OR Blog

Just another outdoorsy picture...

Chad on the Grand by TO

This is one of those images (taken by Timmy O'Neill) worth a thousand words; something resonates about this image overlooking the Jackson 'Hole', taken from the summit of the Grand, Sept. 11, 2012. It's Chad Jukes, friend of the Outdoor Industry, Paradox Sports and the world. He's apparently hindered somehow by being a lower leg amputee, but I don't see much evidence of that here.  Doesn't affect his trumpeting either, I can attest. But it does deepen the meaning and resonance of the image for outdoor professionals and for Americans that he lost it serving our country in Iraq.  It's the ultimate expression of personal freedom, blowing his trumpet triumphantly from that lofty mountaintop perch. 
It's way after the 11th anniversary of 9/11, but this shot is truly timeless. What does it mean to you?

 

Kenji

 

Summer 12 coverage

Some interesting links following the Summer Market 2012 show in SLC. The best attended and largest OR show to date. This will be updated and enlarged as more content flows from the industry...

 

AUG 10 UPDATE -

SNEWS take on the political tussle over public lands and the implication for OR

Gear Junkie 'Gear of the Show' awards - there was no shortage of truly innovative products at Summer OR.  http://gearjunkie.com/best-in-show-outdoor-retailer-2012

 

AUG 9 UPDATE - This interesting article is well written, however our current contractwith SLC is through 2014 (not 2013 as is stated twice in the article). 

http://www.firsttracksonline.com/2012/08/06/outdoor-retailer-summer-markets-a-wrap

 

Live From OR videos front and center on the OR home page http://www.outdoorretailer.com/summer-market/

Quick video treatment from H2O Overdrive of the Open Air Demo featuring a wrap by Billy Currington (country music superstar)

The Bike Culture at #ORShow... alive and thriving!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/devakiananda/

From Abe Burmeister, design mind at Outlier

http://www.core77.com/blog/events/outdoor_retailer_summer_market_2012_recap_by_abe_burmeister_23129.asp

A somewhat off-kilter read on the politics of dancing with the show in SLC...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/outdoor-retailers-trade-show-gives-utah-governor-ultimatum-_-support-environment-or-lose-expo/2012/08/01/gJQA5Uy1PX_allComments.html#comments

we'll add more as posts from around the world show up! Check back often...

UPDATED Aftermath Summer OR 2011 & Review Link lineup

How about just a stream of consciousness phrase-fest of bytes I heard while in SLC this past week?  That's about all my addled brain can put forth at the moment, and I'll follow with links that can tell the story more in-depth.  Guess I'm still in 'space-efficiency' mode. 

#hyperlocal BestORShowever #notallfunandgames - O.R.D. - OutsideBestOfShow #ProjectOR Bucking the economic Trend #consolidation #rebooting Lots of Newness #allstarjam Making Things In America #novelconcept Eco-Index rising, Influencers/Thought Leaders/Top Talent #showgoeson After Hours, Sierra Nevada beer, 'Granola Disneyland', belly laughing, outdoorretailerhub.com, SLC tight fit, SLC hospitality, OPE Photo Expo, Sustainable Business, Sustainable Living Roadshow, Sustainable everything, Gear Junkie #bestinshow, Diversity initiatives (or not), OIA, OIBIZ, #outdooruniversity, See you at Rendezvous, Epic Brewery, Missed seeing you at OR, No Reported Thefts?, Reunion breakfast, Paddlesports Advisory Council, orders written, Recess is Back, #thisisntanorderwritingshow, launch successful, Guinness Book record, #SUPZilla, #actionsportsatOR, Growth strategy, #ecotone, Pavilion exhibitors - NEPV, #BSAatOR, IMBA #cyclingatOR, Uncle Archie, where's Beckey?, #fishingatOR Hey Laird, Hey Conrad, Climb Smart, TEDx-style, GearThatDoesn'tSuck Awards, New Product Preview, putthatcameradown!, Letmeshowyouthis, #justtakeasecond, Red Iguana, #Bombara, Park Cafe, Blisters On My Fingers, Curleigh-fried, No Bouldering Comp? #TimmyONeill, #Sharma, OR Daily online

SNEWS recap, with links to many OR Daily articles

http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Outdoor_Retailer_Summer_Market_2011_recap_081011.html

Get the full social media suite experience here(still jamming like the show is still on!)

http://www.netvibes.com/outdoorretailer#Outdoor_Retailer_Social_Media

And for levity...

 http://www.trailsedge.com/blog/how-to-drop-your-outdoorsiness-into-any-conversation/

 from the bike industry http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/5801.html

from the Action Sports industry http://business.transworld.net/70332/features/outdoor-retailer-summer-market-day-1/

from the Fly Fishing viewpoint http://www.anglingtrade.com/2011/08/12/lively-discussions-follow-fly-retailers-visits-to-outdoor-retailer/

we'll keep updating as reviews, blogposts, image galleries and video keep rolling out to reveal the heart and soul of our industry today.  Keep up the energy, and spread it to our customers! 

