Sea Space an now Coz

[ScubaTexan]

Stated that it was promoted as a adventure travel expo deliberately.

If I owned a dive shop, I would avoid SeaSpace for that very reason. That has little or nothing to do with the scuba industry.

 

[Dee]

Went to the HUPS meeting tonite. Director of Seaspace flat out admitted attendance was "mediocre at best", despite heavy promotion and good speakers He is looking for suggestions. Stated that it was promoted as a adventure travel expo deliberately....

Suggest that the diving public wants more than a travel expo. 'Course, that's where his business interest lies so it probably won't do any good.

 

[scubafanatic]

......maybe take out an ad in AARP......and capture the 'pod-people' crowd........when I saw them my first time last summer in Cozumel I was worried the reefs would be a mob scene...thank goodness they appear to be more interested in buying T-shirts than cluttering up Santa Rosa Wall!

...as they say, grab a man by his ......wallet, and his heart and mind will soon follow....sounds like the public voted with it's feet at SeaSpace.....in time that can be a powerful force...afterall, that 'force' eventually brought down Communism too!

Karl

 

[Debraw]

I attended Seaspace only once in 2002 and I was an exhibitor. When I signed up for the booth I was told on the phone by the organizer of Seaspace ( can't remember his name) that they wanted more travel. I had a lot of people pass by the booth, a few bookings and after spending $1200 in expenses for the booth I broke even on what I booked from it. I have not been as a consumer or exhibitor since. I think the promise of DEMA being in Houston this year has very little impact on Seaspace far as the exhibitors are concerned. DEMA is a trade event. Seaspace is a consumer event. I would think the Houston area shops would be more than a little upset if major manufacturers came into the event to sell merchandise directly to the public. I understand the philosophy of the travel expo. When people travel to scuba dive they tend to buy a new wetsuit, a new BCD, a bag, a camera, etc. That's good for the shops. They need to find a good mix of scuba and travel. Unfortunately the dive industry is a tough nut to crack. It's very difficult for the manufacturers to keep shelling out money to be at all of the consumer shows. They are even pulling out of the trade event only shows. Outside sales reps cover new gear when they visit the shops. We have reps come in about once a month now and we do a travel presentation and a manufacturer presentation for our customers. I hope Seaspace can turn it around before next year.

 

[Detonate]

This was the first SeaSpace I have been to, so it's all I can comment on.

I thought it was good. It was fun. It was certainly worth my $40 bucks I guess is what I'm getting at.

I met some nice people, attended some very interesting seminars, got to play with a lot of new Underwater housings, got lots of little freebies, entered a bunch of contests (aka mailing lists)....

It was just a good time in my view.

The Coral Reef Adventures IMAX was awesome, and getting to hear from the people that made the movie was cool as well.

 

[Natasha]

Detonate:
I'm glad to hear you had a good time. It's great to 'see' it from the eys of a first timer.
Some of us have been to so many of these shows so many times, that I'm sure we compare them to past shows too much.
BTW DEMA does let non DEMA members in for 50.00 a day.