ASR Blog

UPDATED Friday 13th; Quick Links for WM12

In case the navigation on our site isn't as intuitive for you as we'd like, this blog will serve as an FAQ link lineup for those planning their OR Winter 12 experience and those who just want to know all that is happening in SLC in the outdoor biz the week of Jan. 16 (also MLK Holiday!).  BTW for you way-ahead planners, next year (2013) MLK bumps to Jan. 21, and our show continues to stage just afterwards Jan. 23 (AMDemo) thru 27. 

More future dates (and show hours)

Registration (badges/credentials to attend)

Download the Winter '12 Mobile App

Your show planner login - (registered attendees and exhibitors only)  (password is your badge # or customer #, or auto login from prior emails  you've received from us) 

All Mountain Demo at Solitude - (Jan. 18, Wed, before show)

Business Ed./Seminars - schedule

Exhibitor List/Floorplan - over 1000 exhibitors!  Plan well...

Entertainment/Party 'OR ROCKS!' Schedule -

Fashion Show info/schedule -

Student Design Competition 'Project OR' -

and... for good measure, a good basic short article on buying at a tradeshow... we know you already know, but basic reminders always help before entering the fray. 

See you in the aisles! 

KH

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter Market rising...

I just finished reading 'Crowdsourcing' by Jeff Howe.  It definitely has me thinking about how it applies to the show environment, since our industry gathering is a worthy crowd, by any measure.  When it comes to like-minded passionate enthusiasts for the winter wilderness, there ain't no crowd like ours.

 One thing I'm strongly considering is displaying a special snowmobile in the Backcountry Village area of the show... if you aren't familiar with that zone, it's where nearly all the cool winter hardgoods (skis, split boards, bindings, avy beacons, nordic, etc...) are shown.   I know it's controversial, but I also know that when it comes to avy safety and backcountry wintersports, we are inexorably tied to the sled (sometimes literally!).  Snowmobiles cut track, they move people and gear, and many cool lodges and backcountry destinations across the U.S. utilize them for work and play.  They've gotten a bit quieter I believe (haven't shopped for one), and their users share our deep concern for avalanche safety education. 

What are your thoughts on the subject?  The purpose of the display would be to spur 'crowd' awareness and conversation on one under-spoken connection we have to the motorized world. I'm interested in making it an interactive display, where attendees can voice their thoughts on how Outdoor and Snowmobiling fit and don't fit together on the trail or at the show, and we can report on the results in the post-show wrap up. 

Chime in...?

KH

 

Virtual Design Center - Reloaded

What is a Virtual Event?  Is it, like, a tweetup, or a meetup, a mashup or a web conference, or what?  Can it be helpful to my business or just another distraction from my core business?

UPDATE!

One Day - December 7, 2010 for Live Cast

15 key brands supporting from OIA Eco-Index and Polartec to Bluesign Technologies and AAPN

90 days online and available in archive form

The OR Virtual Design Center focuses on education and latest material developments behind the branded products that are the focus of Outdoor Retailer shows.  This is a fast-moving and changing landscape (seen the price of cotton today?), and staying on top of the myriad technological, logistical and societal developments will help brands cement their leadership status, grow awareness and profits and 'do the right thing' to lessen environmental impact all at the same time.  

The VDC is anchored by a cluster of webinars (see finalized topics HERE) that last one hour each and are spaced out throughout a day.  The topics, panels and experts who are speaking on the issues are leaders in our industry and are full-time focused on creating sustainable options for designs of the future... OIA, AAPN, prAna, Zero-Waste-Alliance, Bluesign Technologies, Textile Exchange, Promostyl, etc... are all, in their own way, pushing the envelope on green design.   There are interactive brand displays ('booths') that feature sponsoring brand presentations with live interaction (on the Live day) and downloadable or viewable collateral available for interested attendees.  There are several ways for a supporting brand to configure their 'booth', including private room sessions, special timed events, and interactive engagement of visiting attendees. 

