Here’s My Takeaway From the 2021 Pool Spa Patio Expo in Dallas…
It was a hug-fest.
I don’t know how else to describe it.
After two long, lonely years, we all got to see each other again.
Naomi and I would step off the elevator at the Omni Hotel, and the lobby would be packed with 50 to 100 industry friends and celebrities. And hugging would immediately ensue.
The first night at the hotel, I struggled to have a conversation that lasted more than 30 seconds. Because no sooner would we hug and say hello to a beloved friend, then we would see another friend from another part of the world, and we would have to run over and hug them too.
This would repeat incessantly, for everyone.
Which just goes to show, this industry really is a family. Weird uncles, crazy cousins and all.
(This also means that if all the threats about masks and mandates are to be believed, then this was a super-spreader event, and half of us are infected, and headed to the hospital. But I feel great, and so does everyone else I’ve spoken to since, despite the fact that less than 1% of the attendees were wearing masks. So maybe that one ugly part of the last 18 months is finally behind us!)
As for attendance…
I figured we would be lucky to get more than 50% of the 2019 attendance. But one of the informed Informa managers (the show management people) told me that this year’s registrations were off from 2019 by only 9%. And I certainly couldn’t see a difference on the show floor. In fact, traffic seemed at least as good if not better than the New Orleans show.
In my experience, most three-day shows start out strong on day one, and start to taper off around lunch time of day two. Then you get one or two additional blips as traffic gets increasingly scarce, right up to closing.
It was a little different in Dallas. I didn’t notice a “mad rush” at the beginning, but instead saw steady floor traffic all through the first and second days. And even on day 3, we still met a good number of strong prospects.
So I, for one, was certainly glad we were there. And everybody else looked pretty happy too.
Now let me close with one last observation, that in my mind is yet further evidence of the “family-friendly nature” of our industry.
Most of us in the industry are well aware of the rather rocky road that Genesis went through these last few years, with the NSPF/APSP merger into PHTA, and how that begat the creation of the rather impressive and successful Watershape University.
Many thought that would be the death knell for Genesis. But the excitement and enthusiasm at the sold-out Genesis Family Reunion Dinner on Wednesday would suggest otherwise. It was nice to hear the president of PHTA gush about the power and impact of Genesis on our industry. But I was especially impressed to hear Genesis co-founder Brian van Bower applaud the success of Watershape University. Sure, they are technically competitors. But Brian was more like a proud father, honestly hoping to see his progeny do at least as well, if not better than the founding organization.
And if that’s not family, I don’t know what is.
Leave a Reply