FAQ

There's a need to have an up-to-date how instrument matching the new needs of both visitors and expositors.

The exhibition is no longer a "mandatory step" as it used to be few years ago, when it was the only chance to get in touch with people, to know new products never seen before and to receive catalogues and brochures.

Nowadays, all this is easily and rapidly accessible through the internet, and it's for free at any time, any day of the year (not just 5 or 6 months after a product has been launched on the market).

The traditional exhibition has lost this part of value; therefore the motivation of both exhibitors and visitors has gone for less.

This is obviously just my personal opinion.

Of course, what is Internet if not a huge exhibition?

And what is the website of a company if not a booth, visible from everywhere, always, night and day, everyday of the year? On top of this, it can also be interactive, contain a shopping centre (e-commerce) and be constantly updated!

As a result, the physical stand in an exhibition show (where mainly no side initiatives are offered) doesn't really have many reasons to exist anymore, since it is practically the duplicate of the display window on the internet.

Indeed! Visitors are not faced with anything new or interesting today. Excluding a very few interesting shows, they don't receive any exciting news and they are ultimately just carrying themselves around through thousands of other people, therefore not having time to make any contacts or to receive any satisfactory information from exhibitors who are rushed from the quantity of person requiring their attention. I could even go beyond this but I think this is already enough to state that lately exhibitions (excluding a few exceptions) aren't exciting anymore!

Could be, but to be sure we should analyze real statistics done from reliable (non-partial) institutes, cause I think the results given from them couldn't be really so. These institutes should be questioned with all necessary confirmations.

And ultimately it is clear that the increase in size of the rooms where the exhibitions take place is attracting a larger amount of people.

What would happen adding cars, sound systems and maybe even products from the porn industry to a dive exhibition? Billions of people, but for what reason? The result would only be a huge confusion and a decreasing focusing from the dive sector, hidden between other numerous different sectors. This would definitely be a loosing choice.

Leaving the strategic approach apart, this choice would also damage the visitor, who would find many other people in front of him at each and every single stand, most of which not interested at all in the exhibited products.

In fact, was there really an increment of sales beside the increasing number of visitors?

No, because by concentrating just on the number of visitors the result you obtain is an illusion that goes to the disadvantage of everyone (apart for the organizer of the exhibition who gains from the entrance tickets).

Those paying the consequences are the most motivated and precious clients, the true active divers, who are feeling mistreated and are seeing themselves mixed with a lot of uninterested non-divers. In this way they will loose all of their interest too.

Well, it isn't bad as a euphemism.

I'd like to ask three questions about this matter:

1- does the interested visitor like finding himself in the middle of a complete confusion?

2- does the exhibitor like wasting time with uninterested visitors?

3- is the exhibition's organizer more interested in the efficiency and success of the show (watching the interests of the exhibitors who are paying a lot of money to have their place), or is he just looking after a good income from the sales of the tickets?

Definitely. If this quantity is indiscriminate and absolutely accidental!

Let's stop once for all to think that everyone can (or must) be our client, it isn't true. A diving exhibition is not like a gastronomic one. Everybody eats and drinks and can be a potential client for “salami" or a bottle of wine. But not everyone can be interested in making a diving course or buying a regulator!

It is good to try increasing the amount of visitors, but we must remain focused on presenting the exhibition as a "specialistic" event, and not as a big container of many different fields, in a "generalistic" way.

Most of all we must concentrate on trying to satisfy those who already are our customers. We should gain their faithfulness and try not to make them stop diving after only 30 dives.

We have to look for contents and initiatives directed to them.

The exhibition's success is not connected exclusively to the amount of visitors! Let's the organizers say this, but exhibitors and visitors have the right to think differently. What could ever bring to the exhibition an uninterested visitor walking around on a Sunday afternoon, for the simple reason that he doesn't have anything better to do?

A dive exhibition is not the "festival of salsiccia": since it is a specialized exhibition, the aim is to attract divers (as many as possible) and succeed making them strongly interested offering involvement, fun, incentives and capturing their attention.

Not really. Nobody will ever succeed until exhibitions will be organized indoor and maybe even during the wintertime.