This interactive education event requires ZERO travel, ZERO housing, ZERO shipping or drayage and ZERO wasted time for both supporting suppliers/sponsors and for attending designer/developers.  Ideally, this online interactive environment will help tee up important business meetings at the OR Shows, and fuel even more value from our live, face-to-face events. 

Who is Attending?  This VDC version will focus on sustainability in the supply chain, and the target audience is the product design/development professional working for brands in outdoor, cycling, health & fitness, action sports and general sporting goods.  Through the reach of Nielsen (who owns over 40 pubs and shows that attract design professionals), this event will be able to draw thousands of working pros from other materials-intensive industries like hospitality, military, industrial, fixturing, general merchandise, etc... so the message of suppliers (and programs like eco-index, bluesign) can reach far beyond the wide world of sports. 

How Much $$?  The technology is expensive, but the platform is very reasonable for sponsors, and free to attendees.  For $2500 (about one 10'x 10' booth space at OR) a supplier/sponsor can easily upload collateral to an interactive brand display, which will then be visited by invited, interested attendees of both the live and archived event (3-month flight).   This interactive environment is flexible and can accomodate image galleries, video spots, quick time movies, pdf downloads, white paper research and messaging (instant and email style).  Higher level sponsors can get extra value from the event too... of course. 

How Do I Get Involved? - If you are a designer or product developer, save the date, register online when the time comes (about 3 wks out from live date), and plan to attend the same way you'd attend a webinar, or several in one day.  If you can't make Dec. 7, then visit the archived show online.  If you are a brand leader, consider supporting and showing off your latest fabric or solution in a cutting edge, dynamic two-way experience online.  Register here for FREE if you are interested.

How Much Work?  For sponsors, The Virtual Design Center is easy to use, much like uploading photos to flickr or having a facebook site for your brand... since design/developer types will be looking for sustainability options in their material choices, best to focus options there.  For attendees it's as easy as registering to attend a Webinar, except you'll get 4 and access to tons of relevant information around sustainability in the supply chain.  This information is helpful not just to designers but to retailers, media, marketers as well as consuming public who want to stay on top of latest trends in product development and sustainable business models.

What will the attendee walk away with? Lots of new concepts, tips, ideas, ways to measure, fabrics and solutions to incorporate in designs immediately.  Materials to tee up business and future design componentry.  Also a sense of who they need to know better come showtime in January. 

Like many live events, attendees have a virtual brief case or show bag that they can drop materials into for review later... paperless of course.  If I were an attending designer, I might take away a link to a keynote presentation, a few intro papers from new suppliers I didn't know about, some special programs from suppliers I did know about, and a coupon for taking advantage of a special offer on business services for my firm.   Oh, and a serious bump in my knowledge about cutting edge 'green' technologies and materials available for products of the future that I will have a hand in designing.

Virtual events can set up and enhance live face to face business, and empower your future customers with information relevant to their work in building more sustainable products that consumers want and that will be the hallmark of the active outdoor industry.   Doing events online in itself advances business without the cost of travel, or the environmental impact. 

What do you think?

Kenji

 

 

 

 

And the Show goes on

Well the whirlwind of the OR Summer show 2010 has subsided, except for those of you road-tripping on to points N/S/E/W.  I didn't find any road trippers from the South, but certainly from every other direction and I bet there were a few willing to take highway and byway to SLC last week.
I know it's important to say, so I'll say it now that attendance at the show was up in all measured categories of buyers, stores, exhibitors, media, advocacy groups and overall attendance.  This bucks the trend in the trade show industry for sure... But is that really important, or just a sound byte for the data-starved b2b media market?   Is the show, after all, a quality play, or quantity play?  Is it a numbers game at the end of it all?

