Marine Aquarium Expo 2008'(MAX)-pic and review.

[prow]

thanks guys and kathy some vendors could sell, but not most. that lamborghini orange was a real eye catcher and i really like the new RK2 control units and LED setups. the LED's still too much $$$$ but the RK2, i think i can swing that.

yeah SJS it was the same thing on sat. so what did you get?

[SJS]

I got a Yellow leather coral, some xenia, clove polys, a really cool mixed color ricordia rock, a neon green brain coral, and a pachy-something-or-other coral! I took pics but need to load them up - probably tonight.
I really wanted to get an education on chillers, controllers, lights etc.. guess I'll have to do more reading...
Looking at all the goodies was fun, lots of great colors, but I need new lights for many of them!

[prow]

cool, can not wait to see them.

[Frankie]

How much was the RK2 Prow? Thanks for putting this thread together so well. Sorry you had such a bad time. I am hoping that Atlanta won't be as drab as that. I am glad it is in Atlanta so we can tour if the show blows.

[vdituri]

Thanks Prow for taking the pics!
Thanks Boozeman for getting the camera there in time. lol

It doesn't surprise me really on the license issue. California has more regulations than most 5 states combined.

I bet you the vendors weren't in their booths because they were all out looking at all the neato toys.

Wish I could have made it. Maybe next year.

[boozeman]

man this is really making me look foward to MACNA !!!

[prow]

frankie, price about $500.00 onthe new controllers, here is a link to it Digital Aquatics 2008 it has some real sweet features, like shutting off a pump before it trips the breaker. i did have fun though, but i am a geek like that, its just nothing really stood out to give praise to. those little things are just that, little. do wish the vendors were in their booths though. there was no dout some neato toys. the lic part hopefully will be fixed next time, i wanted to spend money

[MadMax]

Awesome thread, thanks for showing all the great pictures of MAX.
This is our first year, and hence, subject to a pretty tough learning curve and lessons to be learned. That being said, threads such as this are absolutely crucial for us to gather much needed feedback and suggestions from those who really matter: Out attendees!

In response to a few comments and observations made:

1) Saturday Raffle:
Yes, Saturday's raffle did indeed SUCK due to one very discouraging factor (a quick lesson that one, believe me) and that is ALOT of our vendors chose to "hold" onto their donations until late Sunday so as to display them inside their booth! THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN! this is taking advantage of not only our promotional resources, but also cheats our Saturday guests out of a decent raffle. This issue will be resolved for MAX '09.

2) Raffle Format:
What you are describing is a very common practice for raffling off high-end items. It is called "fish bowl" style raffle since it entails a seperate bowl for every item seperately (at least the expensive ones)
The inherent fallacy of a standard general raffle is that the first couple of winners are typically going to grab the highest priced items regardless if they want/need them or not. What the fishbowl style does is forces people to deposit tickets only in the container in front of the item(s) they wish to win.
On the flip side of this, though, I kinda see what you mean......you're not getting any excitement at all 'cept when we are calling out YOUR particular fish bowl; the rest of the time just sorta twidling-your-thumbs (sigh).
I kinda have to agree with this assessment and will make adjustments for both FAX later this year and MAX '09

3) "Deals" (or lack thereof)
This is a tricky subject.....one man's ripoff is another man's bargain. We as promoters have little if any control over what our exhibitors wish to present to the public. I can tell you one thing: MAX is not intended to be a flea market for the aquarium industry; it is a consumer-trade show intending to showcase the latest and greatest equipment/supplies/livegoods/foods/etc. to both existing hobbyists and potential hobbyists, the latter category being at least partially represented by hundreds of kids! Our goal is to bring together family's, hobbyists, and friends into a single marketplace. However, here is an extremely important ingredient: It has to be professional enough to attract the larger companys, and WAIT (before you say: "We don't need no stinkin' large companys") remember this: Who do you think is spending all the R&D money to come up with all these neato-new lights, controllers, and powerhead-adjustable-tidal-multi-controllable-fish-n-wash-O-matic-2000's???
We as promoters must straddle that very fine line to find a solution that will satisfy BOTH crowds. 'tiss a VERY tough job, that one. We WILL do better.

3) Phantom Vendors:
Well, here again, I have to remind everyone that this is a hybrid consumer-trade show and glorified frag swap. What this means is that vendors are there to "Network" with other vendors, not just make sales. With that I can only say that it is the vendor's perogative to decide his/her priorities are. We try to give them some flexibility to leave their pipe-n-drape cages every once in awhile and co-mingle with their fellow colleagues. Some did more so than others. This is not necessarily a bad thing if you know what is going on.....just try to stop by a bit later when they return.

4) Licenses:
This is a farce. Yes, we were required to collect Ca Sales Tax ID numbers as part of our responsibilities of the promoter, but NO ONE was forbidden to sell product at Marine Aquarium Expo. It may have been a convenient excuse for them to NOT sell something, but that stipulation certainly did not come from us. Again, I am very sorry that this occurred and will make sure that it does not reoccur at MAX '09. It may be simply a breakdown in communication, inwhich case, is easily rectified.

for those who don't know yet, here is the schedule of our next shows:

Freshwater Aquarium Expo will debut August 23-24, 2009 at OCFEC building 14

Marine Aquarium Expo '09 will be April 3-5, 2009 at OCFEC building 12

I hope this clarifies at least a little bit of the chaos of what we do
We simply want to do better...that is what we strive for....

Please continue the suggestions/comments/complaints/etc....we certainly believe in constructive criticism and cherish your ideas.
How else are we to improve?

Thank you so much for the time and effort put into this thread!

Kevin T. Adams
"Marine Aquarium Expo"
"Freshwater Aquarium Expo"

[prow]

excellent Kevin. i am sure to go next year. can not tell you how refreshing it is to see someone with the passion you have behind the event, good stuff. i am really looking foreword to next year. its a balancing act for sure but your focus is right on, great job and best of luck on future expos, can not wait

[MadMax]

I've finally got all the pictures posted to our website

Come check them out!

MarineAquariumExpo.com - Homepage


(BTW: Who said there was hardly any corals there? LOL)


TWO DATES TO REMEMBER:
1) Freshwater Aquarium Expo will debut August 23-24, 2008 at OCFEC in building #14
Untitled Document

2) Marine Aquarium Expo '09 is set for April 3-5, 2009 at OCFEC in building #12 and courtyard!
Please remember to mark your calendars!


thanks,
Kevin

[MadMax]

Just a quick reply to let people know that we are booking booths already for MAX '09 April 4-5, 2009 at OCFEC building #12

If anyone is interested in exhibiting at the expo, please contact me ASAP

The floorplan is filling faster than you can imagine!

thanks,
Kevin Adams
714-530-1094
quidproquo820@aol.com

[bunjin]

Excellent pics Prow. I won't even post any of my blurry amateur photos.
You really captured the show well.


@MadMax

First would it possible next year to include 2-day passes?

I payed $10 on Saturday thinking it was 2-Day pass only to discover on Sunday it was only per day. Having that option would at least eliminate confusion. Not too big a deal however.

Originally Posted by MadMax

3) "Deals" (or lack thereof)
This is a tricky subject.....one man's ripoff is another man's bargain. We as promoters have little if any control over what our exhibitors wish to present to the public. I can tell you one thing: MAX is not intended to be a flea market for the aquarium industry; it is a consumer-trade show intending to showcase the latest and greatest equipment/supplies/livegoods/foods/etc. to both existing hobbyists and potential hobbyists, the latter category being at least partially represented by hundreds of kids! Our goal is to bring together family's, hobbyists, and friends into a single marketplace. However, here is an extremely important ingredient: It has to be professional enough to attract the larger companys, and WAIT (before you say: "We don't need no stinkin' large companys") remember this: Who do you think is spending all the R&D money to come up with all these neato-new lights, controllers, and powerhead-adjustable-tidal-multi-controllable-fish-n-wash-O-matic-2000's???
We as promoters must straddle that very fine line to find a solution that will satisfy BOTH crowds. 'tiss a VERY tough job, that one. We WILL do better.

This is a very fine line to walk and I sympathize here.

However the reality is going to be this:
People pretty much always want deals at large trade shows open to the public.
Larger companies want professional clientele present.
If a show is open to the public and not just industry professionals then it is going to have to find some balance here, which usually involves direct vendors making some compromises and understanding the purpose of loss leaders.

One example (based on the psychology of "Free"-see Ariely, 2008) is amount of "swag" given out at the MAGIC Vegas clothing mega trade show. Almost every vendor booth, large or small, at MAGIC has some free swag, whether its just stickers, bags etc. There was only one single vendor booth at Marine Max with "swag" and that is only vendor I remember off top of my head:

Reef Nutrition gave out free bags. Every other company's pamphlets went into my Reef Nutrition bag. Every one was a walking advertisement for Reef Nutrition and I have already re-used that bag 3 times for different things. Because of this I am probably much more likely to look at Reef Nutrition first.

Just about every other company/vendor at Marine Expo Max could learn from this.
(although I will say Elos knows how to conduct business with professional clients very well and Fraggle Reef was very helpful)

4) Licenses:
This is a farce. Yes, we were required to collect Ca Sales Tax ID numbers as part of our responsibilities of the promoter, but NO ONE was forbidden to sell product at Marine Aquarium Expo. It may have been a convenient excuse for them to NOT sell something, but that stipulation certainly did not come from us. Again, I am very sorry that this occurred and will make sure that it does not reoccur at MAX '09. It may be simply a breakdown in communication, inwhich case, is easily rectified.

Kevin T. Adams
"Marine Aquarium Expo"
"Freshwater Aquarium Expo"

An answer I heard from several vendors was to 'buy through a licensed dealer' instead of buying directly from them. At trade shows this can be a dangerous business tactic for vendors to take when they have no swag because they fail to realize that the consumer could simply take that answer as "go find a better deal from another company". What if the consumer has already had a bad experience with the online vendor referenced by the direct company? That might turn off the client to the company. While the direct vendor may think he is giving his distributor more business, he could just as likely be losing a client/long time customer.


Trying to squeeze maximum dollar value from consumers at a trade show doesn't make sense in today's networked/internet markets (and I would guess a very high percentage of people who can afford aquariums have access to internet). Ex: I saw many all-in-one tanks at extremely high prices go unsold.

I really do see how difficult your position is as organizer since you have no direct control over all these things. Creating a combined industry professional/consumer trade show is no easy task.

Thank you for reading threads like this.

I will close with this:
PT Barnum said "There's a sucker born every minute".

With 245 people born every minute in the world, any company that bases its business model on selling to only 1 out of every 245 potential consumers is likely to fail. ;P