah's cave diving and youth gives him a unique perspective as a photographer. We had a total of three photographers and three journalists at the show and hopefully they will be uploading their work soon. They were instructed to take as many pictures as possible and even to ask the exhibitors what they wanted to feature. If there was ever any sensitive info, they could easily ask that this portion not be shot! If a company wants to reverse engineer any particular piece of gear, they can just go out and buy it and there is no way for any manufacturer to stop that process from happening. Heck, I have had manufacturers ask me to send gear that I dive to them so that they can look at it. My stock answer is "No: go buy one yourself!"

I have also run into this kind of poor treatment of the press and like JahJah, I simply go and find people who are more amicable. There is very little chance that I can write (or photograph) objectively after being insulted, so why bother? Better to interview or photograph those who actually WANT the free publicity.

Somehow, I think JahJah's youth also worked against him here and that's nothing but age discrimination. As Wookie pointed out: we need to ENCOURAGE the youth to take an active role in guiding our industry so we can attract more youth! Us old farts may think we know what is good for them, but perhaps that's why the industry is languishing. Could he stand to learn a bit about the nuances of pricing at DEMA? Sure. There are appropriate ways of helping him to grow in this area.

For What its Worth (part duex), the ScubaBoard booth consists mostly of Scuba non-professionals. Of the 6 press, 3 sales and 6 booth workers, I believe only 4 would qualify to buy a ticket for the show. That's true of most every booth there, and we are happy to provide our volunteers a way to see the DEMA show and to attend all of the parties that they can!

 

[Wookie]

For me, it was very easy to pick out who was a qualified buyer, and who was an avid diver. We put crew members in the booth to handle the avid divers, and they handed the tech purchasers off to me, and the recreational purchasers off to Melanie. We had as much real interest in Technical diving as we did recreational diving. -BUT- We treated everyone there equally. We didn't dismiss anyone because they weren't a group purchaser, because at the end of the day, the avid diver is pulling the wallet out of his pocket. We just didn't give them wholesale pricing.

Frank

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Tobin,

What does my age or the fact that I'm in college have to do with this? I am a diver, I work for a local dive shop, I run a local dive club, and I was brought in by Scubaboard as a photographer.

Why does DEMA offer press passes if, as you suggest, there is no real need for there to be any press?

I feel it is perfectly fair to tell the world how the source treated me. You want my official statement on them?

"There is a new player in the tank market, and you should look out at your LDS for their product. They only advertised 80 cubic foot cylinders and it is unclear if other size tanks will follow. Their tanks have a beautiful brushed finish, definitely the prettiest brushed finish seen yet. Their representatives were too busy to talk about their product and made it clear that they did not any any images of their product to be released."

Is that fair enough for you?

When it comes to my comment about "if you see a picture with cheap tank prices in it," I have to admit, I did not make it obvious that I was joking. I should have added in a </sarcasm> line, or a rolling eyes emoticon, or something, I have made it clear in subsequent posts that I would not publish anything knowingly with any pricing information shown anywhere in the shot.

I was perfectly willing to show further proof of my credentials to anyone who asked, and yes, when asked, I did show them. I was asked, and I was ok with that, because I was asked politely. I was perfectly willing to make sure people knew who I was, and who I was with.

In the situation with this company, I stood around for several minutes looking at their products. Their reps were too busy talking amongst each other to notice me. I was in the habit of asking before shooting (I have done photojournalism before, and worked in the media before, and understand and respect the practice of asking before shooting, and was adhering to that practice. Ask Ben McGeever, I asked before shooting his product), but had yet to find anyone who had any issues with it, so in this case, I decided I would shoot a few shots and see if any of their reps would be willing to talk with me when I was done. As soon as I pulled out my camera, one of the reps came over and informed me rudely that I was not to take pictures. I explained who I was, who I was with, and my purpose of taking pictures. I then made it clear that I would not take pictures if he didn't want me to. I asked a few questions, he answered a few questions, then abruptly, he just walked off.

I was hoping to find your booth at DEMA and chat with you, Tobin. I know you don't like me and I'm fine with that, but I have a lot of respect for your quality products, and was hoping I could showcase some of them as a photographer for Scubaboard. Plenty of booth space at DEMA was taken up by companies with lesser quality and innovation than your company represents and I was hoping you would be there.

 

[ScottZeagle]

The show was good. The attendance was down, but there were plenty of serious buyers there.

Despite what some would have people believe, DEMA is still a show worth attending - at least for Zeagle.

See you guys in Vegas!!!

 

[WetsuitOptional]

All these things aside, to answer the original post, DEMA was very good for business. Certainly our booth, a travel booth, did very well. I've always thought DEMA was great for being able to wander the aisles and see what's new and exciting in the industry, and this year was no different, albeit on a smaller scale. Those manufacturers with new and exciting equipment were certainly in attendance. Were the booths smaller? Sure. It's a sign of the times. But there were some very cool things being showcased from manufactures, and extremely good deals to be had within the realm of the dive travel/resort industry. The common theme spoken at many booths this year from exhibitors was "Quality over quantity!" and this was certainly true at our booth. The buyers were in rare form and certainly willing to commit. Lets not forget that much of the buying going on is from booth to booth (which is half what DEMA's about), so perhaps many of the attendees didn't see this and couldn't appreciate this aspect.

Two weeks ago, NBAA, aviations version of DEMA, was also held in Orlando on a smaller scale and with smaller attendance than usual. Both NBAA and DEMA deal in a business that's not essential in these tough economic times, so both had smaller showings. But both industries will survive and one would think actually rebound in the future.

So overall, a very successful show considering a tough economic climate.

 

[The Chairman]

The show was wonderful for ScubaBoard.

For most exhibitors, they found the slower show more productive than usual. Many sold more here than at Vegas. But then, the bottom fell out of the market just before last DEMA. I don't think the venue had as much of an impact as the economy.

 

[JackConnick]

The show was much smaller, but I was able to talk to most of my vendors and see a lot of new products. I met with several foreign vendors and from that standpoint alone it was awesome. I will be picking up several new lines and items as a direct result of coming.

The internet is great, but seeing things you would not even know about otherwise makes attending worthwhile.

I have to say though that Orlando is about as out of a way destination for a show as I could imagine. Las Vegas is easier, cheaper and better for everyone.

Jack

 

[Surface Interval]

As a first time atendee choosing not to exhibit this year and potential exhibitor for Vegas next year I have to say that I wish we had been there before Friday so that I could have attended a few more of the seminars. The 2 I was at were both DEMA sponsored and even though we aren't a dive "shop," I found most of the information to be helpful.

As a first timer, I was skewed by pictures of former DEMA shows on the website. You know, the one with people packed together like it's the opening of Disney World on a Saturday? I was suprised that it was never like that, but I admit I was also pleased not to be packed in like cattle when trying to talk to or visit anyone at any particular booths.

For our company, attendance was a success and I'm looking forward to seeing how much difference the location makes next year.

 

[wilz]

Given the turnout, we had plenty of time to talk to our suppliers. Most were very attentive and in turn we spent some time with some new players to get a feel for off-brand products. I think that was very promising as we have to deal with the deep discounters and we would rather have solutions for our customers rather than driving their biz to others. Lots of good deals if you were in a position to take advantage.