I'll let you answer that... likely a different answer depending on what your goals were going into the show.  Those numbers are important enough that I will be engaged in show stat analysis like never before in the next month (while planning Winter 11) to test Nielsen's new audience development technology called Alterian (who comes up with these names anyway?).  Store demographics, geographic profiles, attendance history patterns, success/failure with prospecting, and detailed survey results will all be part of the wrap up effort on the show.  As video, images, stories, reviews and commentary on the show stream onto YouTube/Facebook/Wordpress/Blogger/Twitter/LinkedIn over the coming weeks, can we really even say the show is over?

So instead of a post-mortem on SM10, I'll post up some of the highlights in pic form (pictures worth 1000 words each), and keep adding to it as the pieces of the overall puzzle flow into the public domain.

Kayak Polo at OAD!

Laird Hamilton at OAD mixing it up with the kayaks and canoes

Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar (in cap), White House Lead Counsel on Environment Nancy Sutley along with the entourage...

Wayne Gregory!   
 
 

Park n' Pedal program providing propulsion to purveyors who paddle and peddle proactively, previewing products for procurement

  

GUEST BLOG: Flying low to Outdoor Retailer - Motorcycling to the Show - Day 3

Day 3--July 31, 2010
240 miles - Arco, ID to Salt Lake City, UT

It's three in the morning. I am sitting on a concrete step outside the room of a motel that could have been in the movie "No Country for Old Men." The thunder woke me up. I moved outside to see the lightening now tearing across the sky every five seconds in long white branches. It's a huge storm. The wind is rising and now pushing over the small poplar trees across the parking lot. Thunder is continuous, rolling in like an artillery barrage on a nearby front.

We have to ride south later this morning - south, where the storm is now.  We will ride into the lava flows of the Craters of the Moon National Monument. The volcano that made these craters sounds like it's erupting. A four-inch vole appears from under my motorcycle, can't stand the tension, and makes a run for it to the promised safety of an E-350 van parked to the left. Rain is coming down in big, hard, spaced drops.

The motel lights flicker and go out, and I return to bed, hoping this thunderstorm has the good sense to do likewise.

At sunrise we pack the bikes and head out to the lava.  The storm has moved a little to the west, but it's still throwing bolts against the desert floor not far from the road out of town.  We get wet as we skirt the flanks of the visible downpour, but the storm, like a farm dog, can only bark at us as we speed by.

Tim Rosenhan
President of Innova Kayak
Twitter: @innovakayak

GUEST BLOG #3 - Flying Low to Outdoor Retailer

Day 1--July 29, 2010

421 miles

Burlington, WA to Sandpoint , ID

Yeah, they burn fossil fuel—about as much as a Prius, but unlike that battery-powered soup can, I am outdoors. I can smell it. I get cold, I get wet, I get hot, and sometimes I get scared. The sensations are remakably like the zen of a good climb or a stretch of whitewater paddling.

You have to be in the moment. If you are not—you get dead.

Maybe that’s why the smells are what you remember—the wet hay, the burnt forest, the roadkill deer, the fresh pitch from cut fir on the log truck in front. Your limbic brain, your reptilian brain, is fully awake, and that knows smells.

I cannot daydream, at least not about the coming show--the numbers, the business, the politics. All is suppressed while I am in the moment of boring a small hole in the air close to the ground, on a road that flows into the desert.

Tim Rosenhan

the OR 40+ Legacy Partner ... what does it mean?

At the upcoming Summer Market show, you are going to see something new.... well, actually a lot of things new, so don't let that 'same airport, same cab, same hotel, same street walk, same restaurant' thing fool you.  But ONE of the cool things you'll see is a new program rollout called '40+ Legacy Partners'. Is that a Subaru ad, or what?

No, not Subaru.

At this OR Summer we are honoring those brands who have been with us for 40 shows or more, a landmark that only 54 companies can claim rights to.  The highest possible number of OR shows is 42.  Sorry if you're at 39 shows, but we had to make the cutoff somewhere and you can look forward to next year.  If your brand is in the 40+, that means you have been exhibiting at OR since a time when feathered hair and parachute pants were de rigeur. 

