… And The Pull of the Herd Mentality.

Many weeks of the year I find myself in an airplane, and I often encounter the initial social banter that accompanies being piled on top of a complete stranger for five hours.

You know, it’s the initial head nod, followed by the "Where are you going?" and "What do you do for a living?" questions.

Luckily for me, I’m the guy most business travelers hate. I love my job and when I describe what I do, the immediate response is more often than not, "Cool."

Yep, that's right: "Cool." But why?

I’m fairly certain it’s because of how people perceive the industries that come to Surf Expo. Think about it: resorts in the Caribbean, surfers, skateboarders, wakeboarders, bikinis, entrepreneurs—hell, it’s the Xgames on vacation. Yeah, very cool.

Even to an outsider, there is a clear visualization of what our industry represents—big waves, palm trees, tattoos, blond models. It’s all very visual and all very positive—and cool. I can sit beside a programmer, salesman, or a fifteen year old kid and the response is always the same: “Cool.”

It’s for this reason that I find a current trend in some trade shows interesting. The trend we’ve spotted is the Euro trade show approach of uniform sameness in booth design across the entire show floor. It’s a trend where a line is said to speak for itself and the exhibitor isn’t judged on its marketing or really anything else at all.

In this concept, every booth is the same. Branding is minimal. The look is sleek. The homogenous nature of the conformity is often enhanced with lighting and music, giving the space an almost club-like feel. That also can be cool.

Flash back to my seatmate on the plane. I can imagine the visual references that come to my traveling companion’s head before he tells me how cool my job is. It’s Tony Hawk, Kelly Slater, Donavan, Bam, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, long summer days, Billabong, Quiksilver, Liquid Force, Tommy Bahama, Sperry, Barbados, Bermuda—I think you get the idea.

Ours is an industry connected by great visuals and brands and personalities, and that sets us apart from any other fashion group, team sport or vacation locales. So what are we to make of this new trend in booth design? One that reminds me more of tract home suburbia than those ingrained visual references you’ve built your business around?

Has our industry lost faith in itself to the point that we’re enamored with a club-like atmosphere controlled by house music and stage lighting?

Consider another analogy, one about music. U2, Metallica, Zepplin, The Stones: each of these supergroups moved up from being a small local band to one that could fill stadiums. As they grew and collected more fans, their opening acts benefited from the opportunity to play in front of that packed arena, not just a packed bar. At the same time, perhaps some young guitarist in the crowd was inspired by the spectacle to such a degree that his own band moved out of the garage and into the local bar. Nothing can replicate that experience.

I like to think Surf Expo represents a fitting venue for our industry’s own super groups. It’s a venue full of all those mental references that the public perceives, while providing a stage and audience for other brands to emerge; a perfect setting for brands and retailers to connect and do business.

Our industry—and the sports and venues it serves—is beautiful and creative and unique. It’s something worthy of being celebrated, and remains one of our most compelling competitive advantages.

So thanks to all those exhibitors who provide a walkway for models, a theme, music or the type of visual presentation that makes that guy on the plane sit back and say “Whoa!”—no matter the size of your booth.

See you in January.