OR Blog

Tsunami help

As an island nation Japan has designed brilliantly over many centuries to handle both earthquakes and tsunamis, but this latest event, unmatched in recorded history, tops any of the computer model scenarios that could be anticipated even today.  Predictions have been ongoing for a west coast U.S. monster quake for over a decade, so Be Prepared fellow Californians...

Like New Zealand, the 'ring of fire' island nations are most susceptible to this 'one-two punch' of Quake into Tsunami.   No side of the islands are safe, really...... check out this 'max energy' wave power map of NZ. 

 

All we can do at this point is help electronically to put something in play right away... pick your favorite and be generous.  They need our help.  Take Ichiro's lead and put something forward. 

Here are some vetted options beyond Red Cross (not a terrible option) from our friend Felicia.  On this blog, written by an American aid worker in Japan, there are many orgs listed that already have operations on the ground in Japan.  Check it out if interested

http://www.toddswanderings.com/2011/03/how-to-help-japan-earthquake-tsunami-survivors.html

Spread the word and keep the support rolling... as First Responders all know, the initial shock masks the full effect of having your home and life torn away suddenly.  As that shock wears off and the hard work remains, support is the crucial ingredient that can make a huge difference in outcomes for individuals. 

MASSIVE thanks to all the brands reaching out with gear and support for victims of the Quake and Tsunami in Japan.

KH 

 

White House and Sally Jewell on America's Great Outdoors

This is a worthy 16 minutes if you are interested at all in active outdoor recreation.  Funny that I just saw this while my neighbor is on a treadmill, in his garage, facing in, while it's sunny, 65 and gorgeous outside.

 

  http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2011/02/16/president-obama-americas-great-outdoors-initiative

UPDATED 2/8 Linkfest featuring in-depth coverage of the OR Winter '11

 Well you can google search the crap out of 'Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2011' or you can peruse the following links to see what influencers are saying about the show... there's a lot, and there could be more if you post up a reply with your favorite review on the hottest topic of the season, Outdoor Retailer (if I say so myself).  Dig in! 

Link to OR Show Dailies hot off the digi-press! http://bit.ly/gdeEsu 

These are great gear and show reviews from across the landscape of media verts, from core product junkies to the action sports edge. 

http://gearjunkie.com/outdoor-retailer-innovation-awards-winter-2011

http://labelnetworks.com/stories.php?id=755

http://vimeo.com/19271000 (vids from Outside Magazine coverage)

http://business.transworld.net/55935/features/retail-recon-outdoor-retailer-2011-winter-marketplace/

Just added Live video spots with Timmy O from the OR Show http://www.outdoorretailer.com/info/live-from-or 

 The effervescent Grace Potter (interviewed by Backpacker Mag)

http://www.backpacker.com/outdoor_retailer_grace_potter/blogs/daily_dirt/1960

http://www.venturethere.com/blogs/detail/Winter-2011-Outdoor-Retailer-Show/451.html

http://www.outdoorinformer.com/index.php/Table/GearPosts-Blog/ 

I'll keep adding but want to post this before jetting from the office today...

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

 

 

 

 

Rebuilding the ‘Mexican Riviera’ in Sayulita

PROLOGUE: Sayulita is a quaint fishing/surfing village located 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It lies in the state of Nayarit and is part of the 'Mexican Riviera' (a Mexican government initiative aptly named to attract more tourists to this part of the country). Many local shops and restaurants are scattered about the tiny town of cobblestone streets, casitas and bungalows. This little hippie village has become my home-away-from home and you need to experience it for yourself one day...

Rebuilding the ‘Mexican Riviera’ by Ginger Conrad, Outdoor Retailer Marketing Manager, Oct 1, 2010

(image: let's get 'er done!)

I made a conscious decision not to cancel my impending trip to Sayulita when I learned of the horrible devastation caused by heavy rainfall and flooding 10 days before my departure date. After all, I had visited Sayulita around the time the Mexican drug wars surfaced, and then again during the H1N1 virus scare. Nothing would stop me from being there. From my experience, Sayulita was a safe haven, despite all of the harmful rumors and the decline in visitors over the past two years. AS soon as I learned of their troubles, I became intent on trying to make a difference and helping to rebuild the town and the morale of its people.  But I could never have fully understood what I would experience this time around.

