Boston Ski & Snowboard Expo

I honestly felt sorry for the woman who was trying so hard to seem approachable inside of the concrete jungle known as the Bayside Expo Center.

Trade shows and expos are the brilliant monsters of business meet and greets.  Although some exhibitors go to parade products and services to their target market, these events are truthfully inspired by the need to get out from behind desks and potentially do a little networking with like-minded industry players.

For Boston’s 2009 Ski & Snowboard Expo, the majority of those presenting were ski resorts from around the USA, and the floorplan was set up so that the one’s from New Hampshire had their own particular enclave, those from Vermont also had their area to cluster in, and so on.  Let’s say that 70% were resorts, 20% were ski and snowboard product/service companies, and then the remaining 10% were what I deem to be randoms.

I can see how Sojourn bicycle adventures aligns with the outdoors enthusiast characteristic found in those of us who partake in snowsports, and how Stonyfield Farm’s organic yogurt may align with the granola side inherent in us as well, but McDonald’s?  Are you guys at BEWI, the production company that put on this expo, implying that the typical rider is a pothead who resorts to fast food because he doesn’t have funds (or patience) to understand the delight found in savoring Alaskan King Crab Legs a la Royal?  Wrong.  Anyways, they weren’t sampling munchies, simply their “new” McCafe segmentation.  But for real, the most random company there, which I actually did an “are you serious?” double-take when they offered me a free window consultation, was A&A Services – Home Improvement.  Mad props for showing up to a completely irrelevant trade show, but I honestly felt sorry for the woman who was trying so hard to seem approachable inside of the concrete jungle known as the Bayside Expo Center.

There was even a Ski Market inside of the convention.  And no, I don’t mean another building within a building.  On one end of the trade show, fenced off from the rest of the snowsport industry hustlers and thugs, was a fully functional store with fitting room stalls and all.  The underbelly of Boston’s Ski Market, Underground Snowboard, provided the snowboard community with our own back room to shop in.  It was minimally illuminated with dingy lighting, either to infuse a cool lounge atmosphere or to trick buyers into thinking $700 was actually $100.  Everything you’d ever find in the brick and mortar version of a ski shop was on display, but the discounts were better than your grandma can get at Macy’s with her purse full of coupons and promo vouchers.  I wanted thick socks and low profile gloves, but by the time I was free to meander over to the shop on the second day, all I had to peruse were the leftovers of bargain hunting vultures.  No socks left for me.

I was there with SnowRiders, a badass band of brothers, three to be exact, who have come together to start an epic company providing the snowsport community with gnarly trips and events.  They are getting ready for an interwebs-site relaunch (hopefully real soon) to replace the existing one with tremendous user interactivity and functionality.  It’ll be bomb we promise.  Our boys over at Bean Snowboards were also holding down the fort. This is Scott geekin it:

Aerialists Trace Worthington and Kris Feddersen put on an indoor aerial display that’s always a crowd pleaser.  Or so the press release says, but that seems to insinuate that Worthington and Feddersen were executing those aerials.  What I saw was a group of young bucks performing phenomenal maneuvers on the trampoline setup, while Mr. Feddersen provided his voice through a mic.  He MC’d and the emerging Flying Ace All Stars were the dancing bears.  Please don’t get me wrong, they were most definitely super duper spectacular all stars.

Sunday River had quite an expansive area to attack and overwhelm their potential clients.  They had a wheel of wondrous fortune, one of their gondolas to sit in and hot box, and some We Ski for Wii action.  I’ve always been amused by the use of the Wii console when energizing a company’s community, and here’s why:

- Get On The Scene -

Trade shows are a blast if you know how to rock them.  Do a couple of laps around the venue, because you’re bound to have missed something.  Approach strangers to strike up conversation, because you’re clearly attending for similar reasons.  Get deals or retain information.  Either way you’ve gained valuables.

Would you be a trampoline all-star, my snowboarder amigo?

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