The rooms of traditional shows are limiting the offer and most of all the activities, binding it to what we always see. It goes down to the structure of the show itself, not to its organization. There's a lack of operativeness. My critic is not therefore to the management, but to the format.

Frankly speaking, if we want to add a value to our diving exhibition we'll not be able to use this same inflexible format. No major changes will be obtained by modifying slightly the format here and there. A completely new and different format must be found; otherwise the results will never change drastically.

The exhibition must obviously satisfy both the exhibitors and the visitors… the question is: what field should we consider as a pilot in order to build a real promotional show?

So far the exhibitions have always been organized around the exhibitors, only considering their needs, like the costs, the location, the surface of the stand, etc.; essentially just the logistic needs.

The visitor, not having any kind of interaction, is not actually taken into account from the organizers, therefore not truly considering him until it comes to the count of sold tickets.

By my opinion (as all other statements written on this page) this is a huge mistake leading unavoidably to many others!

For instance, the satisfaction of the exhibitor doesn't necessarily correspond to the satisfaction of the visitor.

While the satisfaction of the visitor is certainly generating an immediate satisfaction of the exhibitor.

To recap, if we set the visitor's satisfaction as our target, both the exhibitors and the visitors will be satisfied.

The visitor as the center of the format; this must be the pilot-category. DDE promotes this new philosophy. With this new approach everything is built around the visitor.

Stopping to treat the visitor as someone who just passes by. We must start considering the visitor as a diver, as someone interested to "real diving".

We have to offer to the visitors many more opportunities to bring his passion into concrete facts, or at least stimulate their curiosity in case they aren't divers yet.

Obviously, but in a way different from any other exhibition.

DDE is particularly keen on underlying the difference between "introduce" and "stimulate".

In all traditional exhibitions the approach is just to introduce the diving world to the visitors.

This was good until 15 year ago, but nowadays diving doesn't need to be introduced anymore, everyone knows about it. Only Martians (maybe) are unfamiliar with diving.

We have now to make a further step: we have to switch from "introducing the subject" to "stimulating" the visitor for getting wet! This can't be done giving stathically out brochures to the public, but can be reached dynamically by demonstrating operativeness and involving the visitors to take part to it.

A quick example: fitness.

Does "fitness" need to be introduced? No, everyone knows what it is.

Fitness needs to involve and stimulate to the subscription of courses, equipment and products, like every other field.

How to stimulate the visitors? Letting them try the machines, the programs, involving them into stages and lessons. We must have the visitors feel part of the show, sharing the fun of it! We will tell them "if you'll come to the show in your sneakers and training suits, we'll let you try everything!"

We are not anymore introducing ourselves; everyone knows the "diving world". We must now interact with our visitors.

DDE is for the diving industry what "show of fitness" in Rimini (ITA) is for the fitness industry.

DDE is not just "introducing" the diving field to the public, it would be poorly efficient. DDE is leading the visitors to "participate" into activities, this is what really matters!

It is certainly addressed to non-divers too, but in a completely different way, much more efficient in our opinion.

Definitely! This is the key!

DDE is an incentive exhibition, not a presentation one!

Why? Because people don't need to see what's about, they need to feel attracted to take part to it. This is not a static process, but a very dynamic one, requesting interaction with everyone, potential clients or confirmed ones.

Exhibitions take place once a year and are lasting just a few days. Every waste of time is an important economic waste and a missed opportunity. "Selection" is a primary concern in the structure of an exhibition (in case it is a specialistic one).

Let's say it clearly: it is not possible to operate properly with dozens of thousands of visitors.

When the exhibition is not a sale-show (where direct sales are made through quick contacts with clients who are choosing, buying and paying), it is extremely important to pay attention to the real clients and invest the needed time offering them all accessory services.

This isn't possible when the amount of casual visitors is exceeding a certain level. More and more frequently exhibitions are visited from people who are just curious, but absolutely not interested in the offered product, therefore just slowing down and immobilizing the system.

At this point I'd like to return to the previously expressed concept, underlying once more that a generalistic presentation is inviting crowds of people, while the incentive format (as the one of DDE) is directed to a specific target of potentially interested people, who are ready to receive and accept what is offered.