The reality of circumstances started to set in the day after I arrived into town. I met an adorable young couple from Portland Oregon, Santina and Ben, at Chocobanana: the favorite local restaurant/hangout spot in the town square. Santina and Ben recounted that they had been robbed the day before, while Ben was out tackling the brown surf, and Santina was having a leisurely breakfast at Chocobanana. The thieves looted the couple’s most costly possessions – computers, iPods, a new Sony digital camera, Nike running shoes, high-end make-up and much more. A week prior, they had sold their car and packed their bags for an adventure of a lifetime – to live in Sayulita for 6 months, maybe more if they could figure out how to make a living there. Needless to say, this incident started to tarnish their view of Mexico in general and weakened their dreams of making Sayulita a temporary residence. 

Later that same day, I learned of several more break-ins that happened to both gringo & local Mexican households in town – I got the feeling that thieves were omni-present and not prejudice against any particular stereotype. They were raiding the rich and the poor. Was it out of desperation for survival? Or were they simply taking advantage of the situation at hand – the total mayhem throughout Sayulita that the flooding had caused.

I have traveled to Sayulita so many times that I am now considered a local. I was staying in my preferred casita, which is about a 20 minute walk from the center of town, and I hadn’t let the power outages on the first night at my little Hansel & Gretel hideaway bother me too much, until I started putting two and two together – reported break-ins all over town, my immediate neighbors gone for the season, frequent power outages combined with the fact that I was all alone in what was now feeling like the middle of nowhere. It hit me all at once– the harsh reality that if I wanted to stay safe I had to be in a more secure place close to town immediately. At first it was discouraging to admit that I was at any more of a risk during this trip than any of the previous tumultuous times I had come to Sayulita, but later I learned about the broken window and door jam at my casita that very night I moved out. Out in the nick of time I’d say…

I felt very secure at my new rental - a bungalow that came with round-the-clock security. I was able to focus my attention away from fear for my own safety and on to rebuilding the tarnished Sayulita landscape that had been carefully crafted over the years to attract new visitors. 

I worked with the locals for many hours on cleaning up the beaches that were filled with broken glass, plastic and the plethora of ‘basura’ brought in by the river and the mudslides onto the shore. Hundreds of Sayulita residents joined in the cleaning efforts and the progress we made was both astounding and gratifying. I now have a better understanding for the saying, “many hands make light work”.

As for rebuilding the tarnished image of Sayulita and the Mexican Riviera in general, I will do what I can (in an honest and open way) to promote the oasis I’ve come to love and call home. I’ve been helping out two of the local hangouts in town by creating Facebook pages and taking and uploading pictures of their establishments and the people that come to enjoy their ambiances. I hope that these small efforts can help raise the hopes of the local Sayulita businesses toward positive futures and success for their establishments.

It may not have been the week of escape in Paradise that I had originally expected months before when I booked the flight, but all said and done, I remain content with my decision to travel to Mexico during yet another rather chaotic period of time. Let’s face it; we in the outdoor industry crave this kind of adventure accompanied with a sense of accomplishment, no?

- Ben and Santina haven't left Sayulita and are willing to stick it out for another couple of months to see their new surroundings in a better light during the ‘good’ season (November - February).

- I am going back to Sayulita in December and will stay in my original casita at the north end of town.  Times will be better, and my neighbors will have returned home!

- Please search ‘Chocobanana’ and ‘Burrito Revolution’ on Facebook and ‘like’ the fan pages!

- To follow the progress of the rebuilding of Sayulita, visit www.sayulitalife.com and sign up for the weekly newsletter. Also check out www.sayulitason.com for the latest news in the region.

- If you've already been to Sayulita, I know that you feel my pain and would have been on the beach with us for clean up!

(The Choco crew - Chocobanana closed 'shop' all morning to help in the efforts!)

(now there is only muddy river water where the sand used to lay peacefully)

(Alejandro leaves no trace...)

(playa de los meurtos after our hard work!)

(ready to call it a day!)

Interbike shifts to launch window and out of Vegas, avoids OR Summer overlap

What a whirlwind week (again). Planning for 2011 is in full swing, especially Winter Market, but all the strategic partnerships and new elements I want to bring to the market take fairly huge time commitments per each. Then an upwelling of surprise due to the premature announcement of Interbike dates that overlap Summer Market 2011 put the icing on the whirlwind cake! Today's announcement (official) that Interbike dates will not overlap but begin 3 days after OR has me sighing in relief, and I'm grateful for the thoughtful discussions had in the past few weeks of dealing with the move of Ibike dates and venues; although that is still going to be tight for brands who are in both camps, at least it's not impossible to get a booth down, over to Anaheim and back up. AND it puts Interbike in the better buy/sell window for brands and dealers both... As much as retailers think they want familiar fall dates, the reality of getting maximum intel earlier in the season on next year product will be a benefit to the specialty dealer. At least they have the chance to compete with the bigger boxes.

