“We quite possibly left more orders at the show than in previous years. We attended to get down to business, place orders, meet as a collaborative and innovative industry, and get some work done together,” said Ryan Hewson, owner of retailer Mocean in Cape Cod, MA. Retailers also reported value in attending. I hope other shows use it as an example.” They did a good job producing an environment where everyone felt safe. “We went in with lower-than-normal expectations as far as attendance and order writing, but by the end, we left with the opposite. “Surf Expo was a very good experience for our company,” said Tracy Wilson, sales manager for exhibitor AHEAD. And by all accounts, it seemed successful in that regard as well for attendees. While that’s perhaps the most important bottom line of attending, the show’s backbone is business. I felt safe the entire time, and I tested negative upon my return back to Maryland.”
“Meeting with customers was fine, and everyone seemed pretty self-aware of their social distancing. “It didn’t feel over-the-top or below standards and, in general, people were pretty good about policing themselves,” he said. “We’ll go back to Orlando for this fall’s Surf Expo.”Īs for the enhanced COVID-19 protocols, Buck Wear’s Hammes added that it was necessary, and it did not seem to affect the ability to conduct business. “Although traffic was down significantly, the people who showed up seemed like they were there to do business,” said Austin Maxwell of exhibitor Kanga Coolers. Other exhibitors agree with retailers’ willingness to open their checkbooks. Both traffic and exhibitor attendance were way down, but those who did attend were ready to buy.” “The January 2020 Surf Expo was our best show in a long time,” he said, “until January 2021. While he noted attendance was off from years past, the open-to-buys seemed strong. Mike Hammes of Buck Wear, an official licensee of Jeep, exhibited at the show under Jeep by Buck Wear. Did attendees, both vendors and retailers, feel it was a successful event worth attending? For that, SGB Executive canvassed the trenches for input from show attendees. While the show’s size was less than half that of the 2020 Winter Surf Expo, a quick count showed 319 exhibiting attendees, with a buyer-to-exhibitor ratio increased by 23 percent, said organizers and the exhibitor net promoter scores increasing by 63 percent.īut the real proof is in the pudding.
Surf expo 2021 dates september registration#
Safety measures included mandatory temperature screenings, face masks, a larger registration area footprint, safety concierges, wider aisles with directional signage, floor stickers, hand sanitizing stations, enhanced cleaning, online notifications, the creation of a safety video, and more. The key, said show owner Emerald Expositions, were the health and safety protocol lessons learned from hosting its IGES souvenir and specialty gift tradeshow in November, and such partners as Visit Orlando, general contractor Shepard and the Orange County Convention Center, one of the only convention centers nationwide hosting large-scale trade shows. When Surf Expo staged its winter tradeshow January 6-8, 2021 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL, it marked the first in-person outdoor tradeshow in nearly a year since the pandemic began, bringing exhibitors and retailers together facemask to facemask.
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