ispo China

Today I went to visit the ispo China trade show on the other side of town. It was phenomenal and I got a lot out of the trip. Click "Read More..." to hear about my experience.

We left at about 8:30 in the morning to get there by 9 when the trade show opened. There were six of us in our little expedition: Kusko, Stephanie, Will, Brady, Kathy, and myself. Here's a picture of everyone who went (I took the picture, so you can't see me):

The show ended up being free, rather than costing us 20RMB as we had expected. I got all the brochures and fliers and such and then we divided up to look at the individual booths. It was the winter trade show, so there were a lot of booths for skiing and snowboarding equipment. I'm actually inspired now, and I hope to learn to snowboard at some point in time when I get back to the US.

The trade show was apparently very popular. There were TONS of people there looking at the various displays. I was a little afraid that we wouldn't actually get to talk to anyone; the sheer volume of people in the exhibition hall was restrictive, and I don't speak a word of Chinese. My fears were put to rest quickly, though, when I realized that I felt very in-my-element at the trade show and started walking through the different booths.

There was a lot of creative energy in the room, but some of the displays were very lacking. There were quite a few low-budget box setups: White walls with hanging product and a table in the center with catalogues. At the same time, there were several other wildly creative booths. One had huge stone pillars made entirely out of styrofoam. Another had a mechanical yak (the company was Black Yak, so it couldn't just be a mechanical bull). Still another company had an actual runway and was doing a fashion show to display its products.

My favorite booth was in the climbing area. Right next to the Petzl display was a full-sized bouldering wall set up for the ISPO Bouldering Cup. I really wanted to get up on the wall, but the tournament was already set and I couldn't sign up for it. I thought it would be fun for the random American to come in and school everyone while wearing khakis and a button-down shirt.

There were a few booths that I was disappointed with, though, but not because of the content. You have to realize that this entire trip is in Asia and the trade show is in China. Naturally, everyone in the show spoke Chinese. I was hoping that because it was an international show that there would have been more English speakers. Nope. In a couple of the booths that I had been waiting to see I was avoided like a leper by the sales representatives. They spoke no English and were intimidated by me and what I seemed to already know about their products.

All in all, though, I had an incredibly positive experience. I wish I had more pictures to share with you, but my camera batteries died shortly after I got to the show. The people I was with will more than likely have their own photos that I will definitely add later for you. If anyone knows of a similar show in the Portland area, please be sure to let me know about it so I can go hang out there and meet more people in the field.