The Floorplan... Deliberate Design or Mishmosh?

OK so this is what blogging is for... to shed light on previously taboo or complex topics and engage an audience in a group dialogue, to uncover new ideas and otherwise improve transparency, effectiveness and connectivity within a group.  No other subject is as contentious or crucial to the OR experience than the layout of the show floor.  So... let's have at it, shall we?  Chime in whenever, however, but please be respectful...

The description of how the process works was published in the last OR Daily round (day 3), at Winter Market 2011, and you can check that out here... https://www.snewsnet.com/snews/Trade-show-dailies/ORDaily/ORD_Day_3_WM_2011/index.html

Of course being ID'd as the 'chief architect' of the show's layout puts me at the crosshairs of many, on the 'thank you' list for a few, and is somewhat misleading in the end.  The floorplan is a collaborative effort that results from 5 people's work and hundreds of conversations about thousands of iterations with a million possibilities, only one of which can be final if we hope to actually stage the show and not endlessly plan it.  All the 'asks', whether size or location or configuration, must be compiled in advance (in writing, ideally) so that the process rolls smoothly.  Often exhibitors want to have one of those conversations mid-process, which is nearly impossible as each position is highly dependent on the surrounding booth, aisle, and traffic flow requirements.  So one conversation would require 10 or 20 others to reset the context. 

What about show history, doesn't that matter?  As one of the only truly objective measures that an exhibitor can hang their hat on, absolutely Yes it's important.  But it's not the only criteria, when designing a show that truly serves the needs of the retail buyers and media who attend.  We have to assess 'Is this an important new category?' and 'will this exhibitor bring new buyers to the show?' and the mundane 'does it even fit?' when it comes to a rare opening on the show floor.  We ask exhibitors applying for space to provide their dream size/configuration/location info, but also 'what constitutes a double, or a single?' to use the old baseball analogy.  We can rarely hit home runs or grand slams for any one exhibitor.

Ideally a show is organized by buyer category, although the Salt Palace is not a shape or size that gives us that flexibility anymore... so we create business community clusters, like around the PZ (Paddlesports Zone), the EZ (Endurance Sports Zone), and the CZ (Climbing Zone).  Also product category clusters, like Footwear and Supplier Resources (around the DC, Design Center), are in service to the attending buyer, where much relevant product can be touched/seen/experienced in a tight geographic area.   Also further complicating the issue are brands that play in multiple product categories... remember when there were apparel brands, and tent brands, and pack brands? 

One last thing; we feel that deliberate design of a show is critical if one hopes to shape the experience of the attendee.  We do take great care in trying to satisfy every possible request and at the same time never take our eye off of serving the end customer, in our case the Retailer. 

Have your eyes rolled back in your head yet?  Snoring uncontrollably?  OK I'll quit here, but hopefully some dialogue will ensue about the design of the OR shows, sharing of other experiences in show design and layout, and any other floorplan related tips that can help exhibitor and attendee both. 

KH 

SXSW and the future of events

UPDATE 4-19 - Here is an article that has some concrete takeaways from the SXSW experience... and yes SXSW was, as all good events need to be, an Experience. http://bit.ly/dTkhRV

and another review of the SXSW event.

 http://www.slideshare.net/christophercarfi/an-ants-eye-view-of-sxsw-2011-7274593

 

(original article below)

With Coachella staging now in SoCal, and South By Southwest (SXSW) just concluded in Austin, TX, the question lingers 'what are these events about?' and 'why do they draw so powerfully from the consumer base? 

Both events draw hundreds of thousands of people and major attention over the web as well, with live streaming content in the form of music concerts, parties, and other festival happenings.

What could OR learn from these consumer events functioning as quasi-b2b venues?  Is the culture of the outdoor industry in play at OR, and should it be?  Does it take from the strictly business attitude we foster?

My first time attending SXSW was this year, and my eyes were popped by the throngs of iPad-toting  twenty-somethings staffing booths and appearing to network like the gaming fiends they were in a previous life.  Brands like Gowalla and Blogworld were launched at prior versions of SXSW, and Coachella is following step as the 'arts gathering' to replace the failed Woodstock revival.   I wonder what really happened there (besides arson)...

Chime in.

KH

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 

 

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 #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

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