  
You'll see floor graphics in front of their booths, and highlights in the listings in the show directory and floorplan.  We'll be honoring this group that represents today less than 5% of the 1030 brands on the show floor of OR Summer... but represents the core business that, according to the most recent OIA market research, is surging in Q1 2010 sales and participation among consumers.  

These companies represent the origins of OR from the Reno days and further back, and all still serve the core active outdoor recreation market as we know it today.  Please feel free to Hoist something frosty in honor of the following brands:

3M

5.10 Five Ten Footwear

Adventure 16

Adventure Medical Kits Inc

Alpenbooks

Alpineaire & Richmoor/TyRy

Aventura Clothing/Sportif USA

Backpacker Magazine Active Interest Medi

Black Diamond Equipment

Cascade Designs Mountain Safety Research

Chums/Beyond Coastal

Columbia Sportswear Co

Crazy Creek Products Inc

Eagle Creek

EK EKcessories

Ellington Handbags

Fox River Mills Inc

Grabber Performance

Gramicci

Granite Gear

Gregory Mountain Products/Bianchi Intl

Heat Factory Inc

Hi-Tec Sports Usa, Inc

Jansport

Kelty

Kenyon Consumer Products Leki

Liberty Mountain Lowa Boots

Mammut Sports Group / Climb High

Marmot Mountain LLC

Merrell

Metolius Mountain Products

Montrail Inc

Mountaineers Books, The

Mountainsmith

Ojai Intl

Osprey Packs

Patagonia

Petzl

Pigeon Mountain Ind Inc

Polartec, LLC

Royal Robbins Phoenix Footwear Groupinc

Sierra Designs

Suunto

Tecnica

Terramar Sports Inc

Teva

The North Face

Thorlo

Timberland Company

Vasque

Western Mountaineering

Wigwam Mills

WL Gore & Associates

Woolrich

Considering our collective obsession with shiny and new, it's worth taking pause to consider the tried and true.  The concept of character gained through age and experience ('Sabi ga tsuiteru' in Japanese) comes to life when you visit with some of the above original brands of OR.  They are the survivors, the original gangsters of outdoor gear. 

KH

Update for Haiti and OR Winter 2010

Well like most of you we have been busy little beavers here at OR central lining up the hundreds of little details that make a great show go off.  With the end of year, planning for next, holidays and oh by the way a pretty big show approaching, it's been a whirlwind, for sure.  Sounds good, you say, but where's the beef?  What is happening this month in SLC? 

Plenty, to put it mildly.  Where do I start? 

UPDATE- Haiti needs our help.  OIA is recommending working through http://www.americares.org to funnel contributions, especially of gear that will be necessary in urban rescue and portable living arrangements.  This is the time to shine as an industry for outdoor recreation.   Other groups with people and programs on the ground or very soon will... http://www.medicinesglobal.org , or super easy text the word 'Haiti' to 90999 to put $10 to the American Red Cross. 

The All Mountain Demo would be a proper place to start.  Get to Snowbasin on Wednesday the 20th of Jan and treat yourself to an all-mountain cornucopia of latest gear to test on both lift-served, groomed nordic and off-piste terrain.  All the major brands will be there and two new events will highlight the expanded scope of OR Winter; the Transworld Business Retailer Rumble (pitting dealers against their vendors in a fun downhill run, whether sliding sideways or two-plankin'), and the Nordic Challenge, which will be more treasure hunt/orienteering fun on the x-country gear that will be available.  Fantastic prizes (including hotel rooms at next winter show!) abound... so step on up. 

At the show in town, I'll only bore you with the nitty gritty details, some of which can be plucked from the online event schedule.  so suffice to say there will be new features to partake of, new intelligence to absorb, new technology to understand and implement, new best practices to fold into your already strong business acumen.  There are some key avenues to explore as you enter the SPCC and Salt Lake in a few weeks... all at your fingertips at the show and in the weeks that follow...

The COMMUNITY - This Winter Market opens the season with not just a peek at the products and innovation that the brands bring to OR each January, but a never before seen gathering of powerful brands alongside the athletes, advocacy groups and media players that round out the entire winter outdoor rec business. New media players like Transworld, New brands like Venture Snowboards (+150 others), and senior brands like Columbia Sportswear returning to the show floor are just a few community highlights you'll see later this month in SLC. 

The EDUCATION - a timely and powerful lineup of seminars, panel discussions and presentations will manifest at OR Winter, powered by the Outdoor Industry Association as well as the OR special event team.  Social Media is a big topic these days, specifically how successful businesses are using it to fuel sales and contact with customers.  Late breaking, a panel of journalists and media experts from the industry will vet the 'death of media... long live (new)Media!' on day 3 in the morning.  The full lineup of presentations can be seen here.

The NETWORKING - Starting with the AMD Bash at Snowbasin (where the PRIZES are awarded!) and running continuously through the show are opportunities to network with peers from around the world, as well as with leaders of brands that will make your registers ring next year and beyond.  Athletes and advocacy groups can bring depth and purpose to any events you are currently hosting, and bring fresh ideas and influence to your community.  Your customers need to know who and why, not just where and what they need to recreate with!  Focus your networking intent on the ZONES at show, including the Climbing Zone, the Endurance Zone, the Design Center, the Backcountry Village... all of these areas are owned by the community of orgs and businesses who consider it their home, offering a great meetup (or tweetup) spot to kick off new relationships or solidify current partnerships... or just cool your heels or get a little stretch in on a rock wall or treadmill (while testing something cool and new).

The CULTURE -  SEE NOTE FOR HAITI ABOVE! This industry is all about facing adversity with confidence and clear thinking... let's show the other industries what we can make happen on the ground, and do our part. 

 From the TNF Masters of Snowboarding Comp to the Transworld Shop Challenge at AMD to the Backcountry Village events and the OR All Star Industry Jam, the OR Winter show reveals the soul of the marketplace... we do business, we do it well, but we know how to bring a city to life and play as hard as we work.  That ethic rests at the center of our lives, personal and professional.  It comes to life in the creativity that is flowing all around the OR show, day and night, for nearly a full week.  This Winter show will unveil new partnerships and creative treatments on and off the show floor in the booths, in the Zones as well as in the bars, restaurants and clubs. 

UPDATE- Haiti needs our help.  OIA is recommending working through http://www.americares.org to funnel contributions, especially of gear that will be necessary in urban rescue and portable living arrangements.  This is the time to shine as an industry for outdoor recreation. 

It's a great place to feel our culture, but it's a great place to expand on that culture, and be more inclusive as we enter 2010.  Let's invite everyone to play as we do, to simply start.  No attitude to contend with, no judgement, just have fun on the snow, ice, trails that are flat or vert or watery... just get out there, and get some gear to make it even more fun. 

This should be the theme of Outdoor in 2010; Inclusivity.  And this is what you'll get an eyeful of at OR Winter. 

The show, is it really over?

The thought has been running through my head for the past 3 weeks, going on 4... why haven't I done my own show synopsis?  Why haven't I blogged the living daylights out of the incredible experiences of people, product and politics that whirled incessantly for 5 days (including the Open Air Demo) in SLC last month?  What is my problem?

Only here, on my last day of vacation, do I realize the hard truth.  Just because my team has done it's post-con meeting, videos finalized/posted, and thank you's have been sent, and the marketing and finance teams have moved on to FFR and Winter Market '10 (2010!  Say what?), doesn't mean the show is actually over.  The show, you see, is more than just an event gathering thousands of business people together for a few days of hand-shaking and baby kissing.  It is different things for different people, but it serves a 'process purpose' for nearly everyone.  Launching, Re-inventing, Culminating, Revealing, Hiring, Downsizing, Strategizing, Co-operating, Finalizing, Initiating, Streamlining, Resource directing, Inspiration-taking, Supporting, Solidifying, .... these are all processes that are understood as landmark moments in time, defining characteristics of some action that a company, or an individual, or an association of individuals, is taking.  Those actions keeps interest high in the brand, offering a glimpse into the inner workings and most of all affirming that there ARE inner workings churning out innovation; change agent companies throughout the industry emanate this at the show.  Those are the brands I want to be affiliated with...as a consumer, one-time retailer and full-time enthusiast.  I bet you do too.

It's why we're collectively becoming known as a 'Vibrant' or 'Energetic' (I'm stopping short of 'hip') industry.  It's visible at the show, but it's like a Humpback Whale surfacing for air... the whale doesn't cease to exist when it dives deep for some Krill taking... it simply goes under the surface for a few minutes.  This is how I see the show... surfacing twice a year, but rising and diving and being fully realized only months after the actual event takes place.  For stuff still unfolding into our awareness, check out the live bits still feeding into our facebook page and other 'Live From' treatments at the show.  

So really, in my life anyway, the show is still going on.  The news bits, the conversations, the product reviews, the post-show commentary in the blogosphere and in print, is all still rolling.  Orders are being placed from buyers who saw whom and what they needed for Holiday and spring shipments, adjustments to prior orders written in June after seeing the entire market play out in real time at the show.  Technology introduced at the show (in communications, marketing, POP, advertising, and training) is being implemented daily.  Sponsorship agreements for events and athletes are now coming to fruition and those devilish details are getting hammered out... details whose seeds took root at OR Summer 09. 

So not only must the show go on, it must be seen more organically... over time, and changing, crystallizing, becoming more clear as that time passes.  This may help to explain the post show 'daze' most of us experience the week after.... 

KH

'Granite Frontiers' sign of our maturing industry

Last night I had the pleasure of visiting an art opening, of sorts... not with edgy paintings or strange sculpture installations (like the ones that are the rage in my old East Culver City neighborhood) but one that featured climbing videos from the '30's, hand-written letters and quotes from legendary figures of Yosemite climbing, some of Yvon's personal gear, and interactive displays of how camming devices and pitons worked (fun for the kids).  This was the opening of the new 'Granite Frontiers' exhibit at the Autry, running from June 12 thru October 4, signalling a coming of age for the once 'daredevil' and 'circus trick' sport of rock climbing in America. 

The black suits and ties were donned by some of the 300 or so patrons in attendance at the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, in Griffith Park, but most were in casual wear, especially the climbers that managed to get invites to this posh affair.  Most notable though, were the green felt hats donned by those in attendance who contributed significantly to enrich not the coffers of the museum, but the history of climbing in The Valley;  John Long, Dean Potter, Royal and Liz Robbins, Don Reid, and many other legends of climbing.  Appropriately, all the glorious food (pumpkin ravioli, even) was served on fully compostable pressed wood flatware and plates, and there was nothing plastic anywhere to be seen.  Free food and open bar?  They knew how to get the climbers to show. 

Pretty cool slideshow here, but there is nothing like an in-person viewing of this 3000 sf testament to the creativity and boldness of those that came before, and even current events like Hans and Yuji's 2 hr. 37 min ascent of The Nose last Fall are covered.  Huell Howser was even in attendance, the ex-NFL TV personality of 'California Gold' and other travel and adventure exposes. 

Love this, which captures the essence of the exhibit;

.''These determined free spirits, vagabonds, and visionaries of one of the West's last truly wild experiences guide visitors to the edge of infinity to experience the exhilarating rush and harrowing perils of this most extreme of Western adventures

Check it out if you can.  If you can't, at least check out the historic video clips they put up on the site.

 I'll work on bringing it to the shows someday...

KH