The second object of this incentive formula reaches the interests of the visitors and the good result of the exhibition at the same time (therefore reducing the amount of casual visitors).

Following these 3 points: 1) dynamicity; 2) interaction; 3) presence of an equipped water-basin with assistance and safety services.

1) DDE is a "Dynamic Dive exhibition".

"Dynamic" is the opposite of "Static", therefore including all those interests and curiosities a diver can have or could have in the future.

2) DDE is allowing the visitor to interact, to "touch", to experiment, to live all what's presented and not only to see it from an extern point of view.

The entire exhibition is built and turns around the visitor, who truly becomes the active protagonist: he can make any kind of dive, try any kind of equipment, participate to scientific researches, move from a conference to a course, from a CPR demonstration to another location with any other kind of diving activity.

3) DDE can offer an extremely important and well-equipped water body for every kind of activity and initiative. On top of this safety measures for the diving activities on land and underwater are a must throughout the entire exhibition. This is providing an impressive and unique added value.

It does, and it must be like this! In fact the exhibition will be a "campus", a festival of the diving activities, a party in some moments, with amusement, evening parties and with great occasions to gather all together starting from the apero till the late activities without interruption. This will create fantastic opportunities for everyone to interact and build relationships within different people and groups.

What could ever be a better occasion than a dynamic festival, based on different kinds of diving activities, to conduct a scientific research on a broad spectrum? DDE offers in this manner an unmissable occasion to the entire diving community (recreational, technical and scientific) to obtain results, which would be extremely difficult and time demanding to be reached otherwise. The active scientific research involves the visitors offering them an opportunity to take active part into operations, which are useful to the community.

DDE is the world's largest active scientific research laboratory.

As a matter of fact it is practically impossible to organize a dynamic diving exhibition in a big city, but it can successfully be organized in a small one where the spaces and the costs are definitely much more friendly. It must be considered that the costs for exhibitors and visitors are often going beyond the simple price of the stand or the entrance ticket. In most cases accommodation and board have to be included and are quiet substantial. For this reason, it is also a winning strategy to move out of big cities and profit of numerous advantages.

The visitor is the "king" of the exhibition and as such the entrance ticket and the use of the water bodies will be absolutely free.

The exhibitor too will have important advantages both on the space and on the preparation, gaining on a much richer quantity of services and finally a big amount of divers!

Details on www.ddexhibition.org

Well, if we want the show to have a guaranteed wet- section, we must organize it by fresh water body. This will keep everyone protected from the unfriendly marine conditions and will allow us to have any depth just a few meters from the shore, increasing operativeness and safety.

If we want to move out of the big cities maintaining all services, we must than rest in a location close to an airport and to all communication facilities.

DDE has selected the "Lago Maggiore" (northern Italy) as the best location in order to satisfy all of the requisites.

DDE is planed for the second weekend of May, a beautiful month with friendly weather conditions.

Absolutely! DDE wasn't born to rest a local exhibition.

The exhibition will be hosting events held by testimonials coming from all over the world and will certainly have a global impact with its numerous workshops and special guests.

Today, October 2007, we already have confirmed the presence of 12 known TV Channels and 27 magazine editors (web included) from all over the world.

We are not struggling to have their attention… everyone likes our format at first sight. It is interesting, stimulating and captivating.

Media are just waiting for events like this, where a sector is promoted in a modern way with dynamic and operational images, full of "action".

A true new, certainly positive for the market and impossible to ignore.

Why not? We hope so. Also visitors, in my opinion, hope so.

DDE could become the "operational branch" of traditional exhibitions.

These macro-containers could make a first approach to the crowd, in order to direct the interested persons towards the "water field". Everything is possible; it all depends on the goal we set.

It all gets back to the point of deciding whether we want to simply present something to the visitor or also stimulate him to have a closer look. The two approaches are extremely different, and so are their results.

Anyway, DDE is not a competitor with traditional show, it is a very different format, and so they can collaborate, integrate themselves.

They (Traditional and Dynamic shows) could build a mutual help to achieve the final goal: push and push the scuba market in all possible ways!