This is a contentious issue, dates and venues. Sound off on what you believe... we must acknowledge that the markets are closely aligned, and the buy/sell cycle inherent to Outdoor and Cycling aren't that radically different. It makes some sense for them to need similar dates, if not venues, to get the specialty dealers on board while they have strong customer interest and business remaining in summer.

So what do you think?

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 #4 - Southbound off the Interstate to OR

"Thanks to the Interstate Highway system, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything." - Charles Kuralt.

 

Every two or three years I like to drive the 1305 miles from my home in Wisconsin to Outdoor Retailer. I haven't taken the long Ribbon of Boredom (a.k.a. Interstate 80) for years.

Son 1.0 is 17, and this is probably the last summer I'll have him at home.  We did the Epic Guy Trip five years ago, and it was time for another.  Instead of taking the northern route, we decided to go south.  Two days of driving, and we're halfway through Kansas. We have two more days to get to Salt Lake.  I really hope we make it.

I'm writing from a clean but cheap motel, greedily sucking down WiFi and charging every cell phone and camera battery I have.  The boy is still asleep: it's 5:45 AM somewhere, I'm not sure what time zone I'm in, not that it matters much.

We've seen a lot already on this trip.  We've managed to eat only at locally-owned, owner-operated restaurants, another benefit of not taking Flatline Highway.  We've seen the world's largest ball of twine, random English phone booths in front of a hardware store, and a swarm of dragonflies bird-dogging mosquitoes above a prairie cemetery.  We've eaten huge meals that cost $13.00 for two hungry adults and left $7.00 tips, always much appreciated.  We've seen the Barbed Wire Museum, the original American Gothic house Grant Wood used as his model (modern version attached), the Golden Dome of Pure Knowledge, and the Johnson County Fair.  All because we took the roads less traveled; sometimes the roads not traveled at all.  I've found fuel without ethanol, which means I'm getting really good gas mileage.

The time in the truck with Son 1.0 is precious.  He still likes to be around me, for which I am unspeakably grateful.  Even better, he likes to sing Gilbert and Sullivan at the top of his lungs.  Yesterday we got through Mikado, especially enjoying the duets.  Dang, the kid has good pitch, and can do patter songs.  Impressive.  We listened to the music from Star Trek.  We sang Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (he sang Dr. Horrible, I sang Captain Hammer - you do need to see this if you haven't).  When we got tired of singing, we listened to old radio shows of Gunsmoke on my iPod.

I have no idea where we're going today.  Son 1.0 expressed interest in Canyon de Chelly. I'm thinking that's a great idea, but it would be a tough stretch to get there without violating the No Interstate Rule, so we may settle for some southern Utah stuff instead.

Did I mention I have no idea where we're going today?

Starting this Monday morning at 7:00 AM, my schedule is booked solid until Friday at 9:00 PM.  I'm not exaggerating.  My life, once I hit the quarter mile radius around the Salt Palace, is planned for a week.  The contrast to my life today couldn't be more striking to me.  It comes home easily when I look at my Google calendar for next week and it looks like a Piet Mondrian painting.  This week, it looks like a template for a calendar...nothing on it but the automatic weekly appointments I didn't erase but could have.

It's a nice way to start a work week.  The freedom of driving around such beautiful places at 55 mph is addicting -- but the opposite of an epic adrenelin rush.  I'm becoming addicted to slow.  Not sloth, just slow, methodical semi-directional movement.  The only rule of navigation is to make sure we're sorta heading west-ish.  Ironically, my brain has been more active as a by-product of slowwwwwwww.

The closer I get to Utah, the more I anticipate the family reunion that is Outdoor Retailer.  I am a blessed man today.  I get to sing Pirates of Penzance (I am the Pirate King) with my boy while driving to see my family.

Respectfully submitted,

@Canoelover
Darren Bush
Madison, Wisconsin
Follow Darren's travel notes on Twitter